20 E. LTDEKKER 0^ A CEOCODILIAN EEOM 



3. On the Occtjeeence of the Ceocodilian- Genus Tomistoma in the 

 Miocene of the Maltese Islands. By E. Ltdekeee, Esq., 

 B.A., P.G.S., &c. (Read November 18, 1885.) 



[Plate II.] 



In the collection of the British Museum there is the terminal 

 13 inches of the rostrum of a large Crocodilian, from the Miocene of 

 Malta, to which Prof. Sir E. Owen has applied the name Melito- 

 saurus champsoides, but of which, so far as I am aware, no de- 

 scription has ever been published. The name is, therefore, really 

 a manuscript one; but siiice it has been quoted by Mr. J. W. 

 Hulko * and the late Prof. Leith-Adams t, and the type specimen 

 referred to as affording grounds for specifically distinguishing 

 another specimen, it seems advisable to take (with the proviso 

 noted below) Sir E. Owen's specific name as dating from the first 

 quotation. 



The specimen, which is figured on a reduced scale in the accom- 

 panying plate (PL II. figs. 1, 2), shows the cranial and mandibular 

 portions of the rostrum. The former has lost all the teeth with the 

 exception of one, but shows eight dental alveoli on the right side ; 

 while the latter shows six teeth in situ in the left ramus : the whole of 

 the premaxillse, and the anterior narial aperture, together with the 

 anterior part of the nasals and maxillae, are preserved. It will perhaps 

 suffice to say that the specimen is nearly double the size of an adult 

 skull of the existing Tomistoma Schlegeli (Strauch), and that it agrees 

 with the latter in every essential respect. Thus the rostrum is 

 extremely long and narrow ; the first and fourth mandibular teeth 

 are larger than the others, and are received into notches in the 

 cranium ; the third prem axillary tooth is large, and the fourth very 

 small ; while the premaxillse themselves are not terminally expanded, 

 are long and narrow, and articulate with the stiU narrower nasals. 

 Apart, indeed, from its superior size, almost the only noticeable dif- 

 ference of the fossil from the recent Tomistoma consists in the 

 circumstance that the extremity of the premaxillse is more shelving, 

 and that the teeth are perhaps relatively larger, and their fore- 

 and-aft cutting-edges rather less sharp ; it also differs, however, in 

 having five teeth in the premaxilla, the additional tooth being, as in 

 Gharialis ( Gavialis) gangeticus^ interpolated between the proper first 

 and second teeth. Since this additional tooth is very variable in 

 Crocodilus, its presence in the present form can scarcely be considered 

 more than a specific character ; and as there are no other characters 

 which can be regarded as of generic value, the term Melitosaurus 

 appears unnecessary, and the specimen may be referred to the 

 existing genus under the name of Tomistoma champsoides (Owen). 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxvii. pp. 31, 32 (1871). 

 t Ibid. vol. XXXV. p. 527 (1879). 



