380 J. W. HTTLKE ON TWO CROCODILIAN SKULLS 



so that the pterygo-maxillary vacuities have a somewhat different 

 figure, and they are also presumably smaller than in these skulls. 



The upper surface of the skull, in its pitted ornamentation, re- 

 sembles Mr. Willett's and the Brook skull ; but the form of this 

 part is less oblong, the transverse measurement just behind the 

 orbits being shorter relatively to the occipital crest than in these. 

 The orbits are much crushed, and the snout is also much flattened 

 by pressure. It is broader, relatively to the length of the snout, 

 than in either of the skulls to which reference has been frequently 

 made, and the swelling at the longer teeth is greater, and it is also 

 nearer the front of the snout. 



The proportions of the length of the base and of the sides of the 

 triangle which represent the occipital border and the sides of the 

 skull and snout are not very different from those in Mr. Willett's 

 skull, but the greater breadth of the snout (after allowance has 

 been made for the flattening) gives the impression of a blunter form 

 of head. I should also add that the upper surface is less strongly 

 sculptured, being, in fact, nearly smooth. The nasal bones reach 

 to about 1*2 inch from the anterior nares, and they end here less 

 taperingly. The prsemaxillse and anterior nares resemble those of 

 Mr. "Willett's skull. 



In the same slab with the skull were imbedded three scutes, one 

 of a narrow oblong form, the smooth under surface of which is 

 visible, and another having a strongly pitted trihedral centre 

 surrounded by a smooth polyhedral border. 



Since the discovery, in 1855, at Swanage, in the Purbeck beds, of 

 the associated remains on which Prof. Owen founded the genus Go- 

 niopholis (G. crassidens, 0.), no important addition has been made to 

 our knowledge of this reptile ; and the head had remained wholly 

 unknown until Mr. Willett's fortunate acquisition (should this, as I 

 have little doubt, prove to have been correctly referred by Mr. Willett 

 to Goniopholis) : some reservation with respect to its identification is, 

 however, proper, because the characteristic marks of Goniopholis are 

 its peculiar angulated pegged scutes, together with its stout, striated, 

 slightly curved, two-ridged teeth. With Mr. Willett's skull are 

 teeth closely agreeing in every essential point with those ascribed 

 by Owen to Goniopholis ; but the peculiar scutes are wanting to 

 complete the identification. If this should be hereafter established, 

 it will place Goniopholis, together with the Purbeck British-Museum 

 skull (No. 41,098) and that from Brook in a group intermediate, as 

 Prof. Huxley has shown with respect to the latter, between the 

 Mesosuchia and Eusuchia. 



As regards the construction and position of their palatal nares, 

 these three crocodilian skulls resemble that of Metriorhynchus 

 Blainvillii (Eudes Deslongchamps, « Notes Paleont.' 1863-1869, 

 pi. xx. fig. 1 &, reproduced by Prof. Huxley, Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc. vol. xxxi. pi. xix. fig. 3) more closely than any other Meso- 

 suchian with which I am acquainted. 



Upon a comparison of these skulls (Mr. Willett's and that from the 

 isle of Purbeck) with those of extant Crocodilia, the general contour 



