869.] HULKE—CROCODILIAN SKULL, 169 
Shotover exactly correspond with those figured in the ¢‘ Ossemens 
Fossiles.’ 
So far, then, as regards the proximal half of its snout, this Kim- 
meridge Steneosaur apparently agrees with the Honfleur Gavials, 
and with the Oxford (Shotover) Steneosaurian skull, in the presence 
and in the relations of this pair of large triangular bones. The 
distal half, however, is differently asatnnedl ; for oh the Kimmeridge 
Steneosaur Cuvier’s large triangular nasals are preceded by a pair 
of distinct slips, which are intercalated first between the maxillaries, 
afterwards between the intermaxillaries, and which finally enter 
the posterior border of the external nostril, where they form a low 
mesial projection, on each side of which is a vertical groove. The 
posterior ends of this mesial i of slips taper acutely ; and, diverging 
widely, they embrace for 3:5 inches Cuvier’s large nasals, having 
these on their inner edge and the maxillaries on their outer border. 
Between the point where they diverge and the external nostril, a 
distance of nearly six inches, their inner borders meet in the middle 
line; and their width averages ‘9 inch, decreasing slightly towards 
the nostril. 
This is an important difference: the external nostril of our 
Kimmeridge Steneosaur is not completely enclosed in the preemaxilla 
as in the Teleosaurs and recent Gayials, and as it is described 
in the Honfleur Gavials and the Oxford (Shotover) Steneosaurian 
skull, but its posterior border contains another element, the an- 
terior ends of a mesial pair of bones, the distal six inches of which 
have the same relations to the maxillaries and intermaxillaries and 
to the nostril as the nasals in the crocodiles and in the alligators. 
The nostril is subterminal, oval, the larger end behind. Its open- 
ing, directed upwards, is indented in the middle line, in front by 
the premaxillary symphysis, and behind by the ends of the slender 
nasals (?), as just described. 
The premaxille ascend 2-2 inches behind the nostril, wedged in 
between the maxillaries and slender nasals. Their inner border, 
touching the latter, is straight. The suture which joins their outer 
border to the maxillary is oblique; it crosses the dentary margin of 
the snout just in front of the fourth alveolus. 
There are seventeen alveoli on each side; the hindmost one visible, 
in the left side, is so small that it is almost certainly the last; but 
since the edge of the jaw is deficient behind it, I cannot be abso- 
lutely sure of this. The first three teeth are contained in the pree- 
maxilla; and the interval between the third and the fourth tooth is 
rather wider than those between the rest. 
The teeth, some of which are still in the sockets, while others are 
scattered loose over the palate, correspond with those of the lower 
jaw, and therefore do not require description. Their size and figure 
vary within rather wide limits, as they do in many living er neadiles é 
but the essential features are constant. 
The palatine plates of the premaxillaries aud of the maxillaries, 
and the inner edges of the palatine bones (so far as these latter are 
preserved), join in the middle line, and make the bony palate very 
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