36 FOSSIL REPTILIA OF THE LONDON CLAY. 



The same character is repeated, though with less force, in the posterior dorsal 

 vertebra, fig. 9, T. V, and, together with the general proportions of the specimen, 

 supports the reference of that vertebra to the Crocodilus champso'ides. There is a slight 

 longitudinal depression at the middle of the side of the centrum near the suture with 

 the neurapophysis [n, n). 



Fig. 10 is a side view of the first caudal vertebra of the Crocodilus champso'ides : 

 besides being longer and more slender than that vertebra is in the Croc, toliajncus, the 

 inferior surface of the centrum is less concave from before backwards. 



The evidences of Crocodilian reptiles from the deposits at Sheppy less characteristic 

 of particular species than those above described, are abundant. Mr. Bowerbank 

 possesses numerous rolled and fractured vertebrae, condyloid extremities, and other 

 portions of long bones ; with fragments of jaws and teeth. 



Mr. J. Whickham Flower, F.G.S., has transmitted to me some fragments of the 

 skull of a Crocodile from Sheppy, including the articular end of the tympanic bone, 

 equalling in size that of a Crocodilus biporcatus the skull of which measures two feet 

 eight inches in length. 



Mr. Leifchild, C.E., possesses a considerable portion of the lower jaw of a Crocodile 

 of at least equal dimensions, also from Sheppy, showing the angle of union of the rami 

 of the lower jaw which corresponds with that in the Crocodilus toliajncus, PI. 2. 



In the museum of my esteemed and lamented friend, the late Frederic Dixon, Esq., 

 F.G.S., at Worthing, is preserved a portion of the fossilized skeleton of a Crocodile, from 

 the Eocene clay at Bognor, in Sussex ; it consists of a chain of eight vertebrae, including 

 the lumbar, sacral, and the biconvex first caudal, which are represented of their 

 natural size in tab. xv, of Mr. Dixon's beautiful and valuable work on the ' Geology of 

 Sussex.' A dorso-lateral bony scute adheres to the same mass of clay close to the 

 vertebrae, and doubtless belonged to the same individual. The proportions of the 

 vertebrae agree with those of the Crocodilus toliapicus. This fine specimen was dis- 

 covered, and presented to Mr. Dixon, by the Rev. John Austin, M.A., Rector of 

 Pulbrough, Sussex. Mr. Dixon had also obtained from the same locality a posterior 

 cervical vertebra of a Crocodile, similar in its general characters to those above 

 mentioned, but belonging to a larger individual. The length of the body of this 

 vertebra is two inches and a half. 



I have examined some remains of Crocodilia from the London Clay at Hackney; but as 

 these also are not sufficiently perfect or characteristic for decided specific determination, no 

 adequate advantage would be obtained by a particular description, or by figures of them. 



The chief conclusion arrived at from the study of the Crocodilian fossils from the 

 Island of Sheppy has been the proof, by the specimens selected for depiction in the 

 present work, that at least two species of true Crocodile have left their remains in 

 that locality ; that neither of these had a short and broad snout like the Caimans, but 

 that one of them — -the Croc, champso'ides — much more nearly resembled the Gavial of 



