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the fossil the oval hole which exists in the posterior part of the 
branch, in the known species of crocodiles. 
The fossil upper jaw was also ascertained, from different fragments, 
to differ materially from the upper jaw of the Gavial. The snout, 
corresponding with the symphisis of the lower jaw, is shorter and 
flatter than that of the Gavial ; and the anterior end terminates in a 
point, and does not spread out as that of the Gavial does. The 
anterior edges of the orbits also appear to be more flattened than 
in the living species. From fair grounds of calculation it also ap- 
pears, that the skull must have been much longer in proportion to 
the snout, in the fossil species than in the Gavial. 
One of the specimens from Honfleur, a fragment of the base of the 
symphisis part of the lower jaw, appeared to differ from the lower 
jaw already mentioned, in being rather flatter ; approaching a little, 
in this and some other respects, to that of the Gavial. This circum- 
stance led M. Cuvier to the suspicion of there being the remains of 
two species of crocodiles in this stratum. 
An attentive examination of the fossil vertebrae confirmed his opi- 
nion ; since he discovered that the vertebrae also belonged to two 
different systems of bones, neither of which was similar to that of the 
known crocodiles. With respect to the first species of fossil vertebrae 
which he found, he ascertained that the posterior face of the body of 
the axis, or dentata, is concave, whilst it is convex in all the known 
crocodiles ; a characteristic which is distinguishable in many of these 
fossil vertebrae, whilst in the known crocodiles this part is convex. 
Plate XVIII. Fig. 6, represents one of the dorsal vertebrae, in which 
this circumstance is observable. It is proper to remark here, that 
whole orders of viviparous quadrupeds, such as the ruminants and 
solipeds, have the bodies of their cervical vertebrae convex in their 
fore part; but, in these, their apophyses are very differently disposed. 
The transverse apophyses in the fossil vertebrae arise by four pro- 
jecting processes, which give them a pyramidal base ; and behind the 
