[606] Most of these valuable fossils are in the British Museum. They are all described in detail and most elaborately illustrated in Prof. Owen’s Monograph, already referred to.
Lign. 217. First Caudal Vertebra of Crocodilus Hastingsiæ.
1/3 nat.
Eocene. Hordwell Cliff.
s, spinous process, or neural spine.
z, anterior zygapophysis or oblique process.
z1, posterior zygapophysis.
d, left diapophysis, or transverse process.
a, p, body or centrum, convex at both ends.
In the strata of Tilgate Forest, associated with innumerable remains of reptiles of various kinds, teeth of the Crocodilian type, belonging to two genera, are not uncommon.[607] The first kind (Suchosaurus[608] cultridens of Prof. Owen) is a tooth about an inch in length, of a slender acuminated form, compressed laterally, and gently recurved, with a sharp edge in front and behind; resembling, in its general figure, the tooth of a Megalosaurus, with the serrations on the edges worn off ([Pl. VI. fig. 7]). The sides of the crown are marked with a few longitudinal grooves. Some biconcave vertebræ found in the same quarries, and characterized by the compressed wedge-shaped form of the centre (Foss. Til. For. pl. ix. fig. 11), are supposed by Professor Owen to belong to the same reptile as the teeth above described; but it is hazardous to pronounce on the identity of these detached teeth and bones, without more corroborative proof than has hitherto been obtained.
[607] Foss. South Downs, p. 50. Foss. Tilg. For. p. 64; pl. v. figs. 1-3, 7. Cuv. Oss. Foss. tom. v. p. 161, pl. x. See also Owen's later examination of these remains, Report Brit. Assoc. 1811, p. 67; and Cyclop. Anat. Art. Teeth.
[608] Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1841, p. 68. Sucho-saurus is derived from Suchus, or Suchis, the name given by Strabo to the sacred crocodile of the Egyptians.
Swanage Crocodile. (Goniopholis crassidens.) Petrif. p. 170, Lign. 38.—Under this name, the second species of Crocodilian teeth will be considered; the discovery of a considerable portion of a skeleton of a reptile with teeth of this form (Wond. p. 416), in a quarry near Swanage, having disclosed some of the most important osteological characters of the original. These teeth are distinguished from the former by their cylindrical base, and rounded, obtuse, conical crowns (Petrif. p. 171): they somewhat resemble in form those of the Crocodile, but the crown is strongly marked with numerous, well-defined, longitudinal grooves and ridges; and there is a sharp ridge on the middle of each side. A small specimen, broken off at the base, is represented [Pl. VI. fig. 5]; it shows the smooth cylindrical base of the tooth, which is covered with cement, and the finely striated enamelled crown; some of the teeth are more than two inches in length, and one inch in diameter at the base (Foss. Til For. pl. v. figs. 1, 2). I have found these teeth in numerous localities; they are always well preserved, with the ridges sharp, and have a high polish (Geol. I. Wight, p. 357, Lign. 30); a series of successional teeth may often be detected in the pulp-cavity (see Wond. p. 414). The detached teeth, and fragments of dermal bones ([Lign. 207]), which, from their constant occurrence with this species, I had been led to consider as belonging to the same reptile, were the only relics that had come under my observation, until the discovery of the Swanage specimen above mentioned.[609] On the two corresponding slabs containing this fine fossil are imbedded many detached teeth; a portion of the left side of the lower jaw, with two teeth in place; ribs and numerous vertebræ, which are biconcave, and have an irregular medullary cavity in the centre of the body; chevron bones resembling those of the Crocodile; the bones of the pelvic arch, and some of those of the extremities. With these are the remains of the osseous dermal cuirass, consisting of numerous scutes (figured and described p. 657, [Lign. 207]), scattered at random among the other relics of the skeleton; some having the inner, and others the external surface exposed; several of these bones are perfect, and exceed six inches in length, and two and a half in breadth. Numerous scales of a small Ganoid fish (Lepidotus minor), common in the Purbeck strata, are also intermingled with these remains. This reptile is named Goniopholis crassidens, by Professor Owen.[610]
[609] Now in the British Museum: see Petrif. p. 170. A lithograph of one of the slabs was given in the third edition of the Wonders of Geology, 1839.