Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 4: ZoologyLinnean Society of London
Science
Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 4: Zoology
Linnean Society of London
Zoology -- Periodicals
The snout is broad, and rounded at the end[2]. Each prefrontal bone
is traversed close to its anterior extremity by the ends of a strong
transverse ridge, which then curve round and pass forwards on the
lachrymal and maxillary bones, to subside opposite the ninth tooth.
The anterior nasal aperture is not divided by bone. The vomers,
separated by a longitudinal suture, appear in the palate between the
premaxillaries and the palatine plates of the maxillaries. The temporal
fossæ, though not large, are open. The webs of the feet are small. The
dorsal scutes are articulated together, as in the preceding genus; and
there are similarly-articulated ventral scutes. There are 18-20 teeth
on each side, above and below; and the fourth tooth in the upper jaw is
the largest. The mandibular symphysis extends back nearly to the fifth
tooth.
In a skull of _Jacare_ (_fissipes?_), 19 inches long, in the British
Museum, I find that part of the vomer which is visible in the palate to
be a rhomboidal plate, somewhat truncated anteriorly, and rather more
than 1-1/2 inch long and 1 inch wide. Its anterior end comes within
3/8ths of an inch of the posterior margin of the anterior palatal
foramen. Its posterior margin reaches to the level of the eighth tooth.
The visible portion of each vomer is only its anterior end, which forms
a thick and solid wedge-shaped plate, broader in front than behind, and
articulating by a rough anterior and outer face with the premaxilla, by
an obliquely ridged posterior and outer face with the maxilla, and by
its internal face with its fellow. Its upper, rounded surface projects
but little into the nasal passage. 2-1/4 inches behind its anterior
end, the posterior and upper extremity of the vomer passes into a thin
and narrow plate of bone, whose plane is at first inclined at an angle
of 45° to that of the anterior part of the bone, but gradually becomes
vertical; as it does so it deepens, until, 3 inches behind the anterior
extremity, the vomer is a thin vertical plate of bone, 5/8ths of
an inch deep, which articulates below with the palatine plate of the
maxilla, and, about 1 inch behind this, with the palatine plate of the
palatine bone. The upper edge of this plate nowhere extends to one-third
of the height of the nasal chamber. It gives off a horizontal process
outwards, which, gradually increasing in width, inclines downwards until
it comes into contact, first, with the inner surface of the maxilla,
and, 3/4ths of an inch behind this, with the nasal plate of the
palatine bone. In front of its junction with the maxilla, the horizontal
plate of the vomer presents a long free edge, concave externally; and
this bounds the median nares internally and posteriorly. Throughout its
junction with the maxilla, the horizontal plate is parallel-sided; but
after it joins the palatine bone, it gradually narrows posteriorly,
in consequence of the gradual increase in width of the palatine, and
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