The Ceteosaurus whose bones have been discovered in the upper beds of the Great Oolite at Enslow Rocks, at the Kirtlington Railway Station, north of Oxford, and some other places, was a species of Crocodile nearly resembling the modern Gavial or Crocodile of the Ganges. This huge whale-like reptile has been described by Professor John Phillips as unmatched in size and strength by any of the largest inhabitants of the Mesozoic land or sea--perhaps the largest animal that ever walked upon the earth. A full-grown Ceteosaurus must have been _at least_ fifty feet long, ten feet high, and of a proportionate bulk. In its habits it was, probably, a marsh-loving or river-side animal, dwelling amidst filicene, cycadaceous, and coniferous shrubs and trees full of insects and small mammalia. The one small and imperfect tooth which has been found resembles that of Iguanodon more than of any other reptile; and it seems probable that the Ceteosaurus was nourished by vegetable food, which abounded in the vicinity of its haunts, and was not obliged to contend with the Megalosaurus for a scanty supply of more stimulating diet.[69] [69] For a full account of the Ceteosaurus, see “The Geology of the Thames Valley,” by Prof. John Phillips, F.R.S. 1871. Another reptile allied to the Pterodactyle lived in this epoch--the _Ramphorynchus_, distinguished from the Pterodactyle by a long tail. The imprints which this curious animal has left upon the sandstone of the period are impressions of its feet and the linear furrow made by its tail. Like the Pterodactyle, the Ramphorynchus, which was about the size of a crow, could not precisely fly, but, aided by the wing (a sort of natural parachute formed by the membrane connecting the fingers with the body), it could throw itself from a height upon its prey. Fig. 119 represents a restoration of this animal. The footprints in the soil are in imitation of those which accompany the remains of the Ramphorynchus in the Oolitic rocks, and they show the imprints of the anterior and posterior feet and also the marks made by the tail. This tail was very long, far surpassing in length the rest of the vertebral column, and consisting of more than thirty vertebræ--which were at first short, but rapidly elongate, retain their length for a considerable distance, and then gradually diminish in size. [Illustration: XVIII.--Ideal landscape of the Middle Oolitic Period.] Another genus of Reptiles appears in the Middle Oolite, of which we have had a glimpse in the Lias and Great Oolite of the preceding section. This is the _Teleosaurus_, which the recent investigations of M. E. Deslongchamps allow of re-construction. The Teleosaurus enables us to form a pretty exact idea of these Crocodiles of the ancient seas--these cuirassed Reptiles, which the German geologist Cotta describes as “the great barons of the kingdom of Neptune, armed to the teeth, and clothed in an impenetrable panoply; the true filibusters of the primitive seas.”