iv BRANCHIOSAURI AISTOPODES 8 I 



covered with little cutaneous scales. Pelosaurus and perhaps 

 Melanerpeton are allied genera. 



The following genera are small newt-like creatures of the 

 Carboniferous age of Europe and North America. In Keraterpeton 

 of Bohemia, Ireland, and Ohio, the dermal scales were restricted to 

 the under parts ; and the ribs were rather long, reaching half way 

 round the body. Gills have not been observed. K. crassum, a 

 European species, reached more than one foot in length, two-thirds 

 of which fall to the tail. The ventral side is covered with a most 

 elaborate armour, which consists of about eighty chevron-shaped 

 rows of little scale-shaped nodules. The epiotic bones end in 

 strange processes, carrying a pair of spikes, giving the skull a 

 " horned " appearance, hence the generic name. Urocordylus is 

 an allied genus. 



Sub-Order 2. Aistopodes. Body snake-like and without 

 any limbs, hence the name aWro?, unseen ; ribs long, and 

 reaching half way round the body ; from Carboniferous strata in 

 Ireland and Bohemia, with allied, or perhaps identical forms in 

 Ohio. Dolichosoma longissimum possessed more than 150 verte- 

 brae, and was about a yard long. The epiotics end in obtuse 

 projections, recalling those of Keraterpeton. These marvellous 

 creatures had strange appendages, extending from behind the 

 sides of the head, which were possibly the supports of external 

 gills ; since the upper end of one of the visceral arches, probably 

 the hyoidean arch, is attached to the labyrinthic region, and from 

 this arch starts a bony rod which carries long skeletal filaments. 

 The body seems to have been naked. 



Ophiderpeton had a compound ventral shield, while the skin 

 of the back contained granular scutes. Although the Aistopodes 

 have, not without reason, been looked upon as greatly resembling 

 the Coeciliae or Apoda in organisation, especially in that of the 

 vertebral column, the total absence of any other fossils which 

 might bridge over the enormous gulf between the Coal Age and 

 recent times, makes the attempt to derive the Apoda from these 

 creatures very hazardous. 



Order II. STEGOCEPHALI TEMNOSPONDYLI. 



Mostly with rather long ribs and with chiefly ventral 

 armour. 



VOL. VIII G 



