(78) 



6. On a Ncic Type of Dinocephalian (Moschosaurus longiceps). 



(Text-figs. 8, 9.) 



The skull on which this new genus is founded was collected in 

 1914 on the farm La-de-da in the Division of Beaufort West from 

 beds belonging to probably the upper part of the Parciasaurns zone. 

 With it were preserved half a dozen vertebrae, almost without 

 doubt anterior dorsals. 



The skull is long, low, and narrow, and although there is a slight 

 elevation in the parietal region, there is none of the tremendous 

 thickening of the bones which is so prominent a feature of the larger 

 Dinocephalians such as Tapinoceplialus and Strnthioccplialus. The 

 nostrils are rather far back. The eyes are wholly in the posterior 

 half of the skull and are larger than the temporal openings. The 

 quadrate is carried forward to the plane of the middle of the orbit. 

 The lower jaw is massive. 



The front of the nostril is 60 mm. behind the tip of the snout. 

 The nostrils are large, longitudinally oval, and the internasal width 

 is 20 mm. 



The premaxilla has a suture with its fellow, and together the bones 

 form the rather pointed extremity of the snout. Superiorly they 

 separate the nostrils, sending back a narrow process to separate the 

 anterior portions of the nasals. The suture with the maxilla is 

 doubtful, but each premaxilla bore three or four large teeth. Each 

 tooth is carried in a separate socket. The roots are long, and the 

 crowns are differentiated into a long anterior cusp and a smaller 

 posterior one. The antero-posterior width of the crown is at least 

 li times the width of the root, the posterior cusp of the crown being 

 a sort of process some distance above the level of the anterior cusp. 

 Similar teeth are known from other and larger Dinocephalians. In 

 Struthiocephalus the outside of the crown is convex and the anterior 

 cusp is bluntly pointed, while the interior surface is concave below the 

 posterior cusp which is convex on both sides. In some of the teeth 

 in that genus there are one or two longitudinal grooves on the 

 inside of the crown. 



