184 Annals of thr. So-itli African 



WHAITSIA PLATYCEPS, gen. et sp. nov. 



The extremely interesting type described here is founded on 

 two skulls collected by the Rev. J. H. Whaits at Zuurpoort in 

 the District of Graaff-Reinet, C.P., at a height of 4,000 feet above 

 sea-level, and is therefore probably from the middle or upper 

 part of the Cistecephdlus zone of the Lower Beaufort Beds. One 

 skull has suffered lateral pressure ; the other a more perfect 

 one has been slightly flattened from above. The latter No. 

 4006, S.A. Mus. Catalogue may be taken as the type ; the other 

 -No. 4330 as the co-type. 



In external appearance the skull might be mistaken for that 

 of a fairly broad-snouted Cynodont. The nostrils are small, 

 almost terminal, and look mainly forwards. The snout is rounded 

 at the end, broad, flat, and of a medium length. The orbits are 

 small and widely separated. The temporal openings are very 

 large and the parietal region is narrow, crested as in the Cynodonts 

 and Therocephalia and not broadened as in the Bauridae and 

 Gorgonopsia. 



The maximum length of the type skull was about 280 mm., 

 the maximum width about 220 mm. The interorbital width is 

 66 mm. 



The internasal septum is formed in the lower half by the pre- 

 maxilla and in its upper half by the nasals. The premaxilla 

 forms the lower border of the nostrils. In the type the premaxilla 

 carries no teeth, with the possible exception of one fragment on 

 the right-hand side ; but in the co-type there are 4 incisors on 

 each side of which the first three are equal in size, the 4th smaller. 

 The roots are long : the crowns were apparently long and sharply 

 pointed, but not serrated. 



The top of the snout is formed almost entirely by the nasals. 

 These are broad anteriorly, contract in the middle where the 

 maxilla encroaches on the top of the skull, broaden again, and 

 then narrow to their junction with the frontals. There is a small 

 boss above the outer side of the nostril which may be formed 

 by a septomaxilla as in the Gorgonopsia, but the limits of the 

 bone, if present, are not seen. External to the nostril are two 

 foramina corresponding in position to the foramen found in the 

 Therocephalia and Gorgonopsia. 



The maxilla forms the side of the snout, extends below the 

 jugal to the level of the postorbital bar, and in its posterior half 



