Fauna and Stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series. 429 



MELANOROSAURUS READI sp. nov. 

 Text figs. 42-47. 



The bones forming the type of this species were found on the 

 northern slope of the mountain Thaba 'Nyama ("Black Mountain"), 

 lying between Josana's Hoek and Josana's Nek in the district of 

 Herschel in the Cape Province. They were lying isolated and em- 

 bedded in a soft red mudstone below a sandstone band not far 

 above the base of the Red Beds. The bones consist of a tibia, a 

 fibula, part of the pelvis, some vertebrae and metatarsals, together 

 with a femur lying partly embedded in the overlying sandstone and 

 the proximal half of a hunierus found weathered down the slope. 

 They are in the collection of the South African Museum (Cat. Nos. 

 3449, 3450). I can collate these remains with no hitherto-known 

 species, and have much pleasure in naming them after Mr. B. Read, 

 former Principal of the Bensonvale Training School, of whose kind- 

 ness, display of interest, and hospitality I have a lively recollection. 



Another individual (S. A. M. Cat. No. 3532) belonging, apparently, 

 to the same species - but somewhat smaller than the type - - is 

 represented by some bones excavated below the Rooi Nek, between 

 Kromrne Spruit and Majuba Nek, Herschel, from an horizon about 

 one-third the way up the Red Beds. These remains include a 

 scapula and a complete humerus, and thus add to the knowledge of 

 the form. 



Vertebrae. With the type several isolated vertebral centra were 

 obtained. The centra are all considerably longer than high. Their 

 end surfaces are oval in shape with the larger axis vertical. One - 

 probably a posterior cervical - - has a sharp ventral surface, keeled 

 at either end. The dorsals are rounded below; all the vertebrae 

 are lightly built compared with those of Gresslyosaurus. The length 

 of a dorsal centrum is 110 mm., the height of its anterior surface 

 95 mm. ; while the width at the middle of the centrum is 45 mm. 

 The ventral surface of the bone is not acutely concave. 



Scapula. Among the bones from Rooi Nek an almost complete 

 scapula is preserved. The bone has been flattened, so that its origi- 

 nal curvature is lost. The upper end is somewhat expanded and is 

 thinner than the proximal end. The anterior border is thin. Proxi- 

 mally the posterior border is rounded and comparatively thick, but 

 distally it is thin. The glenoid cavity is not deep, but it is broad 

 and fairly high. The articular surface for the coracoid is very 

 broad. The greatest length of the bone is 450 mm. The width at 



