436 Annals of the South African Museum. 



ORDER ORNITHISCHIA Seeley. 



GERANOSAURUS ATAVUS Broom. 



1011. Broom. Ann. S. Af. Mus. VII, 4, p. 300. PI. XVII, %. 24. 



"The collection of bones consists of badly crushed fragments of a 

 skull with the anterior part of lower jaw fairly well preserved, some 

 slender birdlike hind-limb bones, and a number of very imperfect 

 vertebrae. The vertebrae seem too large to have belonged to the 

 skull, and there being thus some doubt about the bones being those 

 of one animal I think it better to describe the jaw-bones alone and 

 to make them the type. 



As preserved, the lower jaw lias the left dentary fairly complete 

 with a considerable portion of the right and the predentary nearly 

 perfect. 



The predentary has its upper surface displayed, which is concave. 

 It is 1.5 mm. long and the same in width. The outer and anterior 

 edges are sharp and doubtless formed a horny beak. 



The dentary as preserved measures 73 mm. in length, and there 

 is probably but little missing from the posterior end. The anterior 

 half bears 9 teeth which have rounded roots in sockets. The teeth 

 in the fragment of maxilla have ilat chisel-shaped crowns with the 

 outer face feebly ridged. Probably those of the mandible were similar 

 in this respect. The most remarkable thing about the dentition is 

 that the most anterior of the teeth is larger than the others, and 

 may be looked upon as a canine. The total length of the series is 

 35 mm. Most of the teeth have a diameter of between 3 and 4 mm., 

 but the anterior tooth has a diameter of 5 mm." 



Associated with the lower jaw, on another small slab of stone is 

 the imperfect mould of a tibia, fibula and some of the bones of the 

 foot which bear nearly the same relation to the size of the jaw as 

 does the tibia to jaw in Nanosaurus. It seems probable, therefore, 

 that they are of the same species as the type jaw. 



The tibia is long and slender, apparently agreeing with that of 

 Nanosaurus in that it is compressed proximally with a somewhat 

 triangular cross-section, while its distal end is more rounded in section. 

 The proximal end is nearly all preserved. The anterior portion of 

 the articular surface is higher than the posterior part and is cons- 

 iderably narrower, the tuberositas tibiae being well defined. The 

 lateral process is rounded and strong. The shaft is slender; the 

 distal end is only preserved in the form of a mould of the lateral 

 sui-face. The total length is 140 mm.; the length of the proximal 



