278 Annals of the South African Museum. 



digits are mostly lost. There is a well-developed 1st tarsal, a small 

 2nd tarsal, and a large 3rd tarsal, while a fair-sized element articu- 

 lates behind with all three. It will be seen that the general 

 structure of the foot is typically Diaptosaurian and more adapted for 

 land progression than that of Mesosaurus. 



While it is impossible to be certain of the affinities of Heleophilus, 

 we may, I think, safely place it near Heleosaurus, from which it 

 differs in having long rounded teeth, and provisionally we may put 

 both in the Mesosauria. 



When I described Galechirus and Heleosaurus from Victoria West, 

 I thought it not improbable that we had here evidences of the land 

 forms of the Lystrosaurus fauna. Both are distinctly primitive 

 types, the one an ancestral Therocephalian and the other apparently 

 allied to Mesosaurus, and it is satisfactory to have the opinion of 

 Mr. A. L. du Toit, who has since visited the locality, that the 

 Victoria West beds are probably very low in the Beaufort series. 

 We are therefore safe in concluding that Heleophilus and the others 

 are Permian and probably Lower or Middle Permian. 



