330 Annals of the Soutli African Museum. 



anterior, but the movement was mainly between the femur and 

 the innominate. The head of the femur must have had a large 

 rounded pad of cartilage which fitted into the acetabulum, and 

 allowed of considerable freedom of movement. In the knee-joint 

 the amount of movement must have been very limited. Both femur 

 and tibia doubtless had articular cartilages, but the evidence is that 

 these were comparatively thin, and the articular surfaces of the 

 femur are not larger than those of the tibia. It seems probable that 

 the amount of movement of the tibia on the femur was limited to 

 about 45. The relative positions of the femur, tibia, fibula, and the 

 proximal tarsal bone when the animal is standing are shown in the 

 figures given. The degree of movement between the tarsal bone 

 and the tibia and fibula was probably very limited, and the ankle 

 movement must have been mainly between the distal tarsals and 

 the proximal tarsal bone. 



Pareiasaunis and Propappus were heavily built animals which 

 probably walked with slow, deliberate movements such as we see in 

 the large tortoises. They were land animals, and it seems more 

 likely that they lived even on the dry land than that they frequented 

 the marshes. The structure of the claws and the humerus would 

 seem to indicate that they were digging animals, and probably, like 

 Echidna, they defended themselves from their carnivorous enemies 

 by digging into the ground. The occurrence of bony plates along 

 the dorsal region of Parciasanrns would serve to protect the most 

 vulnerable part of the body when the animal had dug its way into 

 the ground for safety. In Propappus, a smaller and feebler animal, 

 bony plates were situated all over the back and sides and apparently 

 even on the outer sides of the limbs, but the plates on the back 

 are very much larger and strengthened by a powerful median 

 boss in each. 



