THE COAL MEASURES AMPHIBIA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



of the Paleozoic, and to his researches is due a large part of our knowledge of these 

 forms. 



Great credit is due Dr. J. S. Newberry (495, 498) for the enthusiasm and interest 

 which his collections of Coal Measures Amphibia exhibit. He furnished Cope with 

 the majority of the type material described by him, and it was through Dr. New- 

 berry's instrumentality that the "Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia from the Coal 

 Measures" (123) was published. The material which Dr. Newberry had collected 

 he took with him from Ohio to Columbia University, New York, and a part of his 

 collection still remains in the geological collection of that institution, although the 

 greater portion has been transferred to the American Museum of Natural History. 

 The Newberry collection forms the basis for the larger part of this memoir. 



Between the year 1853 and the early nineties, Dawson continued (200-223) 

 his researches on the Amphibia of the Coal Measures of Nova Scotia. His most 

 notable single work (208) is "The Air-Breathers of the Coal Period," published in 

 Montreal in 1863, in which he gives a complete account of the forms then known 

 from Canada, attempting some restorations. Since his death there have been no 

 new species described from Canada, and, so far as I can learn, there has been no 

 further collecting at the South Joggins. 



Recently G. F. Matthew (409) has rearranged the classification of amphibian 

 footprints from Nova Scotia. Jaekel (347) has described very fully the remains of 

 Diceratosaurns punctolineatus (Cope) from Linton, Ohio, basing the new genus on a 

 species described by Cope as a member of Ceraterpeton . Hay (316) has added to 

 the knowledge of the anatomy of Amphibamus, his most interesting contribution 

 being the detection of long, curved ribs in this form. This character excludes the 

 species from the order Branchiosauria and shows the relationship of the form to 

 the Hylonomidse and the Microsauria. Schwarz (540) has described the characters 

 of the vertebrae and ribs of several genera of the Coal Measures Amphibia and has 

 (541) offered his views as to the descent of the Amphibia, based entirely on his work 

 on the vertebrae of species from North America and Europe. 



Since 1908 the writer has published several contributions (457-489) on the 

 Amphibia from the Coal Measures of North America. The results of these investi- 

 gations are given in this work. 



