124 



AMPHIBIA 



CLASS II 



Lepidodendron trunks. The larger forms, some of which attained gigantic 

 size, were predatory, and probably subsisted on other amphibians, fishes, and 

 crustaceans. 



Sub-Order A. PHYLLOSPONDYLI. Credner. (Branchiosauria.) 



Notochord persistent and encased in imperfect barrel-shaped vertebrae formed by 

 a pair of delicate hypocentra and downward prolongations of the neural arch, 

 but without pleurocentra. Teeth simple, hollow. 



Family 1. Branchiosauridae. Fritsch. 



Lizard -like Stegocephalia with broad, obtusely rounded heads. Basiocciput 

 cartilaginous, and also the carpus, tarsus, and pubis. Bibs short and straight, with 

 simple, thickened proximal ends. Pubis not ossified. Ventral scales thin, small, 

 pointed, and arranged in regular series. Carboniferous and Permian. 



Branchiosaurus, Fritsch (Protriton, Pleuroneura, Gaudry), (Figs. 201, 202, 



205 



Body 15-20 mm. long. 



B 



Head about as broad as long, 

 truncate behind, with shallow 

 auditory notch, and very large 

 elliptical orbits. Sclerotic ring 

 of about 30 small plates, and also 

 a supplementary series of smaller 



/Xfv 1 



m 



m 





it 





Fig. 207 



Branchiosaurus amblystomus, Credner. Rothliegendes, 

 Niederhasslich, near Dresden. A, Skeleton of adult indi- 

 vidual, i/j. B, Restoration of a larval form with gill arches 

 (after Credner). 



i" IU. -VO. 



Branchiosaurus petrolei, Gaudry sp. 

 Lower Permian ; Autun. Vi (after 

 Gaudry). 



plates irregularly arranged. Cranial plates radially striated or punctate. 

 Parasphenoid greatly expanded behind, and uniting with trifid pterygoid. 

 Vomer paired, the two pieces triangular ; palatines imperfectly known. Jaws 

 with a single series each of slender, closely spaced conical teeth. Inter- 

 clavicle sub-rectangular, externally furrowed. Ilium stout, hourglass-shaped ; 

 ischium delicate, triangular. 



The entire ventral surface of the body, together with a portion of the tail and 

 limbs, was protected by deeply overlapping cycloidal scales (Fig. 193) arranged in 



