26 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



batrachians hitherto known date from the Oligocene or Eocene, 

 the author has overlooked the description in 1902 by Mr. L. M. 

 Vidal {Mem. R. Ac. Cienc. Barcelona, ser. 3, vol. iv. p. 203) 

 of a frog from the reputed Kimeridgian of Montsech, north- 

 eastern Spain, under the name of Palceobatrachus gaudryi; the 

 genus being typically from the European Miocene and Oligocene. 

 This putting-back of the clock in regard to the geological age 

 of frogs and toads upsets current ideas on the subject of 

 batrachian evolution. 



In a communication on the skulls of large Coal Measure 

 labyrinthodonts preserved in the Museum at Newcastle {Man- 

 chester Mem. vol. lviii. No. 1), Mr. D. M. S. Watson records a 

 morphological observation which, although somewhat technical, 

 is of such importance as to deserve quotation in full : 



" Examination of these primitive and extremely well-pre- 

 served skulls seems to show that the ordinary idea of the 

 autostylism of the Tetrapoda is incorrect in postulating a 

 connexion between the pterygo-quadrate cartilage and the 

 otic region. It is, I think, quite certain that there never was 

 such a connexion in primitive forms, except through the dermal 

 bones of the temporal region. The lower attachment with the 

 basisphenoid I have shown to exist in crossopterygians, which 

 are hence ' amphistylic ' in a different way to Notidanus" 



In this connexion may be noticed a long paper by Dr. J. 

 Versluys {Zoo/. Jahrb. 191 2, suppl. xv. 2nd vol. pp. 545-719) 

 on the problem of streptostylism and the mobility of the palate 

 in extinct and living reptiles. The subject is, however, of such 

 a complicated nature that it would be impossible to do justice 

 to it in the space at my disposal. 



Reverting to the Stegocephalia, it has to be added that 

 Prof, von Huene has communicated to the Anatomischer 

 Anzeiger, vol. xli. pp. 98-104, an article on the skull of the 

 American genus Eryops, in which the relationships and 

 homology of the constituent bones of the occipital and basi- 

 cranial regions are clearly indicated. 



In this place reference may be made conveniently to an 

 article by Dr. Moodie in the serial already quoted (pp. 277-85) 

 on the amphibian fauna of the Permian shales of Mazon Creek, 

 Illinois. Ten species, referred to eight genera, are now known 

 from this horizon ; their systematic positions being indicated in 

 a table of classification. 



