6$o SCIENCE PROGRESS 



alone Dr. Broom is of opinion that " we may safely conclude 

 that it is a cotylosaur, and in the meantime it may be safest 

 to follow Case in keeping it as the type of a distinct suborder — 

 the Pantylosauria." 



As containing descriptions both of primitive reptiles and 

 of stegocephalian amphibians, mention may be made of an 

 important and exhaustive memoir on the vertebrate fauna of 

 the Permo-Carboniferous beds of north-central New Mexico 

 by Messrs. Case, Williston, and Mehl, issued, as Publication 

 No. 181, by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The total 

 number of species from this horizon at present identified 

 includes a shark akin to Pleuracanthus, five amphibians, and 

 ten reptiles of a low, although in some cases specialised, type. 

 The most noteworthy of the amphibian remains is a skull 

 described as the representative of a new genus and species, 

 under the name of Chenoprosopus milleri ; the generic title 

 referring to the superficial resemblance of the specimen to 

 the skull of a goose {Chen). This genus belongs apparently 

 to the temnospondylous amphibians, in spite of certain indi- 

 cations of affinity with reptiles. Among undoubted reptiles 

 special interest attaches to the restoration of the skeleton of 

 the pelycosaurian described by O. C. Marsh as Ophiacodon 

 minis, on account of the enormous size of the skull as compared 

 with that of the trunk. According to the figures, the shoulder 

 and pectoral girdles of this and certain allied forms present 

 a striking resemblance to the corresponding elements of African 

 anomodonts. 



In close connection with the above is an article by Dr. 

 Broom (Bull, Anier. Mus. Nat. Hist. vol. xxxii. pp. 563-5) on 

 the temnospondylous stegocephalians of the North American 

 Permian, which is chiefly devoted to the further elucidation of 

 the structure and affinities of genera, such as Cricotus, Trimero- 

 rhachis, Eryops, and Zatrac/iys, described by previous writers. 

 New species of the second and third of these are, however, 

 named ; and the communication is of special value on account 

 of the excellent figures of the skulls of all four. 



In another communication (Ann. S. African Mus. vol. xii. 

 pp. 6 and 7) Dr. Broom describes the skull and skeleton of 

 a comparatively small stegocephalian from the Permo-Trias 

 of the Fraserburg district of South Africa, under the name of 

 Phrynosuclius ivhaitsi; the generic designation (as well, of 



