PROGRESS IN VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 461 



that this snake, which is specially characterised by its sharp 

 muzzle, was aquatic and probably marine in habits, and that it 

 is so distinct from all living groups as to be entitled to rank as 

 the representative of a separate family — the Archceophidce. 



On labyrinthodonts (or stegocephalians) little work seems to 

 have been done during the year. Very important, however, is 

 the identification by Dr. Smith Woodward of an archegosaurian 

 from beds in the Vihi Valley, Kashmir, apparently underlying 

 marine Permian strata. The labyrinthodont was accompanied by 

 remains of certain fishes and plants — the latter of the Gondwana 

 type ; and the whole series is described by Messrs. Woodward 

 and Seward in the P alccontologia Indica (new series, ii. art. 2). 

 The labyrinthodont is referred to the European Archegosaurus, 

 no reference being made to Gondwanosaurus of the Bijori beds in 

 Central India, which was probably contemporaneous, or there- 

 abouts. The fishes are referred to the Lower Permian genus 

 Amblypterus. The importance of the paper is connected with 

 stratigraphical rather than with purely palaeontological con- 

 siderations. 



In the preceding passage we have passed imperceptibly from 

 amphibians to fishes, which now claim the remaining space. 

 Perhaps the most important paper in this group is one by Dr. O. 

 Abel, on fossil flying-fishes (Fossile Flugfishc), published in the 

 Jahrbuch of the Austrian Geological Survey (1906, lvi. part 1). 

 At the present day there are two distinct types of marine flying- 

 fishes — namely, the flying-gurnards and the flying-herrings, the 

 latter being what may be called the typical flying-fishes ; while 

 there is also the fresh-water African Pantodon. It is quite 

 evident that each of these has acquired its powers of flight 

 independently of the other ; and similarly, Dr. Abel shows that 

 in past geological times several kinds of fishes, totally distinct 

 from the modern types, possessed long pectoral fins, which were 

 intended, in all probability, to enable their owners to skim the 

 surface of the water in flying-fish fashion. The earlier of these 

 fishes — Thoracopterus and Gigantopterus — occur in strata belong- 

 ing to the period of the Trias, or New Red Sandstone, and, like 

 their non-flying contemporaries, had their bodies encased in an 

 armour of quadrangular enamel-covered scales. The so-called 

 flying-fishes of the Chalk (Chirotlirix) are regarded, however, by 

 the author, despite their long pectoral fins, as deep-sea forms. 



As a memoir of high morphological value, special mention 



30 



