242 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



spondylia. Without doubt some of these species will prove in- 

 valid and there will be others already described which will in 

 time prove to belong to this group, but the above statements 

 represent an approximation of our present knowledge. 



Since the present essay is to deal especially with a new mem- 

 ber of the genus E^ijojJs, only those groups will be here de- 

 fined to which Eryops and its allies pertain. 



Order — Temnospondylia, Zittel, 1887. 



Terrestrial or semiaquatic vertebrata ; skull bones pitted and 

 grooved; lateral line canals present; pineal foramen some- 

 times absent; sclerotic plates present; vertebrae rachitomous 

 or embolomerous ; notochord usually persistent ; one or two 

 sacral vertebra; tail present, short or long; limbs and girdles 

 all well developed ; pectoral and pelvic girdles composed of the 

 usual stegocephalan elements; an osseous pubis present; 

 cleithrum present on the scapula in some forms; limb bones 

 well developed and bones of forearm and leg separate; carpus 

 and tarsus osseous, 12 elements present in tarsus of one form, 

 11 carpals; five digits in hand and foot; phalangeal formula 

 2, 3, 3, 4, 2 (?) for the hand and 2-3-3-3-2 (?) for the foot; 

 venter covered with an armature of osseous scutes, sometimes 

 overlapping; skin of back bare or armored; ribs heavy, double- 

 headed, curved, and either moderately long or short. Body 

 short and heavy. As compared to skull, about two to one. 

 Temporal foramina present in a few forms. 



Range. Pennsylvanian to (Triassic) Upper Permian. 



Distribution. North America — Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma 

 and Texas. Europe — Germany, Bohemia, France. Asia — 

 India. 



The suborder Rhachitomi is characterized solely by the na- 

 ture of the vertebral column, which is cut into triangular seg- 

 ments. 



Family — Eryopid^ Cope, 1882. 



Large terrestrial or amphibious vertebrata; skull bones 

 deeply marked with pits and grooves which at times take the 

 form of lateral line canals ; carpus and tarsus osseous ; pubis 

 osseous ; pentadactyl fore and hind limbs ; orbits in the typical 

 genus located far back on the skull and near the median line; 

 cleithrum present on the scapula ; vertebrae rachitomous, the 

 intercentrum supporting the arch in the dorsal region; para- 



