THE FOSSIL REPTILE AND AMPHIBIAN 

 COLLECTION 



BY 



H. C. STETSON 



The fossil reptile collection in storage was until recently very small. 

 The largest accession is the Sternberg collection of 1882 from the 

 Texas Permian, among which are some most important remains of 

 Seymouria which have recently been uncovered, as well as a fine 

 skull of Captorhinus. There is some excellent Triassic material: 

 Mystriosaurs and Ichthyosaurs from England and Germany; a fine 

 Phytosaur from California; and, lastly, the Singleton collection of 

 Pleistocene turtles from Florida. Many of the most valuable fossil 

 reptiles are exhibited, but they are always removable for study by 

 qualified students. The Australian Plesiosaurs, recently collected, 

 have been only partially studied, but they are the largest ever found. 

 A Diadectes has been mounted. 



The amphibians contain three rather valuable accessions — first a 

 collection of Stegocephalians from the Lower Permian of Lebach, 

 Germany, part of the old Bronn collection; secondly, several good 

 Stegocephalian specimens from the Linton Coal Measures of Ohio 

 and a few Batrachians from the Miocene of Germany; and fine repre- 

 sentatives of the genera Eryops, Buettneria and Diplocaulus. 



There are, however, only about twenty types in this department. 



Since the above was written Dr. A. S. Romer has become Curator 

 of the Department, and fruitful expeditions have yielded large collec- 

 tions of fossil reptiles from the Permian of Texas, as yet largely 

 unstudied. 



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