VERTEBRATE PALiEONTOLOGY IN 1910 6^7 



bian shoulder-girdle, published at Grahamstown, but in which 

 of the South African journals there is no clue in my copy. 

 After discussing the elements of the frog's shoulder-girdle, 

 Dr. Broom refers to the cleithrum, or clithrum, as it should 

 be spelt, of the labyrinthodonts, pelycosaurians, pariasaurians, 

 and dicynodonts. 



Further reference to the constitution of the amphibian and 

 reptilian shoulder-girdle occurs in a paper by Mr. Williston 

 in the Journal of Geology, 1910, pp. 585-600, under the title 

 " New Permian Reptiles and Rhachitomous Vertebrae." In this 

 communication the author adopts the view (already accepted 

 by Ameghino) that the element commonly termed precoracoid, 

 or procoracoid, is really the coracoid, while the posterior bone 

 generally designated coracoid is a metacoracoid. In referring 

 to the origin of this revised nomenclature, he states it is " after 

 Howes and Lydekker, the former of whom reached the same 

 conclusion from the study of mammals." As a matter of fact, 

 I suggested the redetermination — Proc. Zool. Soc. 1893, p. 172 — 

 from an examination of the shoulder-girdle of sloths and 

 monotremes, but my conclusions were disputed by Prof. Howes. 



As regards the rhachitimous type of vertebrae, the author 

 strongly suggests the view, in the paper last quoted, that the 

 hypocentum is the element from which the centrum of higher 

 vertebrates has been evolved. 



Of the new forms described in the same paper, perhaps the 

 most interesting is Arceoscelis, which is regarded as typifying 

 a new family, of uncertain affinity. The one species appears 

 to have been a long-necked and long-legged reptile of about 

 18 in. in length. 



Certain specimens of South African fossil reptiles in the 

 collection of the British Museum form the subject of a short 

 article by Dr. R. Broom in the Trans. R. Soc. S. Africa, vol. ii. 

 pp. 19-25 ; the species referred to including Galesaurus, Scalopo- 

 saurus, Titanosuchus (of which an imperfect skull is for the 

 first time described and figured), Tlieriognathits, ^lin-osaunts, 

 Lycosaurus, and Cistecephalus. 



The earliest known Tetrapoda of France are discussed in an 

 article communicated by M. Armand Thevenin to the Paris 

 Annales de Paleontologie, vol. v. pt. i. The review, which is 

 well illustrated, includes such forms as Protriton, Pelosaurus, 

 Actinodon, and Archegosaurus. It concludes with a discussion 



