Fossil Rejjf/les. 267 



known, seemed to be " organised according to a type essentially 

 Lacertian, but witli Ci'ocodilian and Cheloiiian modifications.''' "It 

 is not. however," he added " amongst the modern Lizartls that we 

 tind the nearest approximation to the Dicjjnodon. For tins we 

 must go as far back into tiie period of Reptilian existence as the 

 epoch of the new red sandstone, when the Hhyncltosaurus mani- 

 fested the Lacertian tj^pe of skull combined with edentulous jaws, 

 which most probably were sheathed with horn. But the Lacei-tian 

 type is more closely adhered to in the Rhynchosaur than in the 

 Dicyn'idon : " What concerns us most in the present enquiry is 

 the anomalous edentulous sharp edpre of the upper and lower jaws 

 in the ancient R/tt/nchosaur, and the Chelonian form of the deej) 

 lower jaw, the same anomaly having been repeated in the extinct 

 xlfrican Lizard of apparently as remote a period, with the super 

 addition of Mammalian canine tusks. For the rest, however, much 

 difference of form is manifested in the tvvo extinct genera." This 

 early paper thus not only explains the association of Rhi/ncJw- 

 saarus with Dicynodon. but gives us the origin of the term Ano- 

 modontia in the anomalous condition of the armature of the jaw. 

 And though the name was only applied in 1859 there seems to 

 have been no change in Owen's views, and there can be little 

 doubt that he intended the term for reptiles more or less resemb- 

 ling Dicynodon. With Dicynodon he included Oudetiodon and 

 also hhynchosaurus, though he recognised that the latter form 

 was not very closely related to the former. There was, however 

 no mention made of Theriodonts when the term Anomoduntia 

 was first proposed, and this was not because they were not known 

 in 185'J. Li 1853 specimens which subsecjuently became the 

 tj'pes of Lycosaurus tigrinus and Cy nodrdco serrldeiis were pre- 

 sented to the British Museum, and would most likely have been 

 seen by Owen in that year, and if not, certainly in 1856 when he 

 became Superintendent of the Natural History Collections of the 

 Museum. In 1858 the skull which became the type of Galesaarus 

 pi'tnia'ps was presented by Sir George Grey, and also the snout 

 which became the type of Cy nocliaiinisa laniuria. These two 

 latter specimens were described in a i)aper read before (lie 

 Geological Society on 2Uth April, I851i. When later in tlie same 



