234 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



rus. Its nearest ally is Macrosaurus, in some of the vertebras of which a 

 slight groove, beside the zygapophysis, is the rudiment of the zygantrum. 

 If of the same proportions as Iguana and Amblyrhynchus, its length would 

 not have been much different fi'om twelve feet, or that of the largest alliga- 

 tors of the Mississippi. 



OPHIDIA. 



PALiEOPHIS Owen. 



Pal;eophis littoralis Cope. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1868, 147. 



This, with the following, is the only serpent whose remains have been 

 found in the United States in deposits older than the post-pliocene. We owe 

 its preservation to Dr. Knieskern, of Shark River, N. J., best known by his 

 botanical investigations. It is in possession of the New Jersey State Geologi- 

 cal Survey, and has been submitted to me by Prof. Geo. H. Cook, the Director, 

 for examination. The specimens consist of three vertebra;, neither of them 

 perfect ; the most so with neural arch, but with diapophjses broken off. 



The more perfect is an anterior dorsal, with two hypapophyses, the anterior 

 small and directed forwards, the posterior larger, and directed vertically down- 

 wards. The ball has some superior up-look, though the groove which 

 bounds it is but little oblique. Centrum much compressed behind the middle. 

 Plane of basis of zygapophysis opposite floor of neural arch ; zygapophysis di- 

 rected slightly upwards and outwards, continuous by a broad wing running 

 posteriorly, with the diapophysis. Neural arch well elevated, (broken off be- 

 hind). The basis of the neural spine is narrow on the anterior part of the arch, 

 and does not reach the anterior margin. 



Lin. 



Length centrum (ball to edge cup). 8-25 



Depth ball 4-25 



Width " 5- 



" between extremities of zygapophyses 8* 



Depth cup and neural arch .... 7-5 



Width neural arch behind ,. 2-25 



A strong ridge extends from the zygapophysis posteriorly parallel with the 

 centrum. There is no ridge continued from the zygosphen. Except a slight 

 ridge below the fossa, which is above and back of the diapophysis, the surface 

 of the vertebra is smooth. 



Another vertebra is rather broader in proportion to its length, and less com- 

 pressed. 



Lin. 



Length (as above) 7-8 



Width ball 5 



In both the ball has a subtriangular outline. In the more perfect, the base 

 of the neural canal is divided by a narrow longitudinal epapophysis. 



Loeality. — The eocene green sand bed o§ Shark River, Monmouth Co., N. J. 



Pal^ophis halidanus Cope, sp. nov. 



A single vertebra represents this species. It indicates one of the largest of 

 the genus, being little different from the P. typhaeusof Owen in size. The 

 bulk of the vertebra is double that of the P. 1 i 1 1 o r a 1 i s. In addition to this 

 point, it differs from the latter in the greater transverse diameter of the cup 

 and ball; these are transversely oval; in the P. littoralis subtriangular 

 ovate; the centrum is naturally less constricted and broader in the former. 

 The articular face of the zygapophysis is broadly ovate in the P. halida- 

 nus, narrowly in the smaller species ; while there are indications of similar 

 posterior hj'papophysis in both, the anterior in the P. halidanus appears 

 to have been smaller. 



As compared with the species described by Owen, the cup and ball are more 



[Oct. 



