V. A NEW RHYNCHOCEPHALIAN FROM THE JURA OF 



SOLENHOFEN. 



By Norman MacDowell Grier.* 



(Plate XXII.) 

 Homeosaurus digitatellus sp. nov. 



The specimen figured is part of the Bayet Collection (No. 4026, 

 Carnegie Museum Catalog of Vertebrate Fossils). Through the kind- 

 ness of Dr. C. R. Eastman, of the Section of Paleontology, Carnegie 

 Museum, it was placed in my hands for identification and description. 



The skeleton has been injured to some extent through cracking 

 and other damage sustained by the matrix, but is in good condition 

 as regards many parts. It is so placed in the matrix as to reveal the 

 dorsal aspect, and surrounding it appears the impression of the con- 

 tour of the body in relief on the matrix, this impression being of a dull 

 red color probabh' occasioned by the putrefaction of the body. The 

 matrix itself is quite hard. 



The Cranium. — Injuries are evident here. The cranium is slightly 

 flattened, possibly by the imbedding of the animal. The premaxil- 

 laries as well as the greater part of the nasals, have been lost. Judging 

 from the impression in the matrix, the premaxillaries were arched 

 anteriorly. Nothing can be said of the superior maxillaries. The 

 left superior maxillary is broken off, as is also the greater portion of the 

 right; the position of the skull furthermore does not give much oppor- 

 tunity to observe them. The frontals (See Plate XXII, a) are united by 

 a distinct suture, the adjuncts of which appear to taper both anteriorly 

 and posteriorly. They are approximately one-eighth of the greatest 

 width of the skull. Only the right orbital ridge is at all well-defined 

 (5). Here the prefrontal, postfrontal, and the articulation of the 

 quadrate-jugal bone with the latter may be observed (c). The anterior 



1 Extracted from the thesis presented by the author to the Faculty of the Graduate 

 School of the University of Pittsburgh, June, 1912, for the degree of Master of Arts. 

 The thesis embodies a lengthy discussion of the relationships of Sphenodon to the 

 other Reptilia, which the editor of tlie Annals does not feel that he has the space 

 to print, and which he therefore has omitted, although it is meritorious as a review 

 of what is known as to the Rhyncocephalia, to which the genus Homeosaurus 

 belongs. 



86 



