OLDEST LAND REPTILES OF XORTII AMERICA 



93 



The purpose of this notice is to call attention to what has been and 

 is being done bv the American Museum towards exhibitino; this ancient 

 and wonderful Permian fauna which flourished during the later part of 

 the Age of Amphibians. The first step was taken some years ago, in 

 the purchase, through the generosity of the late President Morris K. 

 Jesup, of the Cope Collection of Fossil Reptiles, which included the 

 largest and finest series of Permian fossil vertebrates in the world. The 

 specimens are chiefly from 



Northern Texas, the only re- ] 



gion in which these rare fossils 

 have been found in any consid- 

 erable number. Professor Cope 

 early realized the importance of 

 the finds first made there in 

 1878, and had employed col- 

 lectors there for many years. 

 Owing to the difficulty and ex- 

 pense of preparation, the speci- 

 mens had been very little 

 worked up for scientific study 

 and still less for exhibition. 



In addition to presenting 

 the collection to the Museum, 

 ]\Ir. Jesup provided a special 

 preparation fund which has 

 made it possible to keep two 

 skilled preparators at work on 

 this and other parts of the Cope 

 collection for several years past. 

 As a result of their labors, the 

 principal specimens of the 



Cope Permian Collection have been extracted from the flinty concre- 

 tionary matrix in which they occur, and a considerable number have 

 already been placed on exhibition in the southeast corner of the 

 Dinosaur Hall. The series includes a more or less composite skeleton of 

 the Naosaurus or Ship-lizard (a photograph of which has appeared in 

 a previous number of the Journal), parts of the skeletons and skulls 

 of other Spine-backed Lizards, a large number of skulls and two skeletons 



FIG. 3. ARMORED AMPHIBIAN DIPLOCAULUS. 



Cope Permian Collection, presented by 

 Morris K. Jesup. 



