Great Salamanders and their Associates 



two large teeth were all tliat the dicynodonts 

 possessed, the front of the jaw having a beak 

 like that of a large turtle, so that the animals 

 must have presented a most singular appear- 

 ance. On the 

 one hand, the 

 anomodonts 

 seem to resem- 

 ble mammals, 

 while the low- 

 est members of 

 the order have 

 undoubted 

 affinities with their contemporaries, the laby- 

 rinthodonts. All in all, they form a most ex- 

 traordinary branch of the animal kingdom, and 

 one of additional interest from its rapid rise, 

 short duration — through the Permian and Trias 

 only — and apparent abrupt termination. This 

 last may be due to the absence of the records, 

 and later we may come upon specimens that 

 will extend their range in time, or show wheth- 

 er they did pass into mammals or simply died 

 out. 



129 



Skull of a dicynodont, Dicynodon lacerti- 

 ceps, from South Africa. (After Owen.) 



