EXTINCT ANIMALS 



parts of the structure of skull and jaw, and often 

 also in the teeth, they resemble the mammals or 

 Theria. They come near to a point in the 

 history of terrestrial vertebrate beasts which is 

 the common origin of Reptiles, Mammals and 

 Batrachia or Amphibians (newts, salamanders 

 and frogs). 



Their remains have been found in the Triassic 

 sandstones and limestones of South Africa, of 

 Russia, of India and of Scotland and the centre 

 of England. One of the most striking of these 

 is represented by a completely reconstructed 

 skeleton from Cape Colony in the Natural His- 

 tory Museum, photographed in Fig. 151. The 

 skeleton is some eight feet long and looks like 

 a gigantic pug-dog. This is the Pariasaurus, 

 and is shown by its small teeth to have been 

 herbivorous. 



From the same locality we have the Dicyno- 

 don with two huge tusks, and the Cynognathus 

 with a skull and set of teeth wonderfully re- 

 calling those of a bear at first sight. 



Another strange crested form belonging here 

 is the Dimetrodon from the Permian strata of 

 Texas, U.S.A. (Fig. 152). 



But I am now able to show you, through the 



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