CHAPTER VII 
ANOMALOUS REPTILES 
“Tn the endeavour to complete the Natural History of any class of animals, 
the mind seeks to penetrate the mystery of its origin, and, by tracing its 
mutations in time past, to comprehend more clearly its actual condition, and 
gain an insight into its probable destiny in time to come.”—Sir R. Owen. 
HAVING, in our previous chapter, discussed the Labyrinthodonts, 
we now pass on to consider some of their descendants in the 
shape of a very peculiar group of reptiles hailing from South 
Africa and elsewhere. Perhaps the chief peculiarity, among 
many others, presented by these very antique and old-fashioned 
inhabitants of the world, is to be found in their teeth. In fact, 
so irregular and anomalous are they in regard to these organs, 
and so at variance with all our preconceived ideas with regard 
to what proper, well-behaved reptiles, whether living or extinct, 
ought to be like, that their vagaries in this respect have led 
to their being christened by the name of Anomodonts, or 
“anomalously toothed” reptiles. Needless to say, they occupy 
a distinct order, with several sub-orders, in the classifications 
adopted by paleontologists. They are also by some authorities 
named Theromorphs and Theriodonts. The moral of all this is, 
as we shall better understand later on, that it would be well for 
students of extinct forms of lite to enter this domain of Science 
without any preconceived ideas at all! It would save a great 
1 Greek—anomos, without law ; odous, odontos, tooth. 
