512 Mr. D. M. IS. Watson on the Cynodontia. 



A complete skull in the South-African Museum has been 

 partly described by Haughton. As I hope Mr. Haughton 

 will shortly publish a full account of his most important 

 specimen, I here give only notes of some morphologically 

 important features shown on the type. 



It is obvious that the snout was very low and broad, the 

 width at the canine being of the order of one and a half times 

 the height. The snout is very short, the whole descending 

 flange of the pterygoid being preserved on the right side. 

 Although no part of the orbital margin is preserved, there is 

 no doubt that the orbit lies immediately behind the broken 

 posterior edge of the specimen, that part of the jugal which 

 forms its lower border being preserved on the right side. 

 The upper dental formula is correctly given by Owen. 



There is a large septomaxilla shown on both sides, which 

 articulates with the maxilla and premaxilla, and is wedged in 

 between the maxilla and nasal above in a typically Gorgo- 

 nopsid fashion. There is a septom axillary foramen of fair 

 size lying between the maxilla and septomaxilla, and opening- 

 out on the side of the face. 



The anterior border of the nasals seems to have projected 

 over the nostril as in Gorgonopsids. 



Nythosaurus larvatus, Owen, Cat. Foss. Rept. 8. At'r. 

 pis. xx. and xxxiv. p. 24. 



Type-specimen, Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist. R. 1713, the ironstone 

 cast of the inside of the skull and lower jaw. Said by Owen 

 to be from " Tafelberg/' Sneewberg ; by Broom from the 

 Caledon Road, O.F.S. : collected by W. G. Atherstone. 

 Horizon unknown, probably Lystrosaurus- or Procoloplwn- 

 zone. 



Type further described by Seeley (Phil. Trans. B, vol. 180, 

 p. 278) and by Watson (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 8, 

 vol. xii.). 



Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist. R. 847. Cast of the nasal cavity, 

 with the maxillary and some mandibular teeth well preserved. 



The dentition shown on the type-skull is i. -, c. T , m. ?. 



R. 847 has eight upper molars and suggests six or seven 

 lower molars. 



The only additional point of interest to be extracted from 

 the specimen is that there is a relatively large reflected 

 lamina of the angular originating just behind the dentaiy and 

 extending downwards and backwards as a fan-shaped bone. 



