BibliograpJilcal Notice. 47o 



pods, and Vertebrates the ceplialic and body parts of the 

 animal are to be regarded as directly equivalent, because they 

 originate in an absolutely similar manner. 



This is not the ])lace to draw the conclusions which naturally 

 follow from the above considerations ; for these I must refer 

 the reader to my more complete work, which will appear in 

 the next volume of the 'Arbeiten aus dem zoologisch-zooto- 

 mischen Institut in Wiirzburg.' 



Wiirzburg, January 20, 1876. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 



Catalogue of the Fossil R.ptilia of South Africa hi the Collection 

 of the British Museum. By Richard Owen, C.B., F.R.S. 4to. ' 

 London : Printed by Order of the Trustees, 1876. 



In tliis work the Autlior has completed another of the series of, 

 ' Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogues ' by which, as in the case 

 of Hunter's ' Physiological Series in the Museum of the College of 

 Surgeons,' he has made available to students and applicable to the 

 advancement of science collections in our Public Museums. 



The subject of the present Catalogue, in quarto, ihustrated b}^ 

 70 plates, is a series of fossils from South Africa, now arranged and 

 exhibited in the Geological Department of the British Museum. 



It appears that comparatively few of these evidences of the cold- 

 blooded air-breathing Class could be brought within the limits of 

 previously characterized Orders ; and they have consequently led to 

 the definition of new ones. 



The order Theriodontia is characterized as follows : — " Dentition 

 of the carnivorous type ; incisors defined by position, and divided 

 from molars by a large laniariform canine on each side of both upper 

 and lower jaws, the lower canine crossing in front of the upper, 

 as in Mammalia "' (p. 15). Of this order twenty-two specimens 

 are described, and referred to fourteen species representing ten genera, 

 which are grouped, according to characters of the external nostril, 

 into the families Binarialia, Mononarialia, and Tectinarialia. The 

 type genera of this order are Lijcosaurus, Tigrisuchus, Cynochampsa, 

 Nythosaurus, Scaloposaurus, Procohphon, and Oorgonops. 



The order Anomodontia is characterized by :— " Teeth wanting 

 or limited to a single pair, having the form and proportion of tusks, 

 or several and small, but limited to the bony palate and to the inner 

 part of the mandibular alveolar border. The first two families, de- 

 fined by dental characters, also yield the following ordinal ones, viz. : — 

 a ' foramen parietale ; ' two external nostrils ; tympanic pedicle fixed ; 

 vertebra? biconcave ; anterior trunk-ribs with a bifurcate proximal 

 end ; sacrum of more than two vertebra? ; ischio-pubic symphysis 

 continuous " (p. 29 ). 



