THE YEAR'S VERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY 515 



from the Cretaceous of Central India, its reappearance in 

 Madagascar has an important bearing on the theory of a former 

 land-connection between those two countries. 



Great interest also attaches to a couple of skeletons of a 

 small reptile from the Trias of Lossiemouth, Elginshire, regarded 

 by Dr. H. Smith Woodward {Quart. Jouru. Geol. Soc, vol. Ixiii. 

 p. 140) as representing a new type of dinosaur, for which the 

 name Sclcroniocliliis taylori is proposed. The pelvis is unlike 

 that of the Rhynchocephalia, while the absence of bony armour 

 and the apparent perforation of the acetabular cavity of the pelvis 

 distinguish the skeleton from the Parasuchia. On the other hand, 

 the observable characteristics seem distinctly dinosaurian, and 

 appear to indicate relationship with the Triassic American 

 genera Animosaunis, Aiichisanrns, and Hallopns. The large 

 skull, apparently toothless jaws, and the firm union of four 

 elongated metatarsal bones are, however, peculiarities of the 

 Elgin reptile, which w^as evidently a specialised type. The 

 extreme lightness of the skeleton, coupled with the elongation 

 of the hind-limbs, suggests leaping habits. 



Passing on to the Parasuchia, or Phytosauria, we find that 

 in America Mr. J. H. Lees has described in The Journal of 

 Geology (vol. XV. p. 121) a new genus and species from the Trias 

 of Wyoming, under the name of Palceorhinus bransoni. The 

 genus is akin to the American Rliytidodou, from which it appears 

 to be mainly distinguished by a difference in the form of the 

 ilium. In Europe Prof. E. Fraas {JahrcsJiefte Vcr. Naturkunde 

 VVurttemberg, 1907, p. loi) has made known a new species of 

 Aetosaurus from the upper Stubensandstein of Stromberg, near 

 Pfaffenhofen, under the name oi A.cristicauda. In regard to the 

 group to which these reptiles belong, it is remarked that one 

 of the most important differences from the typical Parasuchia 

 is the smaller share taken by the ischium and pubis in the 

 formation of the acetabulum. This and other differences do 

 not, however, necessitate ordinal separation from that group, 

 of which the Aetosauria may be regarded as a specialised branch, 

 distinguished by the peculiar type of the dermal armour. 



The acquisition by the Belgian Museum of a number of 

 vertebrate remains from the Eocene strata of Erquelinnes, near 

 Hainault, has enabled Dr. L. Dollo {Bull. Soc. Beige Geol., 

 vol. xxi. p. 3) to describe a new type of crocodile, to which 

 he has given the name Eosuchus lerichei. Although a member 



