250 GEOLOGY OF CAPE COLONY 



roof of the mouth open as in lizards, in having only one 

 occipital condyle, and in having a complex lower jaw 

 hinging on a quadrate bone. 4 A large number of genera 

 and species are now known, some probably smaller than 

 a rat, others perhaps as large as a lion. Though the 

 structure of the skull is well known, our knowledge of 

 the rest of the skeleton is rather imperfect. 



In the same beds occurs a remarkable Labyrinthodont 

 genus Bhinesuchus, which is characterised by having 

 large numbers of very minute teeth on the bones of 

 the roof of the mouth. 



In the Permian beds along the Dwina in North Russia 

 a fossil fauna is met with remarkably like that of the 

 Lower Karroo beds. Pareiasaurus, Dicynodon and Oudeno- 

 don are found associated with a large carnivorous reptile 

 called Inostranzewia closely allied to the South African 

 genus Scymnosaurus, and a species of Ehinestoma appears 

 to occur in the Permian of Germany. 



At Victoria West there occur one or two small reptiles 

 which were possibly contemporaneous with Pareiasau- 

 rus. Of these the most interesting is a small animal 

 little bigger than a rat and with a very long tail and 

 which has been named Galechirus. Though essentially a 

 Therocephalian it differs from all other known genera 

 in having no coronoid process to the lower jaw, in hav- 

 ing no distinct canines, and in possessing abdominal 

 ribs. In those characters it agrees with the Ehyncho- 

 cephalians, and thus seems to throw light on the origin 

 of the phylum of mammal-like reptiles. Two other small 

 reptiles, possibly semi-aquatic, are known from the same 

 beds. These are Heleophilus and Heleosaurus. Both 



