98 Mr. D. M. S. Watson on the Nomenclature 



XV. — On the Nomenclature of the South-African Paria- 

 saurians. By D. M. S. Watson, M.Sc, Lecturer on 

 Vertebrate Palaeontology in University College, London. 



The first Pariasaurian to be described was Pariasaurus 

 serridens^ Owen, founded on a specimen exposed by Andrew 

 Geddes Bain in 1838 wliilst blasting for tbe Government 

 road north of Fort Beaufort. In his celebrated paper on 

 South-African geology Bain records this specimen in the 

 following words : — " It was near Bluikwater Port that I 

 succeeded in extracting from the scarp of a steep hill of 

 sandstone the lower part of the pelvis, a fragment of the 

 bony cuirass^ the head armed with sixty teeth, and other 

 bones of a large reptile " *. In the manuscript " Catalogue 

 of Fossils from South Africa," 1843, which accompanied 

 Bain^s collection this specimen is recorded as follows : — 



1. Head with 60 teeth, of a large reptile. 



1 (A). Supposed scapula. 



1 B. Part of vertebrae and ribs. 



1 (C). Do. 



1 CD). Pelvis. 



1 E-Z aa, bb, and detached fragments. (See also nos. 53 



& 54.). 

 53.1 One of these belongs to specimen 1. The other is 

 54. J part of a fossil found near it. 



The only part of this individual figured by Owen in the 

 original description of Pariasaurus serridens in the 'Catalogue 

 of Fossil Reptiles of South Africa in the British Museum ' 

 (1876) was the skull. 



This skull has now disappeared, with the exception of a 

 fragment of the lower jaw about 10 cm. long, which has 

 been cut into three slabs by a lapidary's wheel. 



In the manuscript records of the Geological Department 

 of the Museum is a list in the handwriting of Wm. Davies, 

 which probably refers to the arrangement of a case ; in this, 

 with mention of other important specimens of South- 

 African reptiles mostly figured by Owen in 1856, is the 

 following entry : — 



" Great pelvis 1 D in the first catalogue without locality."' 



This entry, in my opinion, gives clear evidence that the 

 pelvis of the type-specimen had been developed, and was in 

 existence about 1860. 



^ Trans. Geol. Soc. ser. ii. vol. vii. p. 56 (18J5). 



