ANOMALOUS REPTILES 



119 



abounded in the seas of the Permian period. These, as Owen 

 points out, may have been its prey. 



The beak-headed lizards, or Ehynchocephalia, 1 belong to another 

 very remarkable order of reptiles 

 that lived during the New Eed 

 Sandstone period. The order is 

 now almost extinct, being only 

 represented by the Tuatara, or 

 Sphenodon, of New Zealand. 



There are three extinct 

 reptiles to be considered under 

 this head before we conclude 

 our survey of Triassic reptiles, 

 and first we will take the little 

 Telerpeton. It was found in 

 the New Eed Sandstone strata 

 of Elgin then considered to 

 be the Old Eed Sandstone, and 

 a great controversy took place 

 with regard to their geological 

 age. But now most geologists 

 accept the view that they are 

 of New Eed Sandstone age, as 



asserted by Professor Huxley, 



FIG. 35. Skeleton of Telerpeton elgi- 

 and Others. I he discovery of nense, from the Elgin Sandstone. Natural 



Telerpeton was an important size ' L Tooth ' (After Manteil.) 

 event in the scientific world at the time, chiefly because the Elgin 

 sandstones were then considered to be of Old Eed Sandstone age. 



The name now generally accepted denotes the remote antiquity 

 of this reptile. 2 

 1 Greek runchos, beak; cephalos, head. 2 Greek tele, far off; erpeton, reptile. 



