474 BibUograpMcal Notice. 



The order is divided into three families — I. " Bidentalia " ; 

 II. ^'■Cryptodontla^' ; and III. ''Endothiodontia." 



The first family includes two genera, Dicynodon and Ptychognathus. 

 The second family includes the genera Oudenodon, Theriognaihus, 

 and Kistecephahcs. The third family is represented by the truly 

 singular genus Endothiodon, in one species of which, viz. Endothiodon 

 bathystoma, the author points out certain marks of affinity to the 

 European Triassic genus Placodus, and intimates that further know- 

 ledge of the skeleton of Endothiodon may lead to its removal from 

 the Anomodontia, to the advantage of the more natural character 

 of that order. 



As the order is defined in the Catalogue, it includes thirty-four 

 species, represented by sixty-five specimens, some of which indicate 

 reptiles of considerable bulk. 



In the order Dinoscmria a " Section " is represented by twenty- 

 nine fossils referred to the genera Tcqnnocej^halus and Pareiasaurus, 

 characterized by the peculiar modification of the vertebrae described 

 by the author in. the 'Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society,' 

 vol. xxxii. p. 43, pis. iv. & v., suggesting the term '■'■Tretospondylia " 

 applied by him to this Section of great herbivorous reptiles. 



To the order Labynnthodontia are referred the genera Petroj)hryne 

 and Saurosternon, Huxley, to which latter fossil the name Batracho- 

 saunis (bespoke by Fitziiiger) had been given by its discoverer Mr. 

 A. G. Bain. 



The following is an extract from the Preface, in which the 

 Author, with other topics, discusses the probable geological age of 

 the South-African formations from which these new and singular 

 reptilian fossils have been derived. 



" From the observations of Andrew Geddes Bain* and his fellow 

 explorers f of the geology of the Cape, we learn that, before the 

 continent of Africa, as it now is, existed, the animals which have 

 afi'orded the subjects of the present Catalogue lived, died, and pro- 

 pagated their kinds, through untold generations, in and near a vast 

 body of fresh water occupying an extensive tract now elevated into 

 mountain-ranges, attaining, e. g. in the Drakensberg range, an alti- 

 tude of upwards of 11,000 feet. In the preexisting lakes or estu- 

 aries these dragons {Reptilia) frequented the banks and waters ; and 

 many of their carcasses sank and rotted in its sediments. Some 

 notion may be formed of the duration of this life-scene by the 

 ascertained vertical thickness of the fossiliferous lacustrine deposits 

 in the following richly productive localities : — Stormberg beds, 1800 



" * 'Geological Transactions,' second ser.,vol. vii. 4to, 1845-1856, p. 53; 

 and 'Geology of South Africa,' a lecture delivered by A. G. Bain, Esq., 

 at the General Institute, Graham's Town (' Eastern-Province Monthly 

 Magazine,' vol. i. p. 396). 



" t Joseph Millard Orpen, Esq., Government Surveyor of the Cape 

 of Good Hope ; Charles E. H. Orpen, M.D. ; Dr. Atherstone. See also 

 'Section of the Zuurberg,' by R. N. Rubidge, Esq.,M.B. ('Eastern-Pro- 

 vince Monthly Magazine,' vol. i. p. 187)." 



