332 Royal Society. 
ROYAL SOCIETY. 
February 20, 1862.—Major-General Sabine, President, in the Chair. 
**QOn the Dicynodont Reptilia, with a Description of some Fossil 
Remains brought by H.R.H. Prince Alfred from South Africa in 
November 1860.” By Professor R. Owen, F.R.S. &c. 
In this paper the author describes some fossil remains obtained, 
at the suggestion of H.R.H. the late Prince Consort, by H.R.H. 
Prince Alfred, during his journey in South Africa. They are refer- 
able to two genera of Dicynodont Reptilia. The first specimen is an 
unusually perfect specimen of the skull, retaining the lower jaw in 
connexion with the tympanic pedicles, of a species of Péychognathus, 
showing distinctive characters from previously described species, 
and which the author dedicates to its discoverer under the name of 
Ptychognathus Alfredi. The anatomical characters of this fossil 
were described in detail. It was obtained from a greenish sandstone, 
probably Triassic, of the Rhenosterberg, South Africa. 
The second specimen is the skull, with the lower jaw, also in situ, 
of a true Dicynodon, referable by its size to the largest known spe- 
cies (Dicynodon tigriceps, Ow.). The right maxillary and zygo- 
matic arch having been partially removed in quarrying the rock 
containing the fossil, a further detachment of the matrix brought 
into view the descending cranial plate of the frontal, the inter- 
orbital septum, the upper surface of part of the bony palate with 
the pterygoid, and the rhinencephalic continuation of the cranial 
cavity. The presphenoid projects forward as a compressed plate, 
exceeding in relative length and extent of ossification that in Che- 
lonia, and more resembling that in Crocodilia. Anterior to the pre- 
sphenoid is the vomer, which expands laterally to join the palatines 
and pterygoids. Other cranial characters deducible from the pre- 
sent and not shown in previous specimens are noticed. As a whole, 
the skull exemplifies the near equality in size of this extinct two- 
tusked reptile of South Africa with the existing Walrus; and it 
shows that in the structure of the bony palate, as in some other 
parts of the skull, the Dicynodon combines Crocodilian with Chelo- 
nian and Lacertian characters. 
The specimen above described was obtained by H.R.H. Prince 
Alfred, from the Karoo beds, in the district of Graaf Reinet, South 
Africa. 
The author next proceeds to describe the pelvis of a Dicynodon 
equalling in bulk the D. tigriceps, and most probably belonging to 
that species. It includes, with five sacral vertebree, the last of those 
of the trunk which supported free ribs, showing that there are no 
vertebree having the character of lumbar ones in Dicynodon. The 
length of the six successive centrums was 1 foot 2 inches. The ribs 
of the first sacral vertebra resemble in size and shape the human 
scapula, but are much thicker; their expanded terminations, 6 inches 
in breadth, underlap or pass anterior to the iliac bones, to which this 
rib has been attached by syndesmosis. The ribs of the succeeding 
