1889. | OF A THERIODONT REPTILE. 573 ¢ 
somewhat compressed from side to side; and the neural spines are 
likewise flattened, and of moderate lengti and height. Their 
terminal faces are but slightly cupped, and show a notochordal 
canal penetrating towards the middle of the vertebra. The transverse 
processes (¢.p) are of moderate length, and directed backwardly as 
well as outwardly. These transverse processes are strengthened by 
three plate-like buttresses arising from the sides of the arch, and re- 
calling the structure observed in the dorsal vertebra of Megalosaurus. 
A trace of a rib-facet is observable on the anterior border of the 
centra of these vertebrae, which probably indicates that they belong 
to the earlier part of the series. The heemal aspect has a sharp 
carina. Intercentra were totally wanting in this part of the spinal 
column. The total height of these vertebre is 6°7 inches, the 
vertical diameter of the centrum being 24 inches. 
Somewhat larger trunk-vertebree probably belong to the lumbar 
region, an imperfect specimen being represented from the anterior 
aspect in fig. 3 of the same Plate. In this specimen the centrum is 
very much shorter than in the dorsals, but the heemal carina is still 
sharper. In the caudals, of which there are three in apposition, the 
centrum again lengthens, and the hemal carina becomes less sharp. 
Chevrons were certainly present, but whether intercentra occurred 
in this region cannot he satisfactorily determined. 
The apparently notochordal character of these vertebree indicates 
that this series of specimens does not belong to the Dicynodont sub- 
order of the Anomodonts. Notochordal vertebra are met with both 
in the Pariasaurian and Theriodont subdivisions of that order; but 
since the associated humerus to be immediately noticed accords with 
that of the Theriodonts and is quite different from the type 
_ apparently referable to the Pariasauria', there seems every reason 
for regarding these specimens as referable to the Theriodontia. 
Turning to the bones of the appendicular skeleton, we have first 
to consider the scapula, of which the proximal portion of that of the 
right side is preserved. This specimen is represented from the dorsal 
aspect in Plate LV. fig. 1, ona scale of one third, with a restoration of 
the missing half from the scapula described by Sir R. Owen as Platy- 
podosaurus. The proximal portion of this bone agrees so closely in 
general characters with the latter specimen, as figured by its describer 
(Quart. Journ. Geol. Soe. vol. xxxvi. pl. xvii. fig. 1), that there is no 
necessity for a detailed description. It will beseen that the process 
marked a in the figure corresponds with that marked f in Owen’s 
plate, while the one here marked 6 represents e of the latter. 
In regard, however, to the homology of these two processes with 
those of other Dicynodont scapulee, it is necessary to make a few 
remarks, since some confusion has arisen between the two. In 
his ‘ Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia of South Africa,’ Sir R. Owen 
figured, in plate Ixx. fig. 1, the ventral aspect of the right scapula 
of a species of Dicynodon, with a portion of the precoracoid attached 
1 Described by Prof. Seeley (Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. xliv. p. 142, 1888) as 
Propappus. The writer will take a later opportunity of giving his reasons for 
this reference. 
