NEW PERMIAN VERTEBRATES 657 
able for its broad, short form, and, because of the relatively large size 
of the tarsus, it must have been very flexible. The absence of true 
claws, such as occur in some of the Cotylosauria at least, and the 
Pelycosauria, is what we would expect. The relatively short legs and 
broad feet were used exclusively in locomotion. ‘The front feet could 
not have been extended nearly 
as far forward as the mouth 
and could have been of no 
possible use in seizing or hold- 
ing the animal’s prey; and it 
is quite certain that the 
creatures did not need claws 
for locomotion over . soft 
ground. 
In the restoration (Fig. 6) 
the front toes have been copied 
from the hind ones, and it is 
not at all probable that there 
could have been much differ- 
ence between them. ‘That 
there were five fingers 1s 
shown conclusively, not only 
from the carpus, but also from 
the front foot of Eryops, as 
figured by Cope, a form which, 
in its skeletal structure, is 
closely allied to Tvrematops. 
The radius also is given from 
the same figure by Cope. The 
ane : Fic. 7.—Left coraco-scapula of Eryops 
fibula is in part conjectural, latus Case; about one-third natural size. 
as is also the length of the 
tail. It is possible that the head was set even more closely upon the 
shoulders. 
From the absence of every indication in the matrix of a dermal 
armor, it is quite probable that the creature had a bare skin; and the 
absence of claws and its short legs and feet indicate also that the 
animal lived not on high dry lands, but about the mud shores and in 
