NEW SUBORDER AND NEW SPECIES OF PHYTOSAURUS 529 



Posterior to the fifth arch the median plates become shorter 

 antero-posteriorly and elongate laterally to accommodate the 

 broadening of the back. The lateral plates have a distinctly 

 angular form, the inner half of the base shorter and nearly hori- 

 zontal, the outer half longer and extending outward and down- 

 ward at a slight angle. The spines are directed outward and 

 shghtly forward. In the pelvic region is placed a broader arch 

 followed by a narrower one; this arrangement is only tentative, 

 but the plates can hardly go elsewhere and it has been pointed 

 out to the author by Professor Alexander Ruthven that such an 

 arrangement of scales and scutes is not uncommon in living forms. 

 Only the anterior portion of the tail is represented and only by 

 plates of the lateral series. It is altogether probable that the 

 median plates gradually disappeared as in the living Crocodilia. 

 The lateral plates have well-developed spines and the outer half 

 of the base is elongated and extends downward almost directly 

 in the same plane as the outer side of the spine, indicating that the 

 sides of the tail were elevated and flattened, not rounded. The 

 length of the tail is uncertain. 



The exact position of this peculiar form is undeterminable as 

 yet; its phytosaurian affinities are beyond question, but whether 

 it is to be regarded as a highly specialized form of a more primitive 

 type retaining characters of the primitive single-arched reptiles 

 and placed near the origin of the Parasuchia, or a specialization of a 

 more advanced type, remains to be determined after more com- 

 plete preparation and the assemblage of the material in a mount. 

 An attempt to obtain more material is in progress. 



For this new form, indicating the skull as the characteristic 

 portion of the holotype, I would suggest the name Desmatosuchus 

 spurensis, with the family and sub-order Desmatosuchidae and 

 Desmatosuchia. 



ON A NEW SPECIES OE PHYTOSAUR FROM THE DOCKUM TRIASSIC 



BEDS OF TEXAS 



While on a trip through a portion of the Triassic beds of Texas 

 in the summer of 191 9 the author was privileged to examine the 

 collection of Mr. George D. Doughty, of Post City, Texas. In this 



