232 
erally accepted, and doubtless this was in 
no small degree hastened by their applica- 
tion toall the amphibians and reptiles by 
Boulenger. 
Cope’s attention to the extinct reptiles 
was excited by the examination and consid- 
eration of a Carboniferous lizard-like am- 
phibian which he was requested in 1865 to 
report upon. It was a new species which 
he vamed Amphibamus grandiceps and con- 
sidered to be the type of a new order to 
which the name Xenorachia was applied, 
but which he subsequently referred to the 
new comprehensive order Stegocephali. 
He sought for specimens of the extinct 
species with as much enthusiasm as he had 
for the recent. Extinct and living he con- 
sidered together and light was mutually 
reflected from the two to guide him in the 
perfection of the entire system. In 1869 
he gave expression to the results of his 
studies in a well illustrated ‘Synopsis of 
the Extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves 
of North America.’ This was supple- 
mented in 1874 by addenda and a ‘ Cata- 
logue of the air-breathing Vertebrata from 
the coal measures of Ohio.’ 
A rich field was opened to him in 1877, 
when he received the first instalment of rep- 
tilian remains from Texas, which were at first 
considered to be of Triassic age, but subse- 
quently determined to be Permian. Succes- 
sive instalments of amphibian as well as rep- 
tilian skeletons enriched his collection, and 
his investigations revealed a new and won- 
derful fauna rich in species and often dif- 
fering widely from any previously known. 
These were described in many articles. The 
results for the amphibians weré summarized 
in 1884 in a memoir on the ‘ Batrachia of 
the Permian period of North America.’ 
The Permian amphibians were found to 
vary much in the composition of their 
backbones. Instead of having single cen- 
tra arranged in a continuous row as in ex- 
isting Vertebrates, they had distinct bones 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8S. Vou. VI. No. 137. 
on which were devolved portions of the 
functions fulfilled by the centra of higher 
Vertebrates. Some had ‘the vertebral 
bodies represented by three segments each, 
a basal intercentrum and two lateral pleu- 
rocentra;’ these were named ‘ Ganocephali’ 
and ‘Rhachitomi.’ Some “differ remark- 
ably from all other Vertebrata in having 
between the centra another set of vertebral 
bodies, so that each arch has two corre- 
sponding bodies ;’’ these were called ‘ Hm- 
bolomeri.’ 
In tracing the development of these 
bones, Cope came to the conclusion that 
they were ouly partially represented in 
higher or more specialized types; they did 
not become consolidated, but one or the 
other became reduced and finally lost or at 
least greatly atrophied. In the living 
amphibians the vertebral centra are homol- 
ogous only with the intercentra, while, on 
the contrary, the centra of the reptiles, 
birds and mammals are represented by the 
pleurocentra of the Rhachitomes. 
The studies of Cope on those classes 
which had earliest attracted his attention 
were more nearly completed than for any 
others. Many years ago he had contem- 
plated the publication of monographs of 
the amphibians and reptiles of North 
America and happily he had at last 
finished his work. 
In 1889 his monograph of the ‘ Batrachia 
of North America’ was given to the world 
as a Bulletin of the United States National 
Museum (No. 34). It forms a goodly 
volume of 525 pages illustrated by 86% 
plates and 120 figures inserted in the text. 
No large country has a more elaborate and 
scientific exposition of the class than is 
given in this volume. A synopsis is fur- 
nished of all the families and genera 
wherever found, and detailed descriptions 
are supplied for all the groups and species 
* The last plate is numbered 86, but five were can- 
celled, 80, 81, 82, 84 and 85. 
