May 7, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



721 



nach einer Photographie [und eine Figur, 

 Wirbel und Eippen] . ISTeues Jahrb, f. 

 Mineral., Geogn. Geol. und Petrefacten- 

 kunde, Jahrgang, 1857 ; Stuttgart, 1857, 

 p. 136-140. Two years later H. v. Meyer 

 gave an excellent description witli a very 

 good plate of this specimen in the Palaeon- 

 tographica Bd. VII., 1. June, 1859, p. 35- 

 40, Taf. VI. " Sderosaurus armatus aua dem 

 bunten Sandstein von Kheinfelden." This 

 most interesting form has been entirely 

 overlooked in all modern text-books and 

 hand-books of paleontology and by all 

 authors who have written about the 

 Pareiasauria. * 



The specimen was found in the upper 

 layers of the ' Bunte Sandstein,' near Inger- 

 felden, in Baden, n. w. of Eheinfelden, in 

 Switzerland, with Gyrolepis alberti, AgSiSsiz. 

 The fossil consists of twelve consecutive 

 presacral vertebrae, the ribs in connection, 

 the pubis, the two femora, and the dermal 

 armour. 



The vertebrae, the rib-articulations, the 

 pubis are typically Pareiasaurian. Of the 

 greatest interest is the dorsal armour. 

 There is a median series of rhombic plates, 

 somewhat broader than long, the posterior 

 end a little overlaped by the anterior end of 

 the following plate. Each of these plates 

 corresponds to a single vertebra. With the 

 posterior sides of the plates of the median 

 row, 2 or 3 more or less rhomboidal plates 

 are connected, which cover the ribs. There- 

 fore for each segment there are one median 

 and 2 or 3 lateral dermal plates. Their 

 connection is loose. 



In Pareiasaurus Owen we have also a 

 dorsal armour. Three rows of scutes ex- 

 tend down the median line of the back, and 



*Imay mention here that the same is true for 

 Pristerodon McKayi, Huxley from the Permo-triassic 

 of South Africa. T. H. Huxley. On Saurosternon 

 Bainii and Pristerodon McKayi, two new fossil 

 Lacertilian Eeptiles from South Africa. Geol. Magaz. 

 Vol. V. No. 5, May, 1868, p. 1-4, pi. XI. and XII. 



are partially in contact with the neural 

 spines. The median row is placed on the 

 summits of the neural spines. In con- 

 nection with these, laterally, there is a pair 

 of scutes extending transversely outwards 

 (Seeley). In 1878 Wiedersheim* published 

 a paper entitled Labyrinthodon Rutimeyeri. 

 Ein Beitrag zur Anatomic von Gesammt- 

 skelet und Gehirn der triassischen Labyrin- 

 thodonten. Abhandlungen der schweizer- 

 ischen palaeontol. Gesellsch., Vol. V. 1878, 

 p. 1-56, PI. I.— III. 



The specimen on which the description 

 is based was discovered in 1864 at Eiehen 

 (Switzerland) , near Lorrach (Baden) . The 

 locality in which Sderosaurus was discov- 

 ered is only 11 kilometers distant from the 

 locality in which Wiedersheim's 'Labyrintho- 

 don ' was found. In both places Gyrolepis 

 Alberti Agassiz occurs, and there is no 

 doubt that these forms came from exactly 

 the same horizon of the Upper Bunte Sand- 

 Stein. 



The specimen of Labyrinthodon is nearly 

 complete, but some of the bones have been 

 destroyed, leaving only the vacuities. This 

 fossil is no Labyrinthodont at all, but a 

 Pareiasaurian identical with Sderosaurus 

 armatus H. v. Meyer. 



Already Zittelf has doubted its Stego- 

 cephalian nature, and stated that it pro- 

 bably belongs to the reptiles, giving several 

 reasons for this opinion. The latest contri- 

 bution is from Seeley. On the complete skele- 

 ton of an Anomodont Reptile f^Aristodesmus 

 Rutimeyeri, Wiedei'sheim) from the Btmter Sand- 

 stone of Riehen, near Basel, giving new evidence 

 of the relation of the Anomodontia to the Mono- 

 tremata-X Seeley has examined the specimen 



*This paper is absolutely useless, full of mistakes 

 and unsound ideas, indicating absolute inability to 

 handle the material. 



t Zittel, Karl A. Handbuch d. Palaeont. Palaeo- 

 zool. III. Band., 1888, p. 407-408. 



t Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) Vol. 17. Febr., 1896, 

 p. 183-184. (From Proc. of the Eoyal Society.) 



