Ai*t. Il.^On some new Batrachia and Reptilia from 

 the Permian Beds of* Texas. 



By E. D. Cope. 



Pantylus cobdatus gen. et sp. nov. 



Char. gen. — Eepresented by one species, which is as yet only known 

 from crania. In these the superficial ossification is complete, leaving 

 only nostrils, orbits, and parietal fontanelle. Surface sculptured. Man- 

 dible with an angular process. Teeth shortly conic, obtuse, and with- 

 out grooves or inflections, increasing in size towards the anterior parts 

 of the jaws. Mandible supporting several rows of teeth, which oppose 

 a pavement of obtuse teeth on the jjalate. These are situated on either 

 the palatine or anterior part of the pterygoid bones. Quadi-atojugal 

 and malar bones well developed. l!fo lyra or mucous grooves. 



This genus is first of the ^tegocephali from the Permian formation of 

 Texas, whose cranial structures indicate a habit of obtaining nutriment 

 by crushing hard bodies. Without vertebrae it is not possible to ascer- 

 tain whether it pertains to the Microsaurian, Embolomeran or Gano- 

 cephalous divisions. It may be compared with the ISparodus of Fritsch 

 in the general characters of its dentition, but may be easily distin- 

 guished from it by the numerous series of teeth on the mandibular 

 rami. Some of these are on the dentary bone, while others are on an 

 inner element, but whether opercular or splenial I cannot now deter- 

 mine. 



Char, specif. — The skull of the Pantylus cordatus is about as large as 

 that of a fully grown snapping tortoise, Ckelydra serpentina, and has 

 somewhat the same form of outline. The vertex is flat ; the postor- 

 bital region is swollen, and the muzzle is abruptly acuminate. The 

 orbits are lateral with a slight vertical exposure, and are widely sepa- 

 rated. The front is deflected from opposite their posterior margins, and 

 the muzzle protrudes considerably beyond the lower jaw. The pre- 

 maxillary bones form a triangle whose apex does not appear on the 

 superior surface of the muzzle, and the nares are rather close together, 

 and lateral in their vertical presentation. The upper surface of the ex- 

 tremity of the snout is occupied by the large nasal bones, which are fol- 

 lowed by the larger frontals. The lachrymal and prefrontal are both well 

 developed, the latter extending backwards to meet the postfroutal near 

 the middle of the superior border of the orbit. The posterior border of 

 the skull is damaged, but enough remaius to show that it was concave. 



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