10 FOSSIL REPTILE. 



Nicholson and Lydekker that only one genus fRhino- 

 saiirus) persisted to the Lower Jurassic. 



The Pterodactyls or winged reptiles, to which Mr. 

 Thureau suggests a reference, had not the elongate cen- 

 tral vertebrae of the form whose cast is now before you, 

 and there is not the slightest evidence of the character- 

 istic bones of the manus. Moreover, the Pterodactyls 

 only make their first appearance in Europe in the rocks 

 of Upper Jurassic age, whereas the fossil skeleton of 

 the reptile now considered, if obtained, as stated, from 

 the Mersey Coal Measures, undoubtedly belongs to 

 Permo-Carboniferous age. 



It is to be hoped that Mr. Thureau may be able to 

 obtain the original for the Tasmanian Museum, to which, 

 by right, it belongs, when the opinion of our best 

 European or American specialists may be obtained as to 

 its exact affinities among the reptilia. My own opinion, 

 w^hich I have great diffidence in expressing, is, that it 

 probably comes within that group of the Labyrlntho- 

 dontia, embraced within the Sub-order Microsauria. 

 The Labyrinthodonts included in this Sub-order, resemble 

 Lizards in outward appearance, and have the centra of 

 the vertebras more or less elongated, and long curved ribs. 



One genus of this order, Limnerpeton, of the Permian 

 of Bohemia, possesses characteristics of the vertebras of 

 the central and caudal parts, which come very close to 

 our Tasmanian representation from the Permo-Carbon- 

 iferous Coal Measure of Railton, Tasmania. 



1 am siire the Members of this Society will agree with 

 me in thanking Mr. Thvu-e?,u for his valuable cast of the 

 reptile, and for his promise to endeavour to secure the 

 original foi" the National Museum of the Country where 

 the skeleton was found. 



For the sake of reference, and as a compliment to 

 Mr. Thureau, I propose in the meantime to refer always 

 to this, the oldest knoAvn remains of a vertebrate in 

 Tasmanian rocks, as " Thureau s Microsaurianr 



