A NEW FOSSIL REPTILE. 1009 
There are four large proximal carpals and two well-ossified 
centralia, the radial e which forms part of the border of the 
carpus. 
There are only three (distal carpals, the first, third, and fourth, 
but there is an obvious space for the second, which was either 
cartilaginous or has dropped out. There is certainly no fifth 
carpal, The metacarpals and phalanges are relatively rather 
massive and taper rather rapidly. It is possible that the fifth 
had only two phalanges. 
The ilium is a small bone, only the inner aspect of which is 
known but whose outline is like that of Belodon. 
The affinities of this animal, for which the new genus 
Adelosaurus may be founded, are quite obseure; the fore limb is 
not very unlike that of Sphenodon i in some featur es, and it is not 
improbable that the type may be connected with an Archisaurian 
stoek. 
The preceding discussion will, I think, have shown that 
Broomia cannot be placed in any of the well-known Orders of 
reptiles which occur in the Permian rocks of the world. It seems 
not improbable that it is connected in some way with the earlier 
Areoscelis and with the later lizards, but the absence of all 
knowledge of the temporal region of the skull and what is 
probably still more important, of the neural cranium, makes this - 
resemblance rest on a very insecure foundation, 
Comparison with other slender-limbed Permian forms, so far 
as is possible from the very imperfect material available, shows 
that whilst there are certain general resemblances between them 
there are also many important differences which make it very 
inadvisable to definitely group them together. 
The fact that, whilst we know Almost the whole structure of 
Broomia, we are incapable of doing more than guess, at its 
affinities, owing to the absence of knowledge of the upper part 
of the skull and of the brain-case, shows how very few are the 
characters on which we really rely in estimating the affinities of 
a reptile. 
I am indebted to the Percy Sladen Trustees for assistance in 
visiting South Africa, and especially to G. Gordon, Esq., of 
Hottentots Rivier, to whose interest and hospitality I owe, not 
only the beautiful skeleton of Broomia, but also many other fine 
specimens. I have to thank the authorities of the Northumber- 
Jand and Durham Natural History Society and Mr. E. L. Gill, 
the Director of the Hancock Museum, for permission to examine 
the type-specimen of ‘‘ Proterosaurus hualeyi.” 
Finally, I wish to thank Mr. Pittock, of University College, for 
the excellent photographs from squeezes, and Mr. H. E. Herring 
for the photograph of the block. 
Proc. Zoo. Soc.—1914, No. LX. VIII. 68 
