Reviews — Dr. Anton Friisch — Permian Fauna of Bohemia. 377 



in Bohemia ; but his studies of German specimens, embodying con- 

 clusions similar to those presented by Gaudry to the Geological 

 Society of France, show that the vertebrae of the thorax consist of 

 four pieces which may be named neural arch, two lateral ossifications 

 termed pleuracentra, to which the ribs are attached, and an inferior 

 median piece, the hypoceutrum. Young individuals show no trace 

 of these elements, so that the vertebral column is inferred to have 

 been notochordal. The upper arch ossified first, and then the 

 hypocentrum. In the caudal vertebrae the hypocentrum is large 

 and well developed, while the pleuracentra seem less perfectly 

 ossified, and in the position of the normal centrum. The Bohemian 

 specimen which most resembles Archmgosam-xis the author describes 

 as Sparagmites lacertinus, though recognising that it were preferable 

 to leave them unnamed on account of their fragmentary character. 

 These remains indicate an amphibian 40 or 50 cm. long. The 

 caudal vertebrge show the neural arch and rib to be well ossified, 

 but the elements of the centrum are imperfectly ossified. 



The genus Loxomma is represented by a jaw and teeth described 

 as L. Bohemicum. Chelydosaurus vrani is a powerful amphibian, 

 about a metre long, much resembling Arclicegosaurus, but with the 

 vertebral column better ossified, with the ribs expanded at their 

 distal ends, and the tarsus well developed. It has the aspect of a 

 half-grown Crocodile, the head being relatively large ; and the tail 

 is apparently longer than the body. The longest skull is 14 cm. 

 long and 12 cm. broad. The longest thorax is 48 cm. long and 

 15 cm. broad. The back yields no indication of armour, but the 

 abdominal shield is well developed. It consists of 64 rows of plates, 

 arranged obliquely, with six to eight plates in each row. Some 

 scales show signs of wear during life, as though by the animal 

 crawling over stones and sand. The scales are three times as long- 

 as broad, and the rows they form have almost the aspect of ribs, 

 which is remarkable, because their mode of union in the median line 

 offers a form which is only comparable to the capitulum and tuber- 

 culum of the rib. Besides this abdominal armour, in which the rows 

 of scales are directed backward, there are on each side of the median 

 thoracic plate about eight rows of scales, which are directed forward. 

 The snout appears to elongate with age, and in this character 

 resembles Arclicegosaurus. The orbits are oval, and behind the 

 middle of the length of the skull. The parietal foramen is small, 

 and far behind the eyes. The bones of the upper surface of the 

 skull are wrinkled and puckered rather than pitted, so that the 

 sutures between the bones are made out with difficult3^ Tlie 

 premaxillaries carry about six blunt cylindrical teeth. There are 

 two circular depressions in the hinder portions of these bones, 

 which are regarded as narial. The maxillary bones extend back- 

 ward almost to the orbits, and carry 25 teeth, of which those in the 

 middle portion are largest. The nasal bone is twice as long as 

 broad, but appears to increase in relative length with age. The 

 frontal bone is twice as broad in front as behind, and four times as 

 long as wide in the middle. The post- orbital bone forms the 



