138 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



DE8MAT08UCHVS HUPRENHIIS FROM THE DOCKUM TRIA88IC BEDS OF 



WESTERN TEXAS 



BY E. V. CASE 

 (Abstruct) 



Desmatosuchus represents a uew suborder of ph.ytosauroid reptiles. The 

 skull is characterized by the presence of a single temporal opening, the lack 

 of a parietal foramen, a large antorbital opening, lateral nares, and a much 

 reduced quadrate.^ The vertebral column is essentially phytosaurian in char- 

 acter ; very little of the limb bones or girdles was found.* The back was cov- 

 ered by an armor, consisting of four rows of plates, which extended from the 

 skull to the extremity of the tail. The outer row of plates carried sharp 

 spines, which were larger in the cervical region. The fifth pair of outer plates 

 carried enormously developed spines, nearly eighteen inches in length, which 

 curved outward and forward. 



The condition of the skull permitted a plastic cast to be made of the endo- 

 cranial region. This shows the brain to have been relatively very small com- 

 pared to the size of the animal. There was hardly any expansion of the cere- 

 bral lobes ; the hypophysis is very large, and there is a smaller epiphysis or 

 paraphysis with lateral processes. The position and size of the optic region 

 and the location of the various cranial nerves are clearly shown on the cast. 



In the absence of their authors, four papers dealing with fossil verte- 

 brates were then read by title : 



EVOLUTION, FIIYLOOENY, AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE PROBOSCIDEA 

 BY HENRY' FAIRFIELD OSBORX 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE REPTILES 

 BY" W. K. GREGORY' 



JURASSIC FISHES COLLECTED BY BARNUM BROWN IN CUBA 

 BY' W. K. GREGORY' 



RELATIONSHIP OF THE GREAT BASIN AND ORE AT PLAINS FAUNAS 

 BY' E. L. TROXELL 



■An outline of paleobotanic work in progress on the Tertiary rocks of 

 the West was presented by the author under the title 



1 A preliminary description of tlie sliuU and armor appeared in tlie Journal of Geology, 

 vol. xxviii, no. 6, 1920. 



