470 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 20, 



§ I. Dendrerpeton Oweni, spec, no v. 



Among the Reptilian remains found in erect trees at the South Jog- 

 gins, there have occurred several portions of skeletons, which, from 

 their sculptured cranial bones, plicated teeth, and the forms of their 

 scales and limb-bones, I have referred to the genus Dendrerpeton, 

 but to individuals of much smaller size than the full-grown specimens 

 of Dendrerpeton Acadianum. It did not occur to me to suppose that 

 they were specifically distinct from the larger individuals until I 

 observed that bones of this kind contained in the collections sent by 

 me to the Geological Society, or represented in the figures drawn 

 for me by Mr. Smith, were referred by Professor Owen, in his pub- 

 lished notes on these specimens and drawings *, to the genus Hylono- 

 mus, or at least mentioned as probably of that genus. As the admission 

 of these into Hylonomus implied a very different range of characters 

 from those which I had attributed to that genus, and, indeed, left 

 little distinction between it and Dendrerpeton, I have been induced 

 carefully to re-examine all the specimens in my collection, with the 

 view of determining whether they, in any respect, occupied an in- 

 termediate place between the genera in question. The result has 

 been to convince -me that there is no generic affinity between these 

 specimens and Hylonomus, but to establish a probability that there 

 was a second species of Dendrerpeton in the Coal-measures of Nova 

 Scotia, differing from D. Acadianum in the following particulars : — ■ 

 (1) its much smaller size; (2) its longer and hooked teeth; (3) the 

 greater corrugation of the dentine of the intermaxillary teeth ; (4) the 

 proportions of the skull, which seems to have been shorter and 

 broader, with the orbits larger and more oblique. On the other 

 hand, it differs from all the species of Hylonomus in the following 

 respects : — (1) the corrugated character of the teeth, which are 

 always simple in Hylonomus ; (2) the presence of an inner row of 

 large teeth, which do not occur in Hylonomus ; (3) the sculptured 

 surface of the cranial bones, always smooth or faintly puncto-striate 

 in Hylonomus ; (4) the form of the vertebrae and scales, and the 

 short and stout limbs. In all these respects it resembles Dendrer- 

 peton Acadianum, and in some of them is more remote from Hylo- 

 nomus than that species. 



On the grounds thus stated, I refer this creature, without doubt, 

 to the genus Dendrerpeton, and regard it as probably a distinct spe- 

 cies. I may add, in confirmation of the distinctness of Dendrerpeton 

 Oweni, that I have recently found a specimen showing the jaw and 

 teeth of a small individual of D. Acadianum, corresponding in their 

 forms with those of the latter species, though the size is that of the 

 former. 



I refer to the present species the bones figured in Prof. Owen's 

 paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xviii. 

 Plate X. figs. 3 & 4, and Plate IX. fig. 4. The maxillary bone in 

 Plate IX. fig. 15 belongs to D. Acadianum, having the form of teeth 

 and the bony sculpture of that species. 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 242, 1862. ' 



