842 APPENDIX C. — REPTILES. 



As these pages were passing through the press, we received the 

 numbers iv. and v. for 1850, and ii. and iii. for 1851, of the " Archiv 

 fiir Natui'geschichte." The present editor of that periodical, 

 Dr. Troschel, describes, in the foui'th number for 1850, a new 

 saurian genus, under the name of Cophosaurus, a species of which 

 was brought to Germany by the geologist, Ferd. Roemer, who visited 

 Texas some years ago. Having the same saurian in our possession, 

 collected in the same locality, as a second but undescribed species 

 of our genus Holhrookia, we could readily identify the genus 

 Cophosaurus. It is to be regretted that the description of our 

 genus Holhrookia which reached Germany in the summer of 1851, 

 that is before the publication of the number iv. of the Archiv. fur 

 Naturgeschichte for 1850, has been overlooked by this able 

 German zoologist. The absence of auditory apertures, "aures 

 externse nullse," which is the most striking character of our genus, 

 would have struck Dr. Troschel, had he been aware of our descrip- 

 tion in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vance of Science, fourth meeting, held at New Haven, in August, 

 1850. 



As it may hereafter be questioned which of these generic names 

 has the priority, inasmuch as the volume in which Cophosaurus is 

 published bears the date of 1850, we deem it proper to call atten- 

 tion to the fact that its publication took place in 1852. Even at 

 the date at which we write these lines, (April, 1852), the year 

 1850 of the Archiv. fiir Naturgeschichte has not been completed. 

 This fact shows how an author may be deprived of the fruit of his 

 labours by an anachronism of this kind. 



HoLBROOKiA MACULATA, Girard. 

 Pl. VI. Fig. 1-3. 



Syn. Holhrookia maculata, Girard, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sc, IV. (1850), 



1851, 201. 

 Spec. char. — Tail about the length of the trunk. Head subcircular, slightly 

 conical in front. Pectoral fold bordered with large scales. 



The general form of this species is rather thick and short than 

 elongated, especially in the female : the young and the males are 

 more slender. The body is sub cylindrical, the tail conical and 

 very stout at its origin, tapering however suddenly away. The 

 entire length is between three and four inches, as shown by the 



