PROF. OWEN ON A CARNIVOROUS REPTILE. 95 



12. Evidence of a carnivorous Reptile (Cfnodraco major, 0\v.) 

 about the size of a Lion, ivith Remarks thereon. By Prof. Owen, 

 C.B., F.R.S., P.G.S., &c. (Read February 2, 1876.) 

 [Plate XI.] 

 Searching over the residuary, more or less shapeless blocks of 

 matrix from the Karoo lacustrine deposits of South Africa, trans- 

 mitted by their discoverer the late Andrew Geddes Bain, Esq., F.Gr.S., 



1 came upon a lump about the size of one's fist, in which the sole indi- 

 cation of organic remains was a pair of mutilated canine-shaped teeth. 



Part of the outer enamelled surface was exposed to view, and 

 suggested that the block might contain a fragment of the upper jaw 

 of a Dicynodon. On clearing away the matrix from the teeth, how- 

 ever, they presented a difference of shape from the tusks in that 

 genus : the crown was narrow instead of round ; the transverse 

 section was a long oval (PI. XT. fig. 3) with the small end pointed : 

 when the whole of the outer side of the crown became exposed, 

 the shape of the best-preserved canine (ib. fig. 2) resembled that in 

 Machairodus, and most so that of Maehairodus latidens*. On care- 

 fully relieving the hinder trenchant margin of the tooth from the 

 matrix, I was much interested in finding that it carried the resem- 

 blance to the canine of the extinct feline mammal to correspondence 

 in the minute serration of that margin (ib. ib. c'). 



A small part only of the non-enamelled base was preserved, the 

 canines having been broken off a little above their exit from the 

 socket ; but the breadth of the broken base and the reduction of 

 the pulp-cavity to a linear trace were indicative of a long and 

 deeply implanted fang. Nevertheless it was evident that, in pro- 

 portion to the antero-posterior diameter of the base of the enamelled 

 crown, that part of the tooth was relatively longer than in Maehair- 

 odus latidens : it differed also in the absence of the serrate border 

 at the fore part of the crown (ib. ib. c). The only part of the skull pre- 

 served posterior to that supporting the upper canines was a portion 

 of the lower jaw, of which the alveolar border of the right ramus ex- 

 tended one inch behind the right better-preserved upper canine, No 

 trace of tooth could be detected in this border. 



The symphysialpart of the lower jaw (fig. 5) extended forward about 



2 inches in advance of the upper canines (ib. e. e). The animal had 

 become fossilized with its mouth shut; and the upper canines 

 descended along a laterally compressed part of the lower jaw, also 

 as in Maehairodus, one on each side, with their points projecting 

 beyond the lower border of the jaw (fig. 1, c, c). The next thought 

 was as to possible evidences of the teeth at the fore end of the 

 lower jaw ; but not until the extremely hard matrix had been 

 ground down to the alveolar border were any such traces visible. 

 The crowns of these teeth seemed to have been broken away prior 

 to interment; but the bases of eight incisors and of two lower 

 canines were exposed, in transverse sections at the level stated. 



* British Fossil Mammals. 8vo. 184G. p. 180, fig. 69. 

 Q. J. G. S. No. 126. h 



