48 



NEW REPTILES AND STEGOCEPHALIANS FROM 



The relationships of Desmatosuchus.—To the author it seems apparent that Des- 

 matosuchus can be considered only as a member of a branch of the Parasuchian stem 

 which has developed a high degree of specialization. The character of the vertebral 

 column and the carapace indicates close relationships to the Parasuchia; all the remarkable 

 features of the carapace are simple developments of possibilities clearly indicated in the 

 more conservative line. 



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Fig. 20. — Restoration of Desmak)suchus spwensis. 



It is in the skull that the morphological divergence from the line of the Parasuchia 

 is clearly evident. The author, as indicated in the body of the description, is unable to 

 accept the suggestion made by Doctors Huene and Watson that the single large temporal 

 opening is the upper and that the bones outlining the lower opening have been lost. 

 Reasons for this opinion have been given in detail in a preceding portion of this article. 

 The single temporal opening and the amazing condition of the quadrate region clearly 

 place the animal in a separate suborder or even order. The basicranial region, the 

 antorbital opening, and the lack of a pineal foramen, together with the character of the 

 vertebral column and the carapace, just as clearly indicate affinities with the Parasuchia. 

 Until future discoveries shall prove the author's interpretation of the skull to be erro- 

 neous, or shall reveal further structures which will make more evident the affinities of 

 the animal, Desmatosuchus must be considered as a member of a distinct order or suborder 

 of phytosauroid reptiles, highly speciahzed in its morphology and confined to the Upper 

 Triassic of North America. 



