Class REPTILIA 



Order THEROMORPHA 



Cope, Amer. Nat., XII, 829, 1878; Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc, 38; Proc. Amer. 

 Assoc. Adv. Science, XXXIII, 471, 1885. 



Crawling reptiles of small or large size, carnivorous or herbivo- 

 rous in habit, with a single, lateral temporal, vacuity. A dermoc- 

 cipital bone present, but the identity and relations of the other 

 temporal elements unknown or in dispute. A septomaxillary 

 probably always present; lachrymal (adlachr}Tnal, postnarial) 

 not reaching the nares (Edaphosaurus ?) . Teeth thecodont or 

 acrodont, inserted on premaxillae, maxillae, palatines, pterygoids, 

 and sometimes the splenials. Vertebrae deeply biconcave or 

 notochordal, from twenty-four to twenty-seven or more in front 

 of the sacrum; two or three sacrals; tail moderately long. Inter- 

 centra always present. Ribs double-headed throughout, attached 

 to diapophysis and intercentral space; slender ventral ribs some- 

 times present. Cleithrum rarely present; clavicles and inter- 

 clavicles large, the latter with a long stem; no ossified stermmi. 

 Coracoid fused with scapula; posterior coracoid bone forming 

 only the posterior part of the glenoid cavity, sometimes unossiiied. 

 Pelvis plate-like, rarely with a small, median, puboischiadic 

 vacuity. Humerus with entepicondylar, rarely also with ectepi- 

 condylar, foramen; usually widely expanded at the extremities. 

 Carpus with four proximal bones, two centralia, and four or five 

 carpalia. Tarsus with dilated tibiale and fibulare; no separate 

 intermedium; a single centrale and five tarsalia. Phalangeal 

 formulae, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4 (3). No dermal ossifications. 



The term Pelycosauria was proposed by Cope for a suborder 

 of Rhynchocephalia, based upon Clepsydrops and Dimetrodon, 

 and published for the first time {fide Cope) in Paleontological 

 Bulletin, No. 29, on May 8, 1878. Later, in the American Natural- 

 ist of the same year for December, he proposed the ordinal term 



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