1864] 



Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 



337 



forwarded to Nagpore, where it remained in the charge of Mr. H. R. 

 Carnac, awaiting an opportunity of being forwarded to Calcutta, in the 

 charge of some trustworthy person. Meanwhile photographs of the 

 fossils were taken by Mr. Crommelin who had kindly placed the 

 negatives at the disposal of the Society, prints from which were 

 exhibited at the April meeting of the Society. 



" From an examination of the specimen as at present exposed, it 

 appears to be allied either to the Archegosaurus or the Labyrinthodon, 

 but the state of the specimen does not at present admit of its precise 

 affinities being accurately determined. It exhibits a nearly perfect 

 cast of the skull, the roof bones being wanting, and probably having 

 remained attached to the matrix when the fossil was removed. The 

 form of the skull and the position of the orbits are, however, distinctly 

 shown ; the mandible is partly preserved, but the teeth are all broken 

 through longitudinally, and so worn away that little more than their 

 general form can be traced. The palatal bones and all the floor of the 

 skull are probably preserved, but hidden by the hard sandstone which 

 fills the cavity of the lower jaw. The base of the skull is also im^ 

 bedded, and the existence of condyles, the presence of which would 

 determine its Labyrinthodont affinities, cannot be ascertained. 



" When found, the position of the specimen was reversed, the ventral 

 face being uppermost, and a portion of the dorsal vertebrae and ribs, 

 or rather their impressions, being exposed on the surface of the stone. 



" The ribs are short, very slightly curved and flattened at their distal 

 extremities ; their attachments are not seen. There is some question 

 as to the centra of the vertebra ; if, as Dr. Partridge thinks, the con- 

 tinuous series of hour-glass-shaped sandstone bodies visible represent 

 the centra, the notochord must have been persistent, and this character 

 would place the fossil nearer to Archegosaurus than Labyrinthodon. 

 Some squamose plates partially exposed on the ventral surface of the 

 throat tend to bear out the idea that the present species is Ganoce- 

 phaloid, but further investigation with hammer and chisel is required 

 to settle the point. 



" To whichever group this fossil may eventually prove to belong, its 

 geological indications are much the same. The Ganocephala have indeed 

 hitherto been met with only in rocks of the carboniferous age, whereas 

 Labyrinthodonts are known to range from Carboniferous to Upper Trias 



2 x 2 



