378 Williston — New Family of Reptiles from th 



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Aet. XXXIII. — A New Family of Reptiles from, the Per- 

 mian of New Mexico / by S. W. Williston. 



It is now more than thirty years since the late Professor 

 Marsh described in this Journal (May, 1878) three new genera 

 and four new species of vertebrate fossils from the Permian 

 of New Mexico. Three years later Professor Cope published 

 a brief note on a small collection of vertebrate fossils from the 

 same region, with descriptions of two new species.* The only 

 other references to the New Mexico Permian deposits or fauna 

 that I can find in the literature, either paleontological or geolog- 

 ical, are brief descriptions by Professor Case of four new 

 reptiles based upon the Cope collection, at present preserved 

 in the American Museum of New York City. 



The collections of Permian vertebrates in the Yale Museum, 

 inclusive of Marsh's types, were made by the late David Bald- 

 win of Farmington, New Mexico, in Rio Arriba County, in 

 the interval between November 1877 and December 1880. 

 Mr. Baldwin believed them all to be of Triassic age, and so 

 labelled them. Prom 1880 to 1888 Mr. Baldwin was in the 

 service of Professor Cope collecting fossils, chiefly from the 

 adjacent Wasatch and Pnerco formations ; and sometime in the 

 early part of this period made the relatively small collections 

 of Permian fossils now in the American Museum, coming 

 from the same horizons and localities as did his previous ones 

 collected for Marsh. 



The Yale collections have never been thoroughly studied 

 till recently ; a part, indeed, including the type of the genus 

 and species herein described, had never been unpacked from 

 the boxes in which it was originally received so long ago. 

 And it is unfortunate for science that these specimens have 

 remained so long buried in the basement of Peabody Museum. 

 Although I was an assistant of Professor Marsh at the time 

 of their reception, I had no suspicion that the collections were 

 as extensive as they prove to be. 



By the kindness of Professor Schuchert I have recently had 

 the privilege of stuctying this material, a privilege for which 1 

 would here express my sincere thanks. Not only were all the 

 Permian vertebrate fossils of the Yale collections brought 

 together and placed at my disposal, but the full staff of pre- 

 parators was engaged in their preparation for more than two 

 months. 



The known New Mexico Permian deposits, so far as I can 

 learn from the notes of Mr. Baldwin, are chiefly in the vicin- 



* American Naturalist, xv, 1020, 1881. 



