6 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



brata (Woodward & Sherborn, issued 1890), there were 

 known to the British Trias — 



Fishes, 6 genera ; 



Amphibia, 5 genera; 



Reptilia, 9 genera. 

 Since 1890, however, the numbers have been greatly in- 

 creased, mainly by the labour of Mr. E. T. Newton, 

 F.R.S., upon material collected from the sandstones of 

 Elgin, whence the bulk of our British Triassic vertebrates 

 have hitherto been obtained. 



As might have been expected from the nature of the 

 deposit, our district has yielded no trace of fishes, though 

 they have been found in beds of the same age near 

 Nottingham, and a single specimen of Dipteronotus at 

 Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. 



Turning next to the Amphibia, the earliest known 

 four-footed air-breathing land animals were the Stego- 

 cephala or Labyrinthodonts. The head was completely 

 roofed in by bones, was connected with the vertebral 

 column by either 2 occipital condyles, or none, the limbs 

 were of pentadactyloid type, and the vertebral column 

 comprised a well-developed and often long tail. We see 

 in them a distinct step in the evolution of the vertebrates 

 from the aquatic to the land type. They had not arrived 

 at the dignity of reptilia ; they are known to have been 

 amphibia, and only air breathers in their adult condition. 

 They seem to have been at their prime as to numbers and 

 variety in Carboniferous and Permian times, but were 

 giving way to higher forms in Triassic times. 



It was, until a few years ago, very confidently stated 

 that the well-known hand-shaped footprints found at 

 Storeton were those of the Labyrinthodon. This seems 

 first to have been suggested by Sir R. Owen many years 

 ago; but since then, as more material became available, 



