646 PROF. H. G. SEELEY ON [Aug. 19OO, 



34. On the Skeleton of a Theriodont Reptile from the Baviaans 

 River (Cape Colony) : Dicjranozygoma leptoscelus, gen. 

 et sp. nov. By Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., F.L.S., V.P.G.S. 

 (Bead June 20th, 1900.) 



[Plate XXXVI.] 



The fossil reptilia of South Africa collected or sent to England by 

 the elder and younger Bain became known from isolated fragments, 

 from a mistaken idea (fostered by the published figures) that the skull 

 or the dentition gave information which was of chief scientific 

 interest ; but, partly owing to the rapidity with which specimens at 

 the surface become broken and washed away when exposed to the 

 sun and rain, skeletons in a complete state cannot often be obtained ; 

 and partly from difficulties of transport in the Karroo Desert, in 

 which they have mostly occurred, associated bones are rarely 

 collected. 



In Cape Colony I saw only one specimen showing bones of the 

 skeleton of an Anomodont reptile in natural association. This 

 evidence I now bring before the Geological Society. It had been 

 for some time in the Albany Museum at Grahamstown. The slab 

 containing it is 31 inches long by 10 inches wide. The rock is an 

 extremely hard siliceous sandstone, divided by natural rectangular 

 joints into its present size and form, split so as to expose a portion 

 of the skull, the vertebral column and ribs as far as the pelvis, 

 scapula, part of the humerus, femur, and parts of the tibia and 

 fibula. The skeleton curves over the slab ; and has been so divided 

 by the parallel longitudinal joints that the tail and left hind-limb, 

 and apparently part of the right fore-limb, were lost. The bones 

 have decomposed, and are represented by natural moulds. The 

 specimen, slightly distorted by earth-movement and by maceration, 

 was lent to me by the Trustees of the Albany Museum. I brought 

 it to this country, and a beautiful cast, obtained by means of a 

 jelly-mould, was taken from it in the Geological Department of the 

 Natural History Museum, for the Trustees, before the specimen 

 was returned to Grahamstown. 



Dr. Schbnland, M.A., F.L.S., Director of the Albany Museum, 

 has ascertained for me that the fossil was discovered by Mr. W. 

 Pringle, at about 3400 feet above the sea, upon his property at 

 Ealdon, resting in the bed of the Baviaans River, a tributary of the 

 Great Pish River, flowing south-westward between Tarkastad and 

 Thorn Cross Station. The counterpart has never been known, and 

 was probably swept away by the river before the slab was exposed. 

 Dr. Schbnland, however, states that ' there was an additional piece 

 belonging to the animal — I take it to have been the remaining part 

 of the head — which mysteriously disappeared many years ago.' 



I have not been successful in my efforts to discover this missing 

 fragment, which is believed to be in a private collection in Paris. 



