26 Batrachia of the Permian Period of North America. (January, 
THE BATRACHIA OF THE PERMIAN PERIOD OF a 
NORTH AMERICA. a 
BY E. D. COPE. 
poo class Batrachia holds an important position in the histor “ 
of the Vertebrata, as the first member of that kingdom which — : 
occupied the land on the advent of the conditions suitable for g 
= ats A 
air-breathing types. It thuş stands in ancestral relation to the 
lines of the Sauropsida and Mammalia, and as the immediate de- 
scendant of the fishes. 
There are several orders of Batrachia, and they display remark- 
able diversities of skeletal structure. For the better understand- 
ing of these, I give the following table of their principal defi- 
nitions :' 
I. Supraoccipital, intercalary and supratemporal bones present. Propodial _ 
bones distinct. 
Vertebral centra, ae atlas, pace one set of segments together support- 
hachi 
. 
Vertebrze RNS thel spin ‘ad infetioe digii each m forming two — 
centra to each arch, mee id inl 
Vertebral centra, ON atlas, not segini one to each ick: 
bones distinct. 
a An os intercalare. 
A palatine arch and separate caudal vertebræ Kosch 
aa No os intercalare, 
A maxillary arch; E arch imperfect; nasals, premaxillaries and caudal vet 
tebræ disti „<. o o . Urodela, 
Maxillary and REN arches distinct; nasals and premaxillaries e 
ym nnophio 
No maxillary or palatine arches; nasals and premaxillary, also caudal oC dis- 
tinct. Tra. chystomata 
INL. Supraoccipital, intercalare and supratemporal bones wanting. Fronta 
and parietals connate; propodial bones and caudal vertebra confluent 
Premaxillaries distinct trom nasals; no palatine arch; astragalus and calcaneum 
elongate, forming a distinct segment of the limb............0.-++809° ANE 
. The animals of the division 1 are all extinct. Division 1 in- 
cludes the salamanders and their allies, with the worm-like | 
cilians (Gymnophiona) ; while the third division embraces 
frogs, toads, etc. 
1 This is partly derived from the table which I have given in Vol. 1 Palæonto to! 
ogy of the Geological Survey of Ohio, 1874, p. 352. See also Proceedings 
_ delphia Academy, 1858, p. 211. 
