1880.] 



Ilistorjj of ilic Fossil Vcrlelrata of Imlin. 



17 



and Australian (probably) Triassic forms. The skull on which the genus is 

 founded was described by Professor Owen.* The European Jurassic genus 

 to which it is allied is Bliinosaurus, the African (Trias.sic ?), JMicropholia, 

 and the Australian, i?oi!/^r«6'e^s; the genus seems to me to be also clo.'iely 

 allied to Tuditanus rcidiafus of the American Carboniferous. BracJn/oiis 

 belongs to the short-jawed group of labyrinthodonts ; and, with the tir-it 

 tln-ee above-mentioned genera, constitutes the group " Brachyopina" of 

 Professor Miall. The skull of BracJii/ops is, I believe, in tlie collection of 

 the Geological Society of London : it is represented by a plaster cast in the 

 Indian Museum. 



Tertiarij. — From the Trias to tlie Tei'tiary is a long leap, but hitherto 

 no batraclnan remains have been found in India between tliese two forma- 

 tions. In the lower Tertiaries of the island of Bombay, there occur a large 

 number of the remains of frogs belonging, apparently, to two species. The 

 smaller of these two species was first described by Professor Owenf under 

 the name of Rana pusilla ; subsequently, however. Dr. Stoliczka,J fi'om 

 the absence of vomerine teeth and from the structure of the limbs, referred 

 the species to the genus Oxyt/lossiis, at the present time living in China and 

 Siam, and, possibly, in India. A larger frog from the same beds, noticed by 

 Professor Owen in the same paper, has not yet been generically determined. 

 1 believe that these Bombay frogs are the oldest representatives of the 

 group. 



Fossil Reptiles. 

 Trins-Jura. — The oldest members of the cLiss Reptilia liitherto found 

 in India belong to the orders Dinosauria and Dicynodontia (Anomodontia), 

 and occur in the presumably Triassic rocks of Panchet near Raniganj, in 

 the horizon known as the " Panchet group " The DivynoSon was origin- 

 ally described by Professor Huxley§ under the name of .D. orieniulis ; 

 additional remains have subsequently been described by myself,|| which 

 show that this species belonged to the sub-genus Ftycliorjnathus of Profes- 

 sor Owen. Other remains noticed in the latter memoir, seem to indicate 

 the former existence of a second and larger species of Dicynodon. This 

 group of reptiles seems, on the whole, to be chanicteristic of the Trias of 

 India, Russia, and Africa. The dinosaur has been named Ankistrodon 

 indicas by Professor Huxley and is the only known representative of the 



* a J. G. S. L. Vol. XI, 1). 37. 



t Ibid. Vol. V, p. 173. 



+ M. G. S. I. Vol. Vr, p. 387. 



§ Pill. lud. Ser. IV, Vol. I, part I. 



II Ibid, part 3. 



H Loc. uit. 



3 



