376 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XL V 



remains of Dissorophus multicinctus Cope which has recently 

 been recovered from the reputed Permian 'of Texas. His 

 material greatly increases our knowledge of the genus and of the 

 anatomy of the Permian amphibia. He describes a complete 

 skull, in which, unfortunately, the sutures are not discernible. 

 Nor are the lateral line canals to be found, a fact to be regretted 

 since we shall undoubtedly be enabled to base considerable impor- 

 tance on these structures did they occur. The skull roof is pitted 

 like all other of the Permian amphibia from Texas. A large 

 portion of the carapace is described with its attached vertebra'. 

 The dermal shield is broad, continuous and pitted, forming a 

 covering over the thoracic region of the animal. Limb bones, a 

 scapula and a portion of the interclavicle are described. The 

 form is closely related to another animal recently described by 

 Dr. YVilliston and the two are placed in the new family Dissoro- 

 phidae. The paper (doses with a taxonomic list of the Permian 

 amphibia from Texas for which paleontologists will be grateful. 

 There are three orders, nine families and thirty-four species so 

 far known in the fauna. 



The same writer lias described (3) a nearly complete skeleton 

 of a new temnospomlylous amphibian from the Texas Permian. 

 The form is very remarkable in several of its characters. The 

 following are the chief unusual characters of the new genus : a 

 median unpaired rostral opening leading into a palatine vacuity, 

 greatly enlarged antorbital vacuities, temporal fenestra?, appa- 



and the possession of short heavy ribs borne on transverse pro- 

 cesses. The skeleton is greatly similar to that of Eryops, but the 

 skull shows decided differences. 



temporal fenestra of reptiles, but it is rather to be considered as a 

 greatly elongate and closed epiotie notch. The median unpaired 



rostral opening is similar in structure to the one found in the 

 skull of Dasycrps ln,cl;ht,uh Llovd from the Permian of Kenil- 

 worth, though in the present form the opening is much further 



feature of the palatal structure is the apparent absence of the 

 parasphenoid. The vertebral formula is 22 for the presacral 

 vertebra?, an uncertain number of caudals and a single sacral. The 



