SOME RECENT STUDIES ON FOSSIL AMPHIBIA 



Dr. ROY L. MOODIE 

 Department of Anatomy, University of Illinois, Chicago 



The anatomy and relationships of the earliest air- 

 breathing vertebrates have interested students of fossil 

 animals so greatly since Georg Jaeger described the first 

 Labyrinthodont in 1828, that the result to-day is a biblio- 

 graphic list of over 600 titles, varying in importance from 

 the magnificent work of Fritsch ("Fauna der Gaskohle") 

 issued in four folio volumes with scores of lithographic 

 plates, to short notices of a few lines. Many of the mem- 

 oirs are handsomely illustrated and beautifully printed. 

 The material so far described has been extremely frag- 

 mentary and the greater number of the contributions is- 

 sued have been dedicated to the description of species 

 based on incomplete material. The fauna was exceed- 

 ingly diverse like the plesiosaurs of a later period, and 

 new discoveries tend to confuse rather than to unify our 

 ideas of amphibian morphology. The few papers re- 

 viewed below form no exception to the statement made 

 above. Many new and importants facts are brought forth 

 in the contributions made during the past few months and 

 these are well worthy of consideration. Attention in 

 these reviews will be paid especially to new facts of struc- 

 tural importance. 



Broili (1) in a short paper has added to our knowledge 

 of the Permian fauna of Texas by the description of two 

 new species of Amphibia based on incomplete skulls. 

 One of the species is very small, the skull measuring 

 scarcely half an inch in length. The same writer (2) in a 

 more extensive paper has given a popular review of the 

 chief work done during the past ten years on the early air- 

 breathing vertebrates and has listed the important papers 

 from which he has used illustrations to elucidate his re- 

 marks. This paper should be consulted by any one who 

 wishes a convenient and accurate survey of the earliest 

 land vertebrates. Doctor Broili refers to Micrerpeton, 

 the first branchiosaur known from the western hemi- 

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