STEGOCEPHALIA OF SENEKAL, O.F.S. 
By Dr. E. C. N. VAN Hoepen, M.I. 
(With nine plates and one text figure.) 
The remains, which are being described in the following pages, were 
discovered accidentally by some children in a quarry near Senekal, Orange 
Free State. The father of one of them heard of a stone which they had 
found and which contained black markings, quite resembling teeth. The 
next morning he searched the quarry and started excavations, with the 
result, that a large mass of fossil remains was found. These remains were 
eventually bought by this institution ; a few parts had, however, previously 
found their way to the Museum of the University College at Johannesburg. 
While still at Senekal, I found that many parts of the fossils were missing. 
Several fragments were thereupon discovered among the debris of the 
quarry. A caudal vertebra was also seen in the solid rock, and this led 
to the excavation of a large part of the tail of one of the fossils. Many 
houses in Senekal having been built of stone from this quarry, it was 
not impossible that fragments of the fossils had been distributed all over 
the village. A search was therefore made at likely places and a good 
many fragments were actually found in contractor’s debris near a store, 
which had been recently built. Some time afterwards a large skull, of 
which the skull top and front end were missing, was bought from a resident 
of Senekal. A few months ago the Bloemfontein Museum acquired a 
nearly complete fossil from the same quarry ; this belongs to the same 
species as our fossils. 
The remains in our possession belong to three individuals of the same 
species. The skeletons are at touching distance from each other and 
fairly parallel. The vertebral column does not cover the median line of 
the ventral dermal ossifications, but is displaced to the right of this line 
in all three specimens. All the bones are still articulating. The position 
of some of the legs suggests that the animals had been doing their utmost 
to remain in their places. Most of the remains have been fitted together 
in two large masses. The smaller of these masses is the covering portion 
of the larger one. As we have only got fragmentary parts of the skulls, 
these could not be fitted to any of the skeletons. The skull fragment, 
which has been chiefly used in the preliminary description (2), belongs to 
the specimen to the left in the large mass. It was taken out of the matrix 
by its discoverer. 
Myriodon senekalensis , V. Hoepen. 
Myriodon senekalensis ... E. C. N. VAN Hoephn, Ann. Trans- 
vaal Mus., Yol. Ill, No. 2, pp. 
102-106, PI. I, II. Iss. 26th Oct., 
1911. 
Mhinesuchus jnajor ... R. Broom, Trans. Geol. Soc., South 
Africa, Yol. XIY, pp. 79-81, PI. 
XIII, fig. 1, 2. Iss. April, 1912. 
