282 
PROFESSOR H. G. SEELEY ON THE STRUCTURE, ORGANIZATION, 
column and skull'usual in Reptiles is lost, and that which characterizes Mammals is 
assumed. 
On the Relation to the Anomodontia of the Fossil Animals termed Pelycosauria and 
Cotylosauria. 
In h is catalogue of the Permian Reptiles of North America, Professor Cope 
enumerates 15 genera and 39 species described by himself since 1877. which are 
referred to a group named Pelycosauria. This group is combined with the Anomo¬ 
dontia into an order named Theromorpha. Few of the American fossils have been 
figured, so that their exact relation to the Anomodontia is not easily determined ; 
but, in so far as I can judge from the description, few of the characters relied upon to 
differentiate them sustain the author’s estimate of their importance in classification, 
while their affinity to the Anomodontia is so close tiiat I can realize no obstacle to 
grouping the Pelycosauria as a sub-order of Anomodonts. I base this conclusion on 
the following facts 
(1) Professor Cope defines the Pelycosaurian scapular arch as consisting of scapula, 
coracoid, and epi-coracoid, blended like an os innominatum. But Sir R. Owen, in 
1876, in his ‘South African Catalogue,’ Plate 69, figs. 5, 6, figured a South African 
specimen which shows this condition, and he regarded the fossil as Dicynodont. 
Professor Cope remarks on the Mammalian character of the scapular arch, and states 
that in Dimetrodon the coracoid is smaller than the epi-coracoid, as in Monotremes. 
(2) The author also affirms that the pelvic arch is identical in structure with that 
of the Anomodontia, and is considered to resemble Echidna. 
(3) In the limb bones reference is made to the possible presence of epiphyses in 
Pelycosauria. I have found epiphyses to be well developed in the limb bones of 
Anomodonts. The humerus is said to resemble that of Echidna, but the nature of 
the resemblance is not stated. 
The Pelycosauria. 
There are few data for judging of the systematic value of the Pelycosauria. But 
in view of the fact that the Anomodontia was originally made to include animals 
which are allied to the Pelycosauria, supposing that group to be v'ell founded, it seems 
more in accordance with usag^e to class those animals among’ the Anomodonts than to 
adopt a new name like Theromorpha for a well-known ordinal t 3 ^pe. 
There is need, however, that the distinctness of the Pelj-’ccsauria should be esta¬ 
blished. The tibiale and centrale are said to unite to form an astragalus which has no 
movement on the tibia. One face of the astragalus receives the cuboid. Subsequent!}^ 
an entire tarsus w'as figured which has a very Mammalian aspect. It is regarded as 
