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Show 472 MR. 0. A. UOULENGER ON THE [Apr. 19, by Cope of Diadectes and Empedias, from the Upper Permian of Texas. It will be shown hereafter that a detailed study has substantiated this first impression, and that Telerpeton, far from being related to either the Rhynchocephalia or Lacertilia, is to be assigned to the Order Cotylosauria, established by Cope for Diadectes, and which would include also Procolophon. The representative of another order is thus added to the varied reptile fauna of the Elgin sandstones *. THE SKULL. Huxley regarded Telerpeton as a true Lacertilian t, and this opinion evidently influenced him in the restoration of the lateral aspect of the skull, given in outline on p. 78 of his paper. In the light of the specimens now available and of our present knowledge of fossil Reptiles, the faults of this restoration are seen to lie in the omission of the temporal roof, the part identified as a free quadrate being merely an impression of the inner side of the quadrato-jugal, a break in the stone having been taken for a * Until 1844, no remains of animals other than bones and teeth of fishes, which proved to be of Old Red Sandstone [Devonian] age, were known from the Elgin sandstones. In that year Patrick Duff discovered scutes near Lossiemouth which, after having been described as of a Devonian fish, were shown by Huxley to have pertained to a Triassic Parasuchian Reptile-Stagonolepis robertsoni. Shortly after, Patrick Duff discovered in Spynie Quarry the little reptile which was described as Telerpeton elginense. Other types were successively brought to light, establishing beyond question the Triassic age of the beds, however great the difficulty of distinguishing them from the underlying Old Red. Mr. Taylor has kindly furnished me with a list of the localities which have yielded the principal Reptilian remains :- I. STAGONOLEPIS BEDS.-Fine-grained sandstones without pebbles ; bones nearly always preserved. F'ndv . •'» a • •• 5 Stagonolepis robertsoni Agassiz. ^ ' ^ '" (_ Lasygnathus longidens Huxley. f Stagonolepis robertsoni Agass. a , •„ t\ .. 3 Ornithosuchus tvoodtvardi E. T. Newton. '^ " * " " ] Hyperodapedon gordoni Huxley. V. Telerpeton elginense Mantell. "Stagonolepis robertsoni Agass. Ornithosuchus woodwardi E. T. Newt. Erpetosuchus granti E. T. Newt. Stenometopon taylori Boulenger. Hyperodapedon gordoni Huxley. ^Telerpeton elginense Mantell. II. G O R D O N I A BEDS.-Rough - grained sandstones with pebbles; bones never preserved, only casts being found. ' Gordonia traquairi E. T. Newt. „ huxleyana E. T. Newt. „ duffiana E. T. Newt. „ juddiana E. T. Newt. Geikia elginensis E. T. Newt. Elginia mirabilis E. T. Newt. For the position of these quarries, cf. a m ap given by Dr. G. Gordon in Trans. Geol. Soc. Edinb. vi. 1893, pi. x. + " It is Saurian in all its characters ; and if we enquire to which division of the Sauria Telerpeton belongs there appears to be no doubt that it must be referred to the true Lacertilia, and among them to the suborder Kionocrania of Stannius, which contains all the modern Lizards-though I cannot make sure, from the present specimen, that it possessed a columella."-Huxley, 1. c. p. 83. Lossiemouth Quarries Cutties Hillock Quarry |
