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American Museum of Natural History

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476 OSBORN, THE REPTILIAN SUBCLASSES DIAPSIDA AND SYNAPSIDA.<br />

(D. dollovianus); sacral vertebre 2 (Dirnetrodon) or 3, dorsal vertebrae i6, 27 + presacral vertebra<br />

(Case, Dimetrodon dollovianus); three sacrals with separate ribs attached to sides <strong>of</strong> pleurocentra,<br />

certain <strong>of</strong> the neural<br />

arches laterally perforated<br />

at the base as in<br />

Palaeohatteria;<br />

tail ab-<br />

breviated, with broad<br />

hypocentra not converted<br />

into chevrons<br />

Hypocentra through-<br />

~~out the series (D. dol-<br />

~~~~~~~~lumbaregion; hypo-<br />

centra articulating with<br />

capitula <strong>of</strong> ribs by<br />

prominen lateral pro-<br />

cesses in anterior por-<br />

~~~~tion <strong>of</strong> vertebral<br />

column; anterior cer-<br />

Fig. 13. Restoration <strong>of</strong> EmbotoAhorus. About IB nat. size. After Case. vical vertebrae temnospondylous.'<br />

(12) RIBS. Two-headed (Embolophorus) except in first cervical or atlas, which has a single<br />

facet for the capitulum <strong>of</strong> the first rib; capitula <strong>of</strong> cervical ribs unite with hypocentra and pleurocentra<br />

in part.<br />

(13) GIRDLES.-Shoulder girdle with coracoid and procoracoid suturally united; coracoid<br />

remaining free from scapula, but suture between scapula and procoracoid tending to close; clavicles<br />

large, episternum T-shaped. Pelvic girdle,2 ilium, ischium and pubis entering into acetabulum,<br />

with pubic arrangement triradiate.<br />

( 14) LIMBS.- Humerus with entepicondylar foramen, ectepicondylar groove like that <strong>of</strong><br />

Sphenodon, free centrale carpi as in Palceohatteria and Protorosaurus, 5 distal carpalia in D.<br />

dollovianus (Case) i. e, carpalia 4 and 5, separate. Tarsalia 4 and 5, united.<br />

The progressive characters <strong>of</strong> the <strong>American</strong> Pelycosauria are summarized<br />

by Case from stages represented by Diopeus, Edaphosaurus, Clepsydrops,<br />

Dimetrodon, as follows:<br />

(i) Temporal arches remaining distinct but becoming very slender. (2) Depression <strong>of</strong> the<br />

posterior angle <strong>of</strong> the skull or suspensorial region by a shortening and reduction <strong>of</strong> the quadrate.<br />

(3) Gradual elevation and transverse narrowing <strong>of</strong> the facial region by vertical growth and extension<br />

<strong>of</strong> the maxillaries and narrowing <strong>of</strong> the frontals and nasals; premaxillaries with a vertical<br />

anterior process, supporting one large and four smaller incisors. (4) Increase in size <strong>of</strong> ectopterygoid<br />

process <strong>of</strong> the pterygoids. (5) Increase <strong>of</strong> maxillary and premaxillary tusks and development<br />

<strong>of</strong> serrations on the edges <strong>of</strong> the teeth. (6) Correlated with these changes is the elevation <strong>of</strong> the<br />

neural spines from twice the length <strong>of</strong> the centrum (Diopeus) to twenty-eight times the length <strong>of</strong><br />

the centrum (Dimetrodon); transverse processes on the spines (Naosaurus). (7) Coalescence <strong>of</strong><br />

squamosal and prosquamosal, enlargement <strong>of</strong> quadratojugal, and overlapping <strong>of</strong> reduced quadrate.<br />

I A cervical complex in the Chicago <strong>Museum</strong>, originally attributed to Dimetrodon by Baur, shows an atlas composed<br />

<strong>of</strong> separate hypo-, pleuro-, and neurocentra, a proatlas consisting <strong>of</strong> a dorsal neurocentrum, and an axis composed<br />

<strong>of</strong> a hypocentrum, with neurocentrum and pleurocentrum conjoined.<br />

2 The pelvis attributed to Dimetrodon by Cope proves to belong to the Stegocephalian genus Eryops (Case).

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