[CHAPTER XXIV.]
THE TEMNOSPONDYLOUS AMPHIBIA OF THE COAL MEASURES OF NORTH AMERICA.
DEFINITION OF THE ORDER TEMNOSPONDYLIA, ZITTEL. 1887.
Zittel, Handbuch der Paleontologie, Abth. 1, Bd. 3, p. 384, 1887.
Terrestrial or semi-aquatic vertebrata; skull bones pitted and grooved; lateral-line canals present in well-developed form; pineal foramen sometimes absent; sclerotic plates present; vertebræ rachitomous or embolomerous; notochord partly persistent; one or two sacral vertebræ; tail present, long or short; limbs and girdles well developed; limb bones well ossified and bones of arm and leg separate; pectoral and pelvic girdles composed of the usual stegocephalian elements; an osseous pubis present; a cleithrum present on the scapula; carpus and tarsus ossified, carpals n and tarsals 12 in one form; phalangeal formula, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2 for the hand and 2, 3, 3, 3, 2 for the foot; fore and hind limbs pentadactyl in a few forms; venter covered with an armature of osseous scutes, sometimes overlapping; skin of back bare or armored with heavy plates; ribs heavy, double-headed, curved and moderately long, or short; body short and heavy, as compared to skull about 2 to 1.
Range: Coal Measures to upper Permian.
Distribution: North America: Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Pennsylvania; Europe: Germany, Bohemia; France; Asia: India.
Family CRICOTIDÆ Cope, 1884.