The Coal Measures Amphibia of North America

by Roy Lee Moodie

Zittel in 1888 proposed ([642]) the next classification of any note in his "Handbuch der Paleontologie," where it stands as follows:

Classe Amphibia.
Ordnung 1. Stegocephali.
Unterordnung 1. Lepospondyli.
Familie 1. Branchiosauridæ Fritsch.
" 2. Microsauria Dawson.
" 3. Aistopoda Miall.
Unterordnung 2. Temnospondyli.
Genera: Archegosaurus, Eryops, etc.
Unterordnung 3. Stereospondyli.
Familie 1. Gastrolepidoti.
" 2. Labyrinthodonta.
Ordnung 2. Cœciliæ.
Ordnung 3. Urodela.
Unterordnung 1. Ichthyoidea.
Familie 1. Phanerobranchia.
" 2. Cryptobranchia.
Unterordnung 2. Salamandrina.
Ordnung 4. Anura.
Unterordnung 1. Phaneroglossa.
Familie 1. Ranidæ.
" 2. Bufonidæ.
" 3. Cystignathidæ Cope.
" 4. Pelobatidæ Boul.
" 5. Discoglossidæ Cope.
" 6. Palæobatrachidæ Cope.

Lydekker ([393]) in the next year proposed a system of classification which did not depart widely from that proposed ([450]) by the committee of the British Association for 1874. Lydekker's classification is as follows:

Class Amphibia.
Order I. Labyrinthodontia.
Suborder 1. Branchiosauria.
Family Protritonidæ.
" Apateonidæ.
Suborder 2. Aistopoda.
Family Dolichosomatidæ.
Suborder 3. Microsauria.
Family Urocordylidæ.
" Limnerpetidæ.
" Hyloplesionidæ.
" Microbrachidæ.
Suborder 4. Labyrinthodontia vera.
Family Archegosauridæ.
" Diplospondylidæ.
" Nyraniidæ.
" Dendrerpetidæ.
" Anthracosauridæ.
" Mastodonsauridæ.
Uncertain family, Eosaurus.
Order II. Apoda.
Order III. Caudata.
Family Hylæobatrachidæ.
" Sirenidæ.
" Proteidæ.
" Amphiumidæ.
" Salamandridæ.
Order IV. Ecaudata.
Family Discoglossidæ.
" Pelobatidæ.
" Palæobatrachidæ.
" Cystignathidæ.
" Ranidæ.

In 1890 Döederlein proposed a scheme of classification which is notable on account of the peculiar relations which it expresses between the groups relations which, in reality, do not exist. His classification is as follows:

Class Amphibia.
Ordnung I. Stegocephali.
A. Microsauria.
Unterordnung 1. Branchiosauri.
Genera: Branchiosaurus, Dawsonia, Melanerpeton, Pelosaurus.
Unterordnung 2. Sauromorphi.
Familie 1. Hylonomidæ.
" 2. Nectridæ.
" 3. Aistopodidæ.
B. Ganocephala.
Unterordnung 1. Rhachitomi.
" 2. Embolomeri.
" 3. Labyrinthodontia.
Ordnung II. Urodela.
Ordnung III. Gymnophiona.
Ordnung IV. Anura.

In 1890 Lydekker used the same classification, with minor changes, which he had used in his Paleontology. Credner, who wrote at about the same time ([193]), followed Zittel's classification. Zittel in 1895 merely repeated his former classification. In 1898 appeared Smith Woodward's Paleontology, where the following scheme is adopted:

Class Batrachia.
Order I. Stegocephalia. Order II. Gymnophiona.
Suborder 1. Branchiosauria. Order III. Caudata.
" 2. Aistopoda. Order IV. Ecaudata.
" 3. Microsauria.
" 4. Labyrinthodontia.