Type: Specimen No. 9023 (in counterpart), American Museum of Natural History.
Horizon and locality: Linton, Ohio, Coal Measures.
"In the only known specimen the vertebræ have low and squarely truncate neural spines near the head, and some distance anterior to the tail they are quite conspicuous and delicately line-grooved. The body is slender and probably limbless. The thoracic scuta are large and close to the head; the median is produced at both ends, but chiefly anteriorly while the lateral are narrow; all are without sculpture The head is seen from below. The mandibular rami are not so slender as in most species of Ptyonius, but are rather stout. They are a little incurved distally, so that the form of the muzzle is somewhat narrowed, but not produced. The teeth are not visible. Ten rows of the outer layer of scuta in 0.005 m." ([123]).
The specimen is very indistinctly preserved and the characters given by Cope can not all be made out. It is puzzling to see just on what he bases his conclusion. It is possible that the specimen is a poorly preserved Ptyonius. The outlines of the vertebræ are so indistinct that I am uncertain about them. In certain lights there appear to be regular impressions which resemble the spines of the vertebræ of Ptyonius, but they are doubtful. The skull appears totally distinct from any known species of Ptyonius, but it is very imperfect. The condition of the pectoral elements is very uncertain and I can not be sure that what Cope described as thoracic "scuta" are such. The interclavicle, however, is clearly preserved as a diamond-shaped structure. It is almost smooth, with a few faint radiating lines near the base. It measures 5 mm. in greatest breadth by 8 mm. in length.
| Measurements of the Type. | |
| mm. | |
| Length of specimen as preserved | 64 |
| Length of skull | 15 |
| Greatest width of skull | 8 |
| Width of body | 8 |
| Length of 7 cervical vertebræ | 15 |
| Length of median thoracic scuta | 10 |
| Width of same | 4 |
| Width of clavicle | 2 |
| Length of mandibular ramus | 12 |
[CHAPTER XI.]
DEFINITION OF THE ORDER SALIENTIA, LAURENTI, 1768.
(World-wide distribution.)