XI. - On the structure of lysorophus, as exposed by serial sections

Abstract
Our knowledge of Lysorophus, the most remarkable land vertebrate, according to Broom, which has been discovered for many years, begins with the description given by Cope, in 1877, of three isolated vertebrae found in beds of probably Upper Carboniferous age in Vermillion County, Illinois. On the evidence of these vertebræ, Cope regarded Lysorophus as a reptile, and, in 1879, he doubtfully assigned it to the Clepsydropidae, a sub-division of the Theromorpha. Case, who had redescribed the vertebrae in 1899, obtained ribs and additional vertebrae from a new locality in the State of Texas, and published an account of them in 1902. The same locality afterwards afforded Broili the fragmentary skulls of 14 individuals; and it is to his study of these that we owe our first introduction to the cranial anatomy of the organism. Influenced, unfortunately, by a mistaken interpretation of the occipital region, Broili definitely assigned Lysorophus to the Reptilia, but again misled, this time by the supposed presence of gular plates, which have no existence, he exaggerated the closeness of its alliance with the fishes, and concluded by making it the representative of a new family, which he named the Paterosauria—ancestral reptiles par excellence .

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