On the Posterior Portion of a Lower Jaw of Labyrinthodon ( L. Lavisi ), from the Trias of Sidmouth

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Abstract
N otwithstanding all that has been done of late years by Prof. Huxley and those who have continued his labours, for the elucidation of the Labyrinthodontia, less is probably known of the structure and affinities of that group than of any other long-established Order of vertebrates. It may perhaps be an open question whether Labyrinthodonts can rightly be referred to an existing class of animals; for the nature of the affinities of these fossils with Amphibia, Palæosauria, and Reptilia is a subject rather for inquiry than for dogmatism; and unfortunately the new materials now to be described are too few to do more than slightly modify accepted surmises. No apology seems to be necessary for the restoration of Prof. Owen's name Labyrinthodon , because neither Prof. Huxley nor Mr. Miall have attempted to justify either its suppression or reconstruction, while I am inclined to urge that demonstration is wanting that any foreign Labyrinthodont genus, such as Mastodonsaurus , has ever occurred in the British Isles. The single dermal plate figured by Mr. Miall, so similar to one hereinafter described from Sidmouth, seems to me no evidence; for Labyrinthodonts like Crocodilia and Teleosauria may well have resembled each other in the dermal armour of allied genera; and in describing an English fossil closely allied to one of those originally described by Prof. Owen from Warwickshire, it seems better to refer it to the genus Labyrinthodon as constituted by Prof. Owen, there being no evidence adduced or available for the subdivision of that genus in

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