The Skull of Hatteria

Abstract

IT may be worth while to draw the attention of naturalists to an omission in the figures of the skull of that archaic reptile, the Tuatara, that occur in two recent text-books of somewhat wide circulation, viz. Parker and Haswell's “Text-Book of Zoology” and Reynolds's “The Vertebrate Skeleton.” These figures are either copied or redrawn from Zittel's figure published in his well-known work on Palæontology. This figure appears to have been drawn from an imperfect specimen, as the “transverse” (or transpalatine) bone is omitted in the ventral view; it is apparently represented in the dorsal view, however, though there is no index line in the original. The bone, though of considerable size, very readily drops out of a thoroughly macerated skull, from which the figure was no doubt drawn. There is really no excuse for our English authors borrowing the figure from a German book in this instance, for Dr. Günther's picture of the skull published in the Phil. Trans., vol. clxvii., is perfectly accurate, except in regard to nomenclature of some of the bones, while Zittel's is most indistinct.