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VII.—The Origin of Frogs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2012

D. M. S. Watson
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Extract

Since 1912 I have had the intention of re-examining all the available material of palæozoic amphibia, and have done so personally in the case of the Labyrinthodontia, and through my students Drs Bulman, Whittard, and Steen for the Branchiosaurs, and all the small animals from the famous localities of Czechoslovakia; Linton, Ohio; and South Joggins, Nova Scotia. But these researches, although they have included as complete an account as can be made of Hylonomus lyelli, the first animal called a Microsaurian, still left us without a clear conception of that group, if indeed it has any real existence.

Last year, however, Dr Steen was able to show that Microbrachis and Hyloplesion from the Upper Coal Measures of Nýřany were related to Hylonomus and were Adelospondyli.

It therefore became important to examine the well-preserved skeleton, from the Coal Measures of Mazon Creek, Ill., which R. L. Moodie described and restored as a Microsaur. The unexpected results form the paper which follows.

Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , 1941 , pp. 195 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1941

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