=Permian and Triassic Reptiles.--= The history of Reptilia commences in Permian and Triassic times, when they were notably represented by the Theromorphs, _Pareiasaurus_ and _Tritylodon_ in South Africa; the Proterosauria of the European and American Permian and Trias, represented by the lizard-like _Palaeohatteria_ and the dorsally frilled _Dimetrodon_, with its formidable array of neural spines; also the Rhynchosauria, with their beak-like jaws of the same formations. These two groups constitute the order Rhynchocephalia, which is represented at the present day by the Tuatera of New Zealand. =Triassic Reptile, New Zealand.--= The earliest Australian reptilian record is that of a vertebra of _Ichthyosaurus_ from the Kaihiku Series of Mount Potts, New Zealand (Triassic). This specimen was named _I. australis_ by Hector, but since that species name was preoccupied by McCoy in 1867 it is suggested here that the New Zealand species should be distinguished as _I. hectori_. The New Zealand occurrence of _Ichthyosaurus_ makes the geological history of the genus very ancient in this part of the world. =Jurassic Reptiles.--= At Cape Paterson, Victoria, in the Jurassic coal-bearing sandstone an extremely interesting discovery was made a few years ago, of the ungual bone (claw) of a carnivorous Deinosaur, probably related to _Megalosaurus_ of the European Jurassic and Cretaceous beds (See Fig. 126, 3, 3 A). The presence of an animal like this in Australia points to the former existence of a concomitant terrestrial animal fauna, upon which the deinosaur must have preyed. [Illustration: =Fig. 133--Ichthyosaurus australis, McCoy.= A--Part of head, showing eye protected by sclerotic plates B--Left pectoral paddle. L. Cretaceous. Flinders River, Queensland. 1/8 nat. size (_Nat. Mus. Coll._) ] =Lower Cretaceous Reptiles.--=