The phytosaurs were a group of crocodile-like reptiles which ranged from
6 to 25 feet in length (Pl. 42). They resembled the crocodiles both in
appearance and in their mode of life, but this similarity is only
superficial, and the phytosaurs and crocodiles are two distinct groups
of reptiles.
The phytosaurs are exclusively Triassic in age and their remains have
been collected from Triassic rocks along the eastern margin of the High
Plains of Texas.