PTEROSAURI PYTHONOMORPHA 



487 



dactylus, with many species from the Upper Oolite, chiefly of 

 Germany. The tail is very short, consisting of a few vertebrae 

 only. The seven neck-vertebrae are so much elongated that the 

 neck is as long as the trunk with the tail. P. longirostris 

 measures about 1 foot in total length, while P. spectabilis is 

 one of the smallest, only of the size of a lark. The wings, 

 however, measure 10 inches from tip to tip. The largest is 

 P. giganteus, with a " spread " of more than 5 feet. 



Sub-Order 2. Pteranodontes. The beak is long, pointed, 

 toothless, and laterally compressed ; mandibular symphysis very 

 long. Pteranodon longiceps. The skull has a long parieto-supra- 

 occipital crest, which extends far back. The supratemporal 

 foramina are abolished. The pre-orbital and orbital foramina are 



FIG. 117. Rhampharhynchus mtiensteri, x f, as restored by Marsh. (From Geikie. ) 



confluent. The scapulae are attached to several thoracic 

 vertebrae. The skull of this gigantic species has a length of 

 two feet and a half, and the spread of the wings measures nearly 

 20 feet. This, and several. much smaller species, are from the 

 Middle Cretaceous formation of Kansas. 



SUB-CLASS X;PYTHONOMOBPHA. 



Very long-necked and long-bodied marine Cretaceous reptiles, with 

 movable quadrates, single lateral temporal arches and pro- 

 coelous vertebrae ; with paddle-shaped, pentadactyle limbs ; 

 and with the teeth ankylosed to the jaws. 



The skull possesses many of the essential features of the 

 typical lizards. The premaxillaries, frontals, and parietals are 

 fused into unpaired bones. There is an interparietal foramen. 



