ox THE SKELETOX OF XYCTODACTYLTJS, WITH 

 EESTOEATIOX. 



BY 



S. W. VVILLISTON, M. D., Pii. D. 



The JJniversit]] of Kansas. 



With 1 Text Figure. 



The genus Nyctodadylus was proposed by Marsh, in 187G, for a ptero- 

 dactyl from the Niobrara cretaceons of Kansas. Tliough very inade- 

 quately described, the single distinctive character given by him — the 

 non-articular distal extremity of the scupnla — permitted its recognition 

 with certainty, and, in 1892,' I gave additional characters placing the 

 genus on a secure foundation. A specimen of this genus, of unusual 

 perfection, recently collected by my assistant, Mr. H. T. Martin, in his 

 usual skilful manner, presents so many interesting new features that I 

 give herewith a brief description of its more important characters in 

 advance of a monographic study of the gToup, which I hope to find time 

 to undertake soon. The specimen is very nearly complete, lacking only 

 the two distal phalanges of the wing finger in part, and many of the 

 small bones of the digits and of the tail. The skeleton lies upon its back, 

 with but little distortion or disarrangement of the bones; the right wing 

 is folded across the abdomen, the neck vertebrae are partly dislocated, 

 and the legs have been drawn a short distance away from the pelvis. The 

 head lies obliquely to the long axis of the skeleton, with its palatal sur- 

 face uppermost; and the bones of the pelvis have been separated at the 

 sutures, lying flattened out with the sacrum in the middle. The out- 

 lines of the different parts have been, for the most part, made from 

 tracings; that of the skull has been taken in part from a specimen of 

 OrnUliostoma in the museum, since the skull of the specimen is too deli- 

 cate to remove from the matrix; its anterior portion, however, has been 

 examined on both sides, as also the mandible, and I do not think that 

 the shape as given can depart much from the reality. I may further 

 •add that the feet and small fingers have been completed from specimens 

 of Ornitlw stoma. Because the bones of these pterodactyls are so ex- 



' Kansas Univ. Quart., Vol. I, p. \'l. 



