Kansas Pterodactyls 



BY S. W. WILLISTON. 



PART II. 



In my previous article on the Kansas Pterodactyls, in this Quar- 

 terly, vol. i, p. 12, I expressed the opinion that the genus Ptcraiwdou 

 occurs in Europe, founding it on the great similarity of certain bones 

 figured by the early writers on these subjects. At the time, I was 

 unaware of a recent publication* by Professor Seeley of London, 

 wherein he held the same opinion. Since then Professor Seeley has 

 kindly sent me copies of his papers, from the attentive examination 

 of which I am satisfied that there can no longer be any reasonable 

 doubt of the congenerousness of our species with those included in 

 the genus Or7iithostotna Seeley, a generic name antedating Pteranodon 

 Marsh by some five' years. The recent figures and descriptions given 

 by Professor Seeley apply throughout to our forms, and, although 

 not a great deal is yet known of the European species, the knowledge 

 that we do possess is sufficient to dissipate all, or nearly all, tlie 

 distinctive characters hitherto ascribed to the genus Pteranodon. 



It is worthy of remark, as noticed by Seeley, that the first inkling 

 of this identity was shown by Cope, whose acumen lead him to refer 

 his fragmentary material to the genus Ornitlwcheirus ; an acumen all 

 the more noteworthy in contrast with the total incomprehension of 

 their affinities displayed by Marsh, notwithstanding his wealth of 

 material upon which to base an opinion. 



A fuller description of the anatomical characters of the group I 

 hope to publish in an early number of this journal, accompanied with 

 a restoration of the skeleton; meanwhile the Kansas species hitherto 

 placed in the genus Pteranodon may be known under the earlier generic 

 name of Ornithostonia, and the family as the Ornitliostoinatidae.. 



In the present paper, I give a restoration of the pelvis and leg of 

 the largest species, together with an amended description. It will be 

 well to state that the restoration is made from three specimens, the 

 leg from a specimen of O. ini^ens, the pelvis from two specimens of 

 smaller size, appertaining to a closely allied, possibly identical species. 

 The specimens from which the pelvis is drawn, have most of the bones 



*Ann. Mag. Nut. Hist. IHiH. p. 4.38. 



(79) KAN. UNIV. QUAR., VOL. II, NO. 2, OCT., 1893. 



