GUIDE TO THE DEPARTMENT 



GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 



REPTILIAN GALLERY.* 



This Gallery is devoted to tlie exhibition of the remains of Reptilian 

 fossil Reptilia, a class which includes the Tortoises and Turtles, "vvall-case 

 Snakes, Lizards, Crocodiles, and a lai-ge number of extinct No. 1. 

 forms, the exact zoological ^^osition of many of which we can 

 only judge by analogy. Like the Mammalia, the Reptilian class 

 lived both on land and in the water ; some being evidently 

 fitted for terrestrial locomotion by their well-developed legs ; 

 others, as shown by their paddle-shaped limb-bones, must have 

 passed their entire existence in the water. One group, now 

 extinct, possessed, like the Bats and the Bii'ds, the power of 

 flight. 



Class 3.— REPTILIA. 



Order I.— PTEROSAURIA (Winged-Lizards). 



^ 



Fig, 1. — Resloration oi Hhampkoiiii/nclius Mu.fnnteri, Goldfuss (after Marsh) ; one-seventh 

 natural size, from the Lithographic Stone, Elchstiidt, Bavaria. 



In Wall-case No. I, and in Table-cases Nos. 1 and 2, are ^terodac- 

 placed the fossil remains of this extinct group of " Flying ^y^es. 

 Lizards," or Pterodactyles. These animals had the centra of j^^ i^Table- 

 the vertebras hollow in front ; they possessed a bi'oad sternum or cases', Nos. 1 

 "breast-bone," with a median ridge or keel, similar to that of and 2. 

 birds ; the jaws were usually armed with teeth fixed in sockets. 

 The fore-limb had a short humerus, a long radius and ulna, and 

 * Galleries 3. 4, and 5 on Flan facing p. 102. 



(1876) 2 



