PROTOSTEGID. 197 
Cope described and figured the humerus and some other limb bones. Case also added to 
our knowledge of the limbs; to Wieland most of all we are indebted for their complete restora- 
tion. The materials furnishing his observations are in the Carnegie Museum, at Pittsburg. 
The scapula, with its procoracoid process, is a stout bone. The coracoid is eo long that it 
reacht the pelvis. The humerus is greatly modified, resem- 
bling in some respects that of Dermochelys. The fingers are 
elongated to form a great paddle for beating the sea. The 
length of this limb, from the glenoid cavity to the tip of the third 
finger, is estimated by Wieland as being 1060 mm. The greatest 
spread of the fore limbs is supposed to have been 2500 mm. For 
details on the structure of the flippers the student is referred 
to Wieland’s paper and to the figure here presented (fig. 251). 
Fig. 252, reduced from Wieland’s paper, represents a 
humerus of Protostega now in Carnegie Museum. The total 
length is 340 mm. 
Fig. 253, taken from Wieland, represents the hinder limb 
and the pelvis. Both the pelvis and the limb resemble closely 
those of the Cheloniidz. The ilium is a stout bone. The 
ischium and the pubis appear to have met on the midline. The 
hinder limb, in comparison with the fore limb, is relatively 
longer than it is in most Cheloniide. The greatest spread of 
the hinder flippers is given as 1900 mm. Wieland thinks that 
four of the toes were clawed. 
Estimates varying greatly have been made regarding the 
size of this sea-turtle. It is highly probable that earlier esti- 
mates made by Cope and Hay were too great. Cope concluded 
Bey ca Proto de ed sinus. that his specimen had a total length of 12.83 feet, about 3900 
Pumesu, Sc. e's mm. From the specimen studied by Hay about the same con- 
clusion was reacht. The discovery by Case that the plastron 
was much shortened behind caused him to conclude that the 
total length was considerably less than had been supposed. He estimated the length, including 
the head, as about 2270 mm. He made the length of the carapace as 1640 mm., the width as 
1235 mm. However, if we may judge from the carapace described by Wieland, the width 
e, ectepicondylar passage. 
Fic. 253.—Protostega gigas. Pelvis and hinder limb. Xt. 
astc, astragalo-calcaneum; fem, femur; fib, fibula; I-V, the digits; #/, ilium; isch, ischium; met, metatarsals; 
7 p» first row of phalanges; pub, pubis; ti, tibia; 1-5, tarsals of second row. 
was considerably greater than the length. It is now estimated that the length of the carapace 
of the Pittsburg specimen was about 1100 mm. and the width about 1200 mm. ‘The total 
length of the animal then must have been perhaps something over 2 meters. Its humerus 
was 340 mm. long; that of Cope’s type, 300 mm. 
