493 



PTERODACTYLE. 



PTERODACTYLS. 



491 



Dr. Buckland remarks that in P. macronyx (Lias at Lyme Regis) ! modern Lizards, whose necks are short, arid require no such aid to 

 there is an unusual provision for giving support and movement to a I support the head. In the compensation which these tendons afforded 

 large head at the extremity of a long neck, by the occurrence of bony for the weakness arising from the elongation of the neck, Dr. Buckland 



Pterodactyl us ct'assiro$tris. (Goldfuss.) 



Flerodaclyliu crattirottru, restored. (Goldfuss.) 



tendons running parallel to the cervical vertebras, like the tendons 

 that paw along the back of the Pigmy Musk (Motchut jngmanu), and 

 of many birds. This provision, he observed, does not occur in any 



sees an example of the same mechanism in an extinct order of the 

 most ancient reptiles, which is still applied to strengthen other parts of 

 the vertebral column in a few existing species of Mammalia, and birds. 



