156 Prof. II. G. Seeley on 



The number of phalanges preserved is small ; the longest, 

 lyV inch long and fx,- inch wide, is a flattened bone, concave 

 on the external border and straight on the inner border. Its 

 articular surfaces are particularly well ossified, and rounded 

 distally in pulley shape, like those of the metatarsal bones. 

 Another phalangeal bone is I7V iwch long. These measure- 

 ments are in harmony with those usual in allied animals. I 

 liave nothing to add to the account of the claw-phalanges 

 given by Riley and Stutchbury. 



No. 87 is compressed from side to side, is about 2 inches 

 long, and presents a type very similar to the claws of 

 Dimodosoiirus, but less wide. 



From the close similarity of form which these metatarsal and 

 phalangeal bones offer to the bones of the foot in Crocodiles, 

 I am led to believe that the animals were plantigrade. 

 The ease with which a joint is made by the astragalus does 

 not seem to necessarily imply a vertical position for the meta- 

 tarsus, although that pulley-joint is found in birds. The meta- 

 tarsus of most birds is not adapted for application to the ground 

 in the same way as the \vide metatarsus formed of separate 

 bones which is found in these Saurischia. 



The Shoulder-girdle in Palaiosaurus. 



Various examples of the scapula and coracoid occur, but 

 they are all very imperfect. The principal specimens are 

 numbered 89, 90, 91, 97, 59. Notwithstanding the imper- 

 fection of preservation, there is no doubt that the scapula was 

 comparatively slender and short. It expanded a little at the 

 free end, had both the anterior and posterior margins concave, 

 widened greatly towards the coracoid, where it extended 

 transversely forward. The different specimens vary a good 

 deal in the width of the shaft. One of tlie smallest specimens, 

 no. 90, very imperfect on the anterior coracoid end, and 

 obviously broken at the extremity of the blade, is 6 inches 

 long. As preserved the coracoid end is 2 inches wide, with 

 an indication of a notch in the middle, which I take to mark 

 the limit of the foramen towards the articular portion of the 

 bone. The blade narrowsin the middle to f'o inch, and expands 

 towards the free end, probably to more than 1| inch. No. 91, 

 which has the form of the blade of a scapula, is 1 inch wide in 

 the narrow part and 2 inches wide at the free extremity. It, 

 however, shows no indication of the proximal end, and I 

 cannot affirm that the bone is certainly a scapula, for its form 

 is not unlike what might be expected in the blade of a pubis. 



