36 OSTEOLOGY OF PTERANODON. 



distorted that they can not be accurately assembled. 1 The metatarsals and phalanges of this 

 example, although fractured and separated, are yet capable of being fitted together so 

 as to form a nearly complete member, perhaps the most complete foot that has been 

 observed in material of this genus. In addition to the four long metatarsals, Nos. I-IV, 

 and the claw-shaped rudimentary metatarsal V, there are preserved six long phalanges, 

 the proximal end of a long phalanx, three extremely short phalanges, and four small 

 claw-shaped terminal phalanges. In the figure, these parts have been arranged in what 

 seems to the writer to be their natural order, --assuming that metatarsal II is the longest 

 and metatarsal IV the shortest. The number of phalanges forming each digit is thus 

 calculated to be : Digit I, 2 phalanges : digit II, 3 phalanges ; digit III, 4 phalanges : 

 digit IV, 5 phalanges. It will be seen that this foot agrees closely with that described 

 by Professor Williston in " Osteology of Nyctosaurus," p. 152. The number and order 

 of the long and extremely short intermediate phalanges are the same as stated by 

 Professor Williston, and the only departure from the arrangement of podials proposed 

 by that author is that four terminal claw-shaped phalanges, instead of two, are called 

 for by the present scheme. That the four small claw-shaped phalanges found together 

 belong to the same foot, is sufficiently proved by the fact that the four long slender 

 penultimate phalanges of the foot terminate in small but distinct trochlear articulations. 

 In No. 2489 (Plate XXVII, figure 3) and also in No. 2554, which is not figured here,, 

 the distal termination of the penultimate phalanx of digit I is known to be of the 

 same form. 



RESTORATIONS OF PTERANODON. 



Only a very imperfect conception of the entire skeleton of Pteranodon can be ob- 

 tained from the detailed description of its component parts, and a restoration with the 

 wings outspread as in flight (Plate XXX) is here introduced in the attempt to show to 

 better advantage the general proportions of this most highly specialized and grotesque 

 animal. The drawing is virtually a composite restoration, the cranial characters being 

 based mainly on the type skull of P. longiceps, No. 1177, while the pelvis and the greater 

 part of the vertebral column are copied from the type of P. ingens, No. 2594. As the 

 utmost care has been taken to reduce all the skeletal parts of the examples consulted 

 to the same relative size, the figure should have considerable value in its portrayal of 

 the generic characters. 



Hardly less instructive is the lateral view of the skeleton shown in Plate XXXI. In 

 making this diagram, it was found advisable to figure the bones of the left wing and 

 leg only, as it seemed impossible to represent the limbs of both sides in true perspec- 

 tive in the lateral view without giving an erroneous idea of their length. In these two 

 plates, sternal ribs are figured, also short curved ribs borne by the free posterior dorsal 

 vertebrae. As stated in the foregoing pages, the form of these ribs is not known from 

 any example in the Marsh Collection ; neither is it possible to represent with certainty 

 the gastralia and the cartilaginous structure which doubtless connected the prepubes 

 with the sternum. 



The bizarre aspect of the great supraoccipital crest of the skull, extending backward 



1 The anterior surface of the distal end of the tibia is also figured in order to show the relative 

 size of the foot. 



