Restoration of Ornithostoma (Pteranodon). 
BY' S. W. WILLISTON. * 
With Plate TI. 
In the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for January, 
1871, Prof. H. G. Seeley proposed the name Ornithostoma for a 
genus of toothless Pterodactyls in the following words: ‘A new 
Senus appears to be constituted by some three portions of the jaws 
from the Cambridge Greensand. Unfortunately the extremity is 
not preserved. They have the ordinary dagger-shaped snout, but 
appear to be entirely destitute of teeth. I provisionally name the 
senus Ornithostoma.” It was not until 1876 that Marsh announced 
the discovery of the toothless character of the American Pterodac- 
tyls, giving them the name P¢eranodon. Concerning this genus 
Seeley further says:+ ‘There is, so far as I can discern, no evi- 
dence of generic difference between Ornithostoma and Pteranodon. 
There is perfect correspondence in the dagger-shaped form of the 
jaw, in the relations between the height of the jaw and the breadth 
of the palate, in the flattened sides of the snout, and their converg- 
ence superiorly into a rounded ridge, in the thin, rounded margin 
of the jaw which represents the alveolar margin, and in the smooth 
palate formed by a single, wide, concave channel.’”’ All this, and 
other evidence, Seeley obtained from the figures and descriptions 
given by Marsh. 
In the article last cited Prof. Seeley figures the shoulder-girdle 
of Ornithocheirus, adding the statement, “I believe this form of 
shoulder-girdle is substantially the same in all the Cretaceous 
Stoup.” In this he is correct, so far as the genus Péeranodon is 
concerned. The very peculiar and remarkable structure of the 
Scapula and coracoid is precisely that of the latter genus. In fact, 
every essential character that has been given so far for the Eu- 
ropean species of this group agrees quite with those of our Kansas 
Specimens. This will demonstate how unimportant are the charac- 
ters derived from the absence or presence of the teeth. Marsh 
~g Mor other papers on Ornithostoma by the writer see Kans, Univ. Quar., i, p 1; if, p. 
5 iv, pp. 61, 195, 
tAnn. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1801, p. 440. 
(35) KAN. UNIV. QUAR., VOL, VI, NO, lt, JAN. 1897, SERIES A. 
