6 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



by the scapular arch, in which the coracoid is not co-ossified with the 

 scapula. The latter bone, moreover, has no articulation at its distal 

 end, which is comparatively thin and expanded. The type of this 

 species is Pteranodon gracilis Marsh, which may now be called Nycto- 

 sauriis gracilis. It was a Pterodactyl of medium size, measuring about 

 eight to ten feet between the tips of the expanded wings." 



The specific description of this species rests solely upon the meas- 

 urements ; the other characters given are not only vague, but are also 

 common to all the known species. The generic description, as it is 

 seen, is based upon the structure of the coraco-scapula. It will also 

 be observed that the characters are not drawn from the type speci- 

 men, as that did not include this part of the skeleton, according to 

 the author's statement. Of these two characters, the non-ossification 

 of the coracoid and scapula is a somewhat doubtful one, as the same 

 character may or may not occur in allied species, as, for example, in 

 the species oi RiiampJiorhynctis {R. Mi/e?/sicri Goldi.) described by the 

 author himself. So incomplete and unsatisfactory are the characters 

 thus given that Zittel, in his Handbuch, dismisses the genus with the 

 brief remark, "noch unbeschrieben." 



Nevertheless, from the peculiar form of the scapula, and from my 

 recollection of the specimens upon which the genus was based, I believe 

 I have determined with certainty an excellent specimen in the Snow 

 Museum of Kansas University as a member of it, and here give a suf- 

 ficiently complete description to place the genus on a more secure 

 foundation. 



This specimen was collected by Professor E. E. Slosson, of 

 Wyoming University, while a member of my party in western Kansas 

 the past season. It was partly exposed upon a gently sloping surface 

 of firm yellow chalk on the Smoky Hill river, in the vicinity of Mon- 

 ument Rocks. Originally, the nearly complete skeleton must have 

 been preserved, but a number of the bones had been either wholly or 

 partially washed away, in some cases leaving their imprint in the 

 chalk. The bones uncovered, and now lying upon the chalk slab 

 nearly in their natural relations, are a humerus, both radii and ulnae, 

 a pteroid, the two carpals of one wrist, both wing metacarpals, a first 

 and a last wing phalanx, both coraco-scapulae, the posterior part of 

 the lower jaws, ilium, femur, sternum, numerous ribs and vertebrae. 

 The two coraco-scapulae lie with their scapular ends nearly touching, 

 and their coracoid ends separated by a space equivalent to the width 

 of the sternal articulation. The two elements appear to have been 

 imperfectly united and were probably not co-ossified. The inferior 

 border of the coracoid, near the humeral articulation, has a greater 



