218 Prof. BucKLAND on the Pterodactijlus Macroni/x. 



blin"- nothing that has ever been seen or heard-of upon earth, excepting the 

 dra"-ons of romance and heraldry. Moreover, it ^vas probably noctivag-ous 

 and insectivorous, and in both these points resembled the bat; but differed 

 from it, in having tlie most important bones in its body constructed after 

 the manner of those of reptiles. With flocks of such-like creatures flying in 

 the air, and shoals of no less monstrous Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri swarming 

 in the ocean, and gigantic crocodiles and tortoises crawling on the shores of 

 the primffival lakes and rivers, — air, sea, and land must have been strangely 

 tenanted in these early periods of our infant world. 



As the most obvious point of difference between our new species of Ptero- 

 dactyle and those described by Cuvier, consists in the greater length of the 

 claws I propose to designate it by the name of Pterodactylus macronijx, and 

 for the peculiarities of its structure, refer to my subjoined description of the 

 details of its skeleton, and to Plate XXVII. lithographed from the specimen, 

 and from a drawing which Mr. Clift kindly prepared to accompany this paper. 



The individual we possess must have been nearly of the size of a raven : — 

 the head is wanting, but much of the skeleton, though dislocated, is nearly 

 entire; part of the neck is also lost. Mr. Clift and Mr. Broderip have dis- 

 covered that the remaining cervical vertebrae are surrounded with small 

 cylindrical bony tendons of the size of a thread*. These run parallel to the 

 vertebrse, like the tendons that surround the tails of rats, and resemble the 

 bony tendons that run along the back of the Pygmy Musk {Moschus Pi/g- 

 tnceus), and of many birds, and are familiar to us in (he leg of the common 

 Turkey : these bony tendons must have materially added to the power of the 

 neck and head of the Pterodactyle. Of the vertebrse of the back and the 

 ribs but few remain : the sternum is much crushed, but appears to have been 

 large ; the pelvis also is large and well preserved. Three vertebrae of the tail 

 remain, and show by their size that it was large and powerful : the legs are 

 longer and stronger than in any of the bats or vampyres, and terminate in a 

 long foot; — the lower extremities being thus altogether more adapted for 

 standing and moving on the ground, after the manner of birds. 



The scapulse and coracoids are remarkably perfect, and much resemble 

 those of birds : the wings when unfolded must have reached nearly four feet 

 from tip to tip; their membrane was expanded by an elongation of the pha- 

 langes of the fourth finger, aided by the legs, and probably by the tail. The 

 three anterior fingers are of unequal length ; the first having two phalanges, 

 the second three, and the third four, as in the foot of crocodiles and lizards. 

 In all three fingers the penultimal phalanges, next the ungual bone, are the 



* Plate XXVII. fii^. 1'. 



