220 Prof. BucKLAND 071 the Pterodactylus Macronyx. 



remarkable that the elytra of coleopterous insects, on which this reptile might 



have fedj occur at Stonesfield in the same stratum with its bones. Here then 



■we have another new and important locality of the genus Pterodactyle, nearly 



in the middle region of the oolite formation, in a place intermediate between 



the lias and the lithographic limestone : and from its occurrence at the two 



extremes, and nearly in the centre of the series of the successive deposits 



which are grouped together under the name of Jura limestone, we may with 



probability infer, that its existence extended through the entire long period of 



this great formation from lias to chalk. Within this period are included all 



the strata of Tilgate Forest : and it deserves inquiry whether many of the 



bones discovered therein, which Mr. Mantell has referred to birds, may not 



on more careful examination prove to belong also to the Pterodactyle ; and 



whether there be any certain evidence of the existence of fossil birds in strata 



more ancient than the tertiary. 



I now proceed to my description of the details of the skeleton of Ptero- 

 dactylus inacronyx^' . 



As many of the bones are moved from their natural place, they will be 

 recognized more easily by reference to Plate XXVII. fig. 2, where the ex- 

 tremities are restored. 



In my description, I shall follow, as nearly as possible, the order and illus- 

 trations adopted by Cuvier in his admirable account of the Ptcrodactylus lon- 

 girostris. 



Head. — The head is entirely wanting: — the fragment of a jawf found in 

 the same lias at Lyme Regis, and now in the collection of Miss Philpots, is 

 probably that of our Pterodactyle ; the teeth are simple, and like one another 

 — flat, and shaped at the point like a lancet | : the jaw bone is very thin. 



Neck. — The anterior part is lost, and the remainder much obscured by 

 pyrites ; one vertebra only at «, is distinctly seen to be three quarters of an 

 inch in length ; thus corresponding with the cervical vertebrae of Ptero- 

 dactylus longirostris. Around this long vertebra, and extending from it in 

 both directions towards the head and back, are small cylindrical bony tendons, 

 resembling the soft tendons that run parallel to the vertebraB in the tails of 

 rats. They seem to terminate in the first dorsal vertebra, but the specimen 

 is too imperfect to show this with certainty. 



Vertebras. — The vertebrse are much dislocated, and many of them lost; the 

 bodies of four are seen near a' ; two also are visible beneath the neck, at b ; 

 and one dorsal vertebra, at 6', retains the spinous process, and one transverse 



* Plate XXVII. t Plate XXVII. fig. 3. 



t Sec magnifud view of them at fig. 3. 



