APPENDIX. 



by 



The first Pterodactjle (iiscovered in this country was found 

 by the writer, in 1870, in the Upper Cretaceous of Kansas ; and 

 during the next year two other species were obtained in the same 

 region.''^ These three species were referred provisionally by the 

 writer to the genus Pterodadylus of Cuvier, with which the re- 

 mains then described essentially agreed. An examination of 

 the large series of specimens of this order now in the Yale Mu- 

 seum, shows, however, that some of these fossils possess char- 

 acters widely different from all forms known in the old world, 

 and indicate a new and highly interesting type. The distinctive 

 feature in this group is the absence of leeth^ and hence the order 

 may be called Pteranoclontia, and the family Pteranodaniidce, from 

 the typical genus described below. 



Pteranodon^ gen. nov. 



This genus is readily distinguished from any Pterodactyles 

 hitherto described by the cranial characters, which are well 

 shown in a nearly perfect skull, and portions of others, in the 

 Yale Museum. The cranium preserved is very large, and the 

 facial portion greatly elongated. There is a high sagittal crest, 

 which projects backward some distance beyond the occipital 

 condyle. The latter is directed backward, and somewhat 

 downward. The quadrate is long, and inclined well forward. 

 The orbits are large, as are also the antorbital and nasal aper- 

 tures. The maxillary bones are closely coossified with the 

 premaxillary, and the'whole forms a long, slender beak, which, 

 "' the specimens examined, tapers gradually to the pointed 



•ex. Ther< ' , . . . .1 • 



tne upper jaws, and the pr( 

 of having been encased in a 

 also, are long and pointed 



apex. There are no teeth, or sockets for teeth, in any part of 

 ■ and the premaxillary shows some indications 



I horny covering. The lower jaws, 

 in front, and entirely edentulous, 

 closely united by a symphysis which extends 

 from the apex to beyond the posterior extremity of the den- 

 tary bone, thus resembling the mandible of Rhynchops and 

 some other birds. In several other respects, the jaws in this 

 genus are more like those of birds than of any known reptiles. 

 The vertebra in the present genus are similar to those in 

 European Pterosaurians, and the altas and axis are united 

 * Thia Journal vol. L p. 472, 18T1 ; vol. iii, pp. 241 and 374, 1872. 



