64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of the hip-girdle. Anchylosis of a variable number of the trunk- 

 vertebrae is a well-known occurrence in birds ; but in them the supra- 

 scapulae are devoid of fixed connexion with the vertebral column. 

 The only vertebrates in which I know of a similar arrangement to 

 that observed in Pteranodon are very far below the latter in the 

 vertebrate scale. I refer to Skates, in which the vertebral spinous 

 processes are wedged in between the suprascapulae, which are 

 firmly connected with them by fibrous ligaments. 



I cannot dismiss the Pterosauria without mentioning Prof. Karl 

 Zittel's valuable memoir " Ueber Flugsaurier aus dem litho- 

 graphischen Schiefer Bayerns," published in the ' Paleontographica ' 

 in October 1882. It contains an excellent description of the wing- 

 membrane of Rhamphorhynchus Gemmingi, H. v. Meyer, from an 

 excellently preserved specimen found near Eichstadt and acquired 

 by the Munich Museum. The accompanying photograph shows the 

 delicate wrinkling of the membrane, and the same long, elegantly 

 tapering form of wing displayed by Prof. Marsh's specimen. Prof. 

 Zittel confirms Marsh's determination of the pteroid bone as the 

 metacarpal of the pollex, and corroborates his view of the wing- 

 finger being the fifth. 



A beautifully perfect skull of this same species of Pterodactyle 

 shows that the sclerotic coat of the eyeball had a circle of bony 

 plates ; and consequently this feature loses its value as a distinction 

 between Rhamphorhynchus and Pterodactylus, of which latter genus 

 H. v. Meyer had thought it characteristic. A third specimen shows 

 the number of sacral vertebrae to be four, and not three, as had been 

 previously supposed ; that the ilium had a long and expanded ant- 

 acetabular and a short and slender postacetabular process ; the 

 pubis a narrow, angularly bent bar, directed forwards and inwards, 

 met its fellow ventrally in a median symphysis ; whilst the ischia 

 are broad, vertical, slightly converging plates which do not meet one 

 another, but leave the pelvic outlet widely open below. The avian 

 similarity of the ilia and ischia should be noticed. 



Leaving these dry bones for subjects of wider interest, the recently 

 published 'Compte Rendu' of the Second International Congress held 

 at Bologna is too important to pass unnoticed. The excellence of 

 the type, the fineness of the paper, the whole style and appearance 

 of the volume do great credit to the Imprimerie Fava et Guragnani, 

 from whose press it issued. Probably the most valuable scientific 

 work of the Congress were the deliberations upon the " Rapports 

 des Commissions Internationales pour 1' Unification de la Nomen- 

 clature Geologique, et pour la question des Regies a suivre pour 

 etablir la Nomenclature des Especes." The decisions of so important 

 a body on subjects of such moment deserve our earnest attention, 

 and it would be well for every one of our Fellows to make himself 

 familiar with them. Of the advantages likely to accrue from such 

 international uniformity of stratigraphical terms it is impossible to 

 entertain any doubt ; they are indeed so great that to not a few 

 geologists they would appear sufficient to compensate for temporary 

 inconveniences such as those incidental to the suppression of 



