FOSSIL REPTILIA OF THE 



Pterodactylus Fittoni, Owen. Jaws and teeth, Tab. I, figs. 3, 4, 5. 



Figure 3, a, b, &c., shows the fore part of the upper jaw of a Pterodactyle, with the 

 first and second pairs of alveoli. In the minor depth of the jaw, compared with its 

 basal breadth, in its more obtusely rounded upper surface, and in the greater extent 

 of space between the alveoli of the same size, this maxillary fragment indicates a very 

 distinct species from the Pterodactylus SedgwicJcii, but one probably not much inferior 

 in size. I propose to dedicate it to my friend, Dr. Fitton, F.R.S., one of the founders 

 of the Geological Society of London, and who may be regarded as the discoverer of 

 the system now called " Neocomian," which includes the Green-sand matrix of the 

 Flying Reptiles under consideration. The sockets in the fragment (fig. 3) may 

 answer to the second and third in fig. 1 , though there scarcely seems room for a pair 

 in advance of the foremost in the specimen figured ; be that as it may, the distance 

 between the first and second socket in the specimen of Pterodactylus Fittoni is, 

 relatively to the size of the socket, greater than the interval between the second and 

 third sockets in Pterodactylus Sedgivickii, and much greater than that between the 

 second and third sockets. The outer wall of the largest anterior socket in Pter. 

 Fittoni is much less prominent than in Pter. Sedgivickii, and the lateral expansion of 

 the fore part of the upper jaw must have been relatively less ; the form of the bony 

 palate is different, there being a distinct though shallow longitudinal groove on eacli 

 side a low obtuse median ridge. The diastema between the second and third tooth is 

 shown to exceed the long diameter of the second socket, recalling the proportion of 

 the interspaces in Pterodactylus Cuvieri (Monog. cit.. Tab. XXVIII, fig. 4), but 

 the jaw is broader in proportion to its height in Pterodactylus Fittoni. 



Figure 4, a and b, is a fragment of one side of the fore part of the upper jaw, 

 showing three alveoli, and agreeing in general proportions with the Pterodactylus 

 Fittoni. 



Fig. 5 is the fragment of a jaw, showing a single elliptical socket, 5 lines in long 

 diameter (a), and with the plane inclined a little outward, as at b. The widely open 

 cancellous structure of the bone is well shown on the inside of this fragment, as at c. 



Pterodactylus. Sp. inc. 



Tab. I, fig. 6, is a portion of an upper jaw, including a part of two sockets, in 

 one of which the root of the tooth remains. Three views of this fragment are given, 

 of the natural size : a showing the alveolar border, b the broken margin exposing the 

 tooth, and c the outer wall of the jaw. This part of the wall is nearly flat, very 



