104 FOSSIL REPT1LIA OF THE 



With regard to the first phalanx of the wing-finger, this bone in Pt. macronycc is to 

 the humerus as 31 to 26 ; in the Pt. crassirostris it is as 22 to 16; in the Pt. longirostris 

 as 17 to 10 ; in Pt. longicaudatus as 2 to 1. In two of the above-cited species it is longer 

 than the ulna, in the other two it is shorter : we shall probably not greatly err if we 

 adopt the mean, and assign an equal length to the first phalanx with the ulna itself in 

 the Pt. compressirostris, viz. fifteen inches. In the Pt. macronyx the second phalanx of 

 the wing-finger a little exceeds the length of the first : in the other species cited, it is a 

 little shorter ; we may assign, therefore, a length of 14 inches to the second phalanx 

 in the Pt. compressirostris. Supposing the long bone of the Pt. C/wieri (T. XXX, 

 fig. 1) to be a phalanx of the wing-finger, it equals the dimensions above assigned to 

 those of the Pt. compressirostris in its present mutilated state. 



With regard to the proportions of the third phalanx, the Pt. macronyx offers a 

 marked difference from the three other species here compared : its length being to 

 that of the first phalanx as 5 to 4, whilst it presents the reverse proportions in 

 the rest. So likewise, with regard to the last slender pointed phalanx of the wing- 

 finger, this exceeds the length of the penultimate phalanx in Pt. longicaudatus, but 

 falls short of that length in Pt. longirostris, the difference being very small in both 

 cases : the last phalanx is not preserved in the specimen of the Pt. macronyx* nor 

 in that from which Professor Goldfuss has conjecturally restored the Pt. crassirostris.^ 



If we assume the penultimate and last phalanges of the Pt. compressirostris to have 

 been of equal length, and restore them according to the proportions of those of the 

 Pt. longirostris, we may assign the length of 26 inches to the two bones ; but if the 

 proportions of the Pt. macronyx were preserved in the gigantic species, the last two 

 phalanges would be 30 inches in length. According to the former restoration the 

 length of the bones of one wing, in a straight line, would be 7 feet 2 inches ; accord- 

 ing to the latter rfestoration, 7 feet 6 inches. We may be assured that we are within 

 the bounds of moderation, in assigning an expanse of 7 feet to each wing of the 

 smaller of the two great Pterodactyles of the Chalk, and supposing it to have had a 

 breadth of chest from one humeral joint to the other of 1 foot, it would measure 

 1 5 feet from the tip of one wing to that of the other, an expanse of pinions rarely 

 equalled, and still more rarely exceeded by the largest Albatross.^ The Pterodaclylus 

 Cuvieri was probably upborne on an expanse of wing not less than eighteen feet from 

 tip to tip. 



* Geol. Trans., 2d Series, vol. iii, pi. xxvii. j- Nova Acta Acad. Nat. Curios., torn, xv, pt. i, Tab. IX. 



% Latham cites the following testimonies to the extent of the wings of the Albatross: — "Above ten 

 feet, (Foster's Voyage, i, p. S7.) Ten feet two inches, called an enormous size, (Hawkesworth's Cook'. 

 Voy., iii, p. 627.) Eleven feet seven inches, (Parkinson's Voyage, p. 82.) Twelve feet, MS., at Sir 

 Joseph Banks's. One in the Leverian Museum expanded thirteen feet ; and Ives mentions one, shot off 

 the Cape of Good Hope, measuring seventeen feet and a half from wing to wing, (See Voyage, p. 5.)" 

 (Latham's History of Birds, vol. x, p. 48, ed., 1824.) 



