436 



Mr. E. T. Newton. On the Skull, Sfc, of [Mar. 22, 



March 22, 1888. 



Professor G. Gr. STOKES, D.C.L., President, in the Chair. 



The Presents received were laid on the table, and thanks ordered 

 for them. 



The Right Hon. Charles Douglas Richard Hanbury- Tracy, Lord 

 Sudeley, whose certificate had been suspended as required by the 

 Statutes, was balloted for and elected a Fellow of the Society. 



The following papers were read : — 



I. " On the Skull, Brain, and Auditory Organ of a new Species 

 of Pterosaurian (Scaphognathus Purdoni) from the' Upper 

 Lias, near Whitby, Yorkshire." By E. T. Newton, F.GLS., 

 F.Z.S., Geological Survey. Communicated by Dr. Archi- 

 bald Geikie, F.R.S. Received March 1, 1888. 



(Abstract.) 



The fossil Pterodactyl skull which is the subject of this com- 

 munication was obtained from the Upper Lias of Lofthouse, near 

 Whitby, by the Rev. D. W. Pardon, of Wolverhampton. It is the 

 first Pterodactyl found in the Yorkshire Lias, and is a new form, 

 allied to the Continental Jurassic species Scaphognathus (Pterodactylus) 

 crassirostris of Groldfuss. The structure of the skull, including the 

 back, base, and palatal regions, is better shown than in any pre- 

 viously discovered specimen ; and in addition to this the brain and 

 parts of the auditory organs have been exposed. 



In its present condition the skull is about five and a half inches 

 long ; but apparently about two inches of the front are wanting. 

 The elongated snout gives the skull a very bird- like appearance ; 

 but its most striking features are the five apertures, surrounded by 

 bone, seen on each side. The orbit is the largest of these apertures ; 

 in front of this, and next in size, is the ant-orbital fossa ; still further 

 forward is the somewhat smaller external nostril. Behind the orbit 

 is the temporal space, divided by a bony bar into the supra- and infra- 

 temporal fossae. The premaxillae are united to form the prenasal 

 part of the snout, and send backwards an upper median process 

 which meets the frontals between the orbits. The maxilla is not 

 clearly divided from the premaxilla; but there can be no doubt that 



