GEOLOGY. 



55 



radius and ulna, and one of the fingers of the hand was enormously 

 elongated to give support to the wing-membrane, which was attached 

 to the sides of the body, arm and hand, and also to the hind-limb 

 and tail, which in some genera (as in Rhamphorhynchus) was greatly 

 elongated and stiffened with slender ossified fibres. The other fingers 

 of the hand were free and furnished with claws. The wing-membrane 

 appears to have resembled that of the Bat, being destitute of feathers. 

 The bones were pneumatic (i.e. filled with large air-cavities), the walls 



Fig. 25.— Skeleton of Flying Lizard (Pterodactylus crassirostris), from the Lithographic 

 Stone, Solenhofen, Bavaria. 



of the bones being very thin and compact, thus combining strength 

 and lightness. 



Numerous remains of nearly perfect Pterodactyles, both with long 

 and short tails, and varying greatly in size, have been obtained from 

 the Solenhofen Limestone in Bavaria — others occur in the Great 

 Oolite at Stonesfield, near Oxford ; and in the Lias formation, Lyme 

 Kegis, Dorset. The most remarkable of these English examples is 

 the Dimorphodon macronyx from the Lias of Lyme, which had a 

 large head, the jaws armed with lancet-shaped teeth, a long tail aud 

 well-developed wings. The skull was 8 inches in length and the 

 expanse of the wings about 4 feet. (Owen.) 



