PTERODACTYLE. 223 
organ to effect different ends, that I shall select 
for examination a few points, from the long and 
beautiful analysis which Cuvier has given of the 
structure of this animal. 
The Pterodactyles are ranked by Cuvier 
among the most extraordinary of all the extinct 
animals that have come under his consideration ; 
and such as, if we saw them restored to life, 
would appear most strange, and most unlike to 
any thing that exists in the present world. — 
*' Ce sont incontestablement de tons les etres 
dont ce livre nous revele I'ancienne existence, les 
plus extraordinaires, et ceux qui, si on les voyait 
vivans, paroitroient les plus etrangers a toute la 
nature actuelle." (Cuv. Oss. Foss. Vol.V . Pt. 1 1 , 
p. 379.) 
We are already acquainted with eight species 
of this genus, varying from the size of a Snipe to 
that of a Cormorant. "* 
In external form, these animals somewhat 
resemble our modern Bats and Vampires : 
most of them had the nose elongated, like the 
snout of a Crocodile, and armed with conical 
* In PI. 21, I have given an engraving of the Pterodactylus 
longirostris, which was first pubhshed by CoUini, and formed the 
basis on which this genus was established. 
At PI. 22, O. is engraved the smallest known species, P. Bre- 
virostris, from Solenhofen, described by Professor Soemmering. 
A figure and description of a third species, P. macronyx, from 
the lias at Lyme Regis, have been published by myself, (Geol. 
Trans. Lond. second series, Vol. 3, Pt. 1). This species was 
about the size of a Raven, and its wings, when expanded, must 
