The Ornithosauria: An elementary study of the bones of Pterodactyles made from fossil remains found in the Cambridge Upper Greensand, and arranged in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of CambridgeSeeley, H. G. (Harry Govier)
Science
The Ornithosauria: An elementary study of the bones of Pterodactyles made from fossil remains found in the Cambridge Upper Greensand, and arranged in the Woodwardian Museum of the University of Cambridge
Seeley, H. G. (Harry Govier)
Pterosauria
No. 30 shows the entire length of the humerus to be 2-1/2 inches. It
has a nearly circular shaft with a diameter of a little more than a
quarter of an inch, being more slender than the corresponding bone
of Pt. suevicus, which has the same length. The _proximal_ articular
surface is crescentic, the anterior concavity corresponding with
the concave anterior aspect of the proximal end, while the convex
border corresponds to the convex posterior side of the bone, which
it overhangs: it is worn, but appears to measure half an inch from
the radial to the ulnar side. The ulnar ridge (which is worn) has
not extended more than a quarter of an inch beyond the articular
surface. The thin bird-like radial crest, arising rather more distally
than the ulnar ridge, is flat on its posterior surface, and extends
anteriorly for a distance nearly half as far again as the length of
the proximal articular surface of the humerus. On the proximal third
of the posterior face are two contiguous long narrow oblique muscular
insertions. The proximal ends Nos. 22, 23, 24, 25 are examples of this
kind of bone, having the pneumatic foramen radially situated on the
anterior aspect near to the articular surface, as may be seen in No.
24. No. 25 shows the termination of the radial crest in an oblique
oblong smooth surface, slightly convex in length and breadth, directed
distally towards the ulnar side.
No. 6, 7, 13, 27, are examples of another kind of proximal end,
where the pneumatic foramen is an oval hole on the ulnar side of the
posterior sur&ce. The radial crest arises more distally, and the ulnar
ridge more proximally, than in the small species, like No. 30.
Nos. 4, 11, 14, 16 are examples of other species with the foramen
placed as in the last group, only less near to the proximal end, while
it enters obliquely, being directed distally from the broad concave
area proximal to it. The largest proximal ends known, such as No. 2,
which though very imperfect measures 2-3/4 inches over what remains of
the articular surface, appear to conform to this latter type.
_Distally_ the humerus No. 30 enlarges, widening rapidly on the radial
side, which is bordered near the distal end by a sharp ridge showing
a muscular attachment, while the ulnar side is rounded and rather
inflated. The articular surface looks downward and in the direction
of the radial process. There is a mesial concavity on the radial side
which is bordered on the right and on the left by a prominent rounded
condyle, and behind by a condyloid convexity. On that side which in
conformity with the nomenclature applied to birds' bones, has here been
named the ulnar side, the ulnar and mesial condyles are impressed with
a flattened slightly concave sub-rhomboid area, which looks downward,
backward, and towards the ulnar side. These characters are not well
seen in No. 30, but may be effectively studied in their specific
variations in Nos. 36, 37, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46.
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