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
Sub-cylindrical bones, apparently elongated, and a little compressed
obliquely, terminating distally in a slightly expanded trochlear
articulation. Some of them show on one side marks of an osseous
adhesion: this has led to their being regarded as claw metacarpals
rather than as the distal ends of tibiæ. But on the supposition of
their being claw metacarpals, they are as compared with the same bones
in _Pt. Suevicus_, out of all proportion large, since wing-metacarpals
from the Cambridge Greensand would not as a rule have a diameter
more than twice that of these bones. The trochlear articulation is
smaller in proportion to the shaft than in the wing-metacarpal, and
usually shows a pit at the side and grooves above for ligaments; the
mesial pulley groove is shallow and broad. Seven specimens are mounted
in illustration, of which No. 3 may be regarded as doubtful. It is
possible that they may be metatarsals.
CLAW PHALANGE.
Pl. 8.
Case. Comp. Tablet. Specimen.
=J= _b_ 8 1-3
These three sub-triangular bones, which supported the claws, are much
compressed from side to side, and consequently deep. The superior
outline is convex from front to back and rounded from side to side. The
inferior outline is concave from front to back, sometimes narrower,
sometimes broader than the upper part of the bone, while the inferior
aspect is always more flattened than the superior aspect. On each side
on the lower half of the bone is a deep groove. The articular end is
divided into an upper articular part, which extends as far down as the
lateral groove and a lower non-articular part with ligament markings.
The articulation is concave from above downward, and is divided into
two lateral parts by a mesial vertical ridge. The articular end is
about half as deep as the bone is long.
Pelvic Girdle and Hind Limb.
OS INNOMINATUM.
Pl. 8.
Case. Comp. Tablet. Specimen.
=J= _b_ 10 1-9
Nine specimens are mounted in illustration of the pelvic girdle: Nos.
1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 show the acetabular or femoral aspects. The right os
innominatum is exemplified by Nos. 1, 4 and 5; the left by Nos. 3 and
6. No. 2 shows the sacral aspect of a left ischium, and its attachments
with the pubis and ilium. No. 8 is the sacral aspect of a left os
pubis. No. 9 is the femoral aspect of a right OS pubis. None of the
specimens are sufficiently complete to give the form of any of the
bones. The only known example of an entire or nearly entire pelvis at
all comparable in form, is seen in the original specimen of Dimorphodon
macronyx figured by Buckland, _Trans. Geol. Soc._ Ser. 2. vol. III. p.
217. In nearly all the fossils from the Cambridge Greensand the bones
of the pelvis are anchylosed together.
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