unlike to anything that exists in the present world.—"Ce sont incontestablement de tous les êtres dont ce livre nous révèle l'ancienne existence, les plus extraordinaire, et ceux qui, si on les voyait vivans, paroîtroient les plus étrangers à toute la nature actuelle." (Cuv. Oss. Foss. Vol. V. Pt. 11, p. 319.)
We are already acquainted with eight species of this genus, varying from the size of a Snipe to that of a Cormorant.[1]
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 teeth. Their eyes were of enormous size, apparently enabling them to fly by night. From their wings projected fingers, terminated by long hooks, like the curved claw on the thumb of the Bat. These must have formed a powerful paw, wherewith the animal was enabled to creep or climb, or suspend itself from trees.
It is probable also that the Pterodactyles had the power of swimming, which is so common in reptiles, and which
- ↑ In Pl. 21, I have given an engraving of the Pterodactylus longirostris, which was first published by Collini, and formed the basil on which this genus was established
At Pl. 22, O. is engraved the smallest known species, P. Breviostris, 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 have been about four feet from tip to tip. A fourth species, P. crassirostris, has been described by Professor Goldfuss. In Pl. 22, N. I have given a reduced copy of his plate of the specimen; and in Pl. 22, A. a copy of his restoration of the entire animal. Count Munster has described another species, P. medius. Cuvier describes some bones of a species, P. grandis, four times as large as P. longirostris, which latter was about the size of a Woodcock. Professor Goldfuss has described a seventh species from Solenhofen, P. Munsteri; and has proposed the name P. Bucklandi, for the eighth undescribed species found at Stonesfield.
