On Rhamphocephalus Prestwichi , Seeley, an Ornithosaurian from the Stonesfield Slate of Kineton

Abstract

Prof. Prestwich as obtained from the Stonesfield slate of Kineton, near Stow-on-the-Wold, a small slab which makes a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the structure of the skull in Ornithosaurs from the British Lower Secondary rocks. This specimen is little more than a cast from the upper surface of the cranium, not unlike in general character to the form originally described by Goldfuss as Ornithocephalus Münsteri . The skull itself was unfortunately in the corresponding slab, which has not been preserved; but a few slight fragments of bone remain sufficient to show the dense osseous tissue which is usual in Pterodactyles. The specimen yields a clear impression, which displays the proportions of the cranial bones, and the sutures between them, in a way so distinct as to enable me to state that this animal was certainly different generically from every other type which has hitherto been described. Whether, however, it pertained to a distinct species from those indicated by the fossils from Stonesfield which have already been figured by Professors Huxley and Owen is a matter upon which some doubt may be felt; but bearing in mind the relatively large size of the jaws and teeth in those fossils, I am strongly of opinion that this specimen indicates a smaller kind of animal, in which the dentary apparatus was less developed, and I therefore venture to suggest for it a specific name. The remarkable feature which leads me to consider this specimen to be the type of a new genus