Seeley Govier Harry (1839-1909)

was born in London 18 Feb 1839 to Richard Hovil Seeley and his second wife, Mary Govier.  He was educated at the Royal School of Mines, Kensington and worked in Cambridge where he was assistant to Adam Sedgwick at the Woodwardian Museum.  He started work on the arrangement of rocks in the museum and quickly developed an interest in fossils.

Moving to London in 1872 he married Eleanor Jane Mitchell of Bath.  Seeley became Professor of Geography at King's College, London and later Queen's and Bedford College.  He also lectured at Dulwich College.  Seeley write a large number of papers, including several on Pterosaurs.  He died in Kensington, London 8 Jan 1909 and was buried at Brookwood Cemetary.

Seeley's main contribution was to clarify the way people studied fossil animals.  He also restructured the dinosaurs into the two distinct groups, Ornithischis and Saurischia.  In 1901 he wrote the first popular book on pterosaurs 'Dragons of the Air' which sold out in a week.

Bibliografia:

Seeley H G; 1865, On the literature of English Pterodactyls, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Feb 1865 pp.1-5

Seeley, H. G. 1865 On the Pterodactyle as evidence of a new subclass of Vertebrata (Saurornia). Rep. Br. Ass. Advmnt Sci. 34 (1864), 69.

Seeley, H. G. 1866 An epitome of the evidence that Pterodactyles are not reptiles, but a new subclass of vertebrate animals allied to birds. (Saurornia). Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.(3) 17, 321–331.

Seeley H G; 1869, Note on the Pterodactylus macrurus (Seeley) a new species from the Purbeck limestone, indicating a caudal vertebrae five inches long, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 2(1869) p.130

Seeley H G; 1869, On the bird-like characters of the brain and metatarsus in pterodactyls from the Cambridge greensand, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 2(1869) Pp.129-130

Seeley H G; 1869, On the existence in the Pterodactyl pelvis of bones like those termed marsupial in the Monotremata and other indications of Mammalian affinities of Pterodactyls, Proc. of the Cambridge Phil. Soc., 2(1869) p.113

Seeley H G; 1969, Index to the fossil remains of Aves, Ornithosauria and Reptilia in the Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 3:169

Seeley, H. G. 1869 The English Pterodactyles. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (4) 3, 465.

Seeley, H. G. 1870 On Ornithopsis, a gigantic animal of the Pterodactyle kind from the Wealden. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.(4) 5, 279–283.

Seeley H G; 1870, On the frontal bone in the Ornithosauria; with additional evidence of the structure of the hand in Pterodactyles from the Cambridge upper green sand

Seeley H G; 1870, The Ornithosauria: an elementary study of the bones of pterodactyls, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 2(1870) p.186

Seeley H G; 1870, Remarks on Prof. Owen's Monograph on Dimorphodon, ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 6, 129-152. 24 pages with 5 text figures

Seeley, H. G. 1871 Additional evidence of the structure of the head in Ornithosaurs from the Cambridge Upper Greensand; being a supplement to “The Ornithosauria”. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.(7) 37, 20–36. & pls 2–3.

Seeley H G; 1875, On the Ornithosaurian (Doratorhynchus validus) from the Purbeck Limestone of Langton near Swanage, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 31:465-468

Seeley, H. G. 1876 On the British fossil Cretaceous birds. Q. J. geol. Soc. 32, 496–512 & pls 26–27.

Seeley, H. G. 1876 On the organisation of the Ornithosauria. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. Zool. 13, 84–107.

Seeley H.G.: 1879, On Rhamphocephalus prestwichi, Seeley, an Ornithosaurian from the Stonefield Slate of Kineton. Quart.J.Geol.Soc. 36: 27-30

Seeley, H. G. 1881 On evidence of two Ornithosaurians referable to the genus Ornithocheirus, from the Upper Greensand of Cambridge, preserved in the collection of W. Reed, Esq., F. G. S. Geol. Mag. 8, 13–20.

Seeley H G; 1881, The Reptile Fauna of the Gosau Formation preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 37:620-704

Seeley H G; 1887, On a Sacrum apparently indicating a new type of Bird, Ornithodesmus cluniculus Seeley, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, London, 43:206

Seeley, H. G. 1891 On the shoulder girdle in Cretaceous Ornithosauria. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6)7, 438–445.

Seeley, H. G. 1891 The Ornithosaurian pelvis. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 7, 237–255.

Seeley H G; 1901, Dragons of the Air: an account of extinct flying reptiles, LONDON, New York (reprint - Dover Paperback, 1967) 240 pp.

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Cronologia Ornitologica