. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. Fig. 699.—Rhamphorhynchus phyllurus (after Marsh). The Pterosaurs were of many kinds, which varied in size from two or three feet to eighteen or twenty feet in alar Fig. 700.—Restoration of Rharuphorhynchus phyllurus (after Marsh). One seventh natural size. Birds.—The class of Birds is now so distinctly separated from all others and the connecting links obliterated, that the earliest birds are of especial interest as throwing light on the evolution of this class. Until 1862 birds had been found only
. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. Fig. 699.—Rhamphorhynchus phyllurus (after Marsh). The Pterosaurs were of many kinds, which varied in size from two or three feet to eighteen or twenty feet in alar Fig. 700.—Restoration of Rharuphorhynchus phyllurus (after Marsh). One seventh natural size. Birds.—The class of Birds is now so distinctly separated from all others and the connecting links obliterated, that the earliest birds are of especial interest as throwing light on the evolution of this class. Until 1862 birds had been found only in the Tertiary, and these were already distinctly differentiated as typical birds; but in that year there was found in the Solenhofen limestone, so celebrated for its marvelous preservations of organisms, a flying feathered biped, and therefore pre- sumably a bird. But how different from our usual conceptions of this class ! Along with its distinctive bird characters of feet, limb-bones, beak, and especially of feathered wings, it had the long fail (Fig. 701) and toothed jaws (Fig. 704) of a reptile. The structure of the tail is especially significant. In ordinary birds the tail proper is shortened up to a rudiment, and ends in a large bone, from which radiate the feathers of the tail-fan. In this earliest bird, on the contrary, the tail. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original LeConte, Joseph, 1823-1901. New York : D. Appleton and Co.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1892
