. Biology in America. Biology. The Story of the Rocks 131 num. The pterodactyl's skull is prolonged into a prominent beak like that of a bird, while in some instances its teeth are as scarce as those of the proverbial hen. Yet others pos- sessed numerous strong, sharp teeth lodged in sockets in the jaw. The cavity of the skull bears a great similarity to that of birds, while the sutures or lines of union of the skull bones, as in the bird, have largely disappeared. The zo- ologist believes this to be a case of "parallel ; The pterodactyl had dreams of becoming a bird, but n
. Biology in America. Biology. The Story of the Rocks 131 num. The pterodactyl's skull is prolonged into a prominent beak like that of a bird, while in some instances its teeth are as scarce as those of the proverbial hen. Yet others pos- sessed numerous strong, sharp teeth lodged in sockets in the jaw. The cavity of the skull bears a great similarity to that of birds, while the sutures or lines of union of the skull bones, as in the bird, have largely disappeared. The zo- ologist believes this to be a case of "parallel ; The pterodactyl had dreams of becoming a bird, but never quite achieved his ambition. But if the attempt at aviation by the true rep- tile was short-lived, he yet produced the great- est aviators among ani- mals—the birds. In the famous Solen- hofen quarries in Ger- many there was discov- ered on August 15, 1861, the print of a single feather, and a few weeks later the impresdon of the bird itself was dis- covered. Archaeopteryx, the primitive or ancient bird, as his name signi- fies, was indeed primi- was distinctly for he wore a distinction. Restoration of Arcii^opteryx From Lucas, '' Animals of the Past.'' Conriid Lantern Slide jl fuDiislieil hi/ CoiniHtity, Cltii-ayn. tive, but a bird, feathers, possessed by none of his reptilian ancestors that we now know. And yet the improbability of a bird hatching full-fledged out of a reptile's egg, as St. Ililaire suggested, is so unlikely, that we must assume many intermediate stages in avian development; stages, which Mother Earth has as yet declined to reveal. While Archas opteryx is a full-fledged bird so far as its feathers are concerned, it shows its reptilian parentage in several ways. The modern l)ird possesses only a few small vertebra in lieu of a fully formed tail, from which the tail feathers radiate fan-like; Archaopteryx however liad a long reptilian tail, with numerous vertebrae, and the feathers arranged in a row on either side. It still had a full set of teeth like t
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