. Science and Hebrew tradition : essays . e side, and that of the bird, on the other (Fig. 6),it is obvious that it represents a middle term be-tween the two. The pelvic bones approach theform of those of the birds, and the direction of thepubis and ischium is nearly that which is charac-teristic of birds; the thigh bone, from the directionof its head, must have lain close to the body; thetibia has a great crest; and, immovably fitted onto its lower end, there is a pulley-shaped bone,like that of the bird, but remaining distinct. Thelower end of the fibula is much more slender,proportionally,
. Science and Hebrew tradition : essays . e side, and that of the bird, on the other (Fig. 6),it is obvious that it represents a middle term be-tween the two. The pelvic bones approach theform of those of the birds, and the direction of thepubis and ischium is nearly that which is charac-teristic of birds; the thigh bone, from the directionof its head, must have lain close to the body; thetibia has a great crest; and, immovably fitted onto its lower end, there is a pulley-shaped bone,like that of the bird, but remaining distinct. Thelower end of the fibula is much more slender,proportionally, than in the crocodile. The meta-tarsal bones have such a form that they fit togetherimmovably, though they do not enter into bonyunion; the third toe is, as in the bird, longest andstrongest. In fact, the ornithoscelidan limb iscomparable to that of an unhatched chick. Taking all these facts together, it is obviousthat the view, which was entertained by Mantelland the probability of which was demonstrated by Ill LECTURES ON EVOLUTION 107. your own distinguished anatomist, Leidy whilemuch additional evidence in the same directionhas been furnished by Professor Cope, that some 108 LECTURES ON EVOLUTION m of these animals may have walked upon their hindlegs, as birds do, acquires great weight. In fact,there can be no reasonable doubt that one of thesmaller forms of the Ornithoscelida, Gompsogiiathus^the almost entire skeleton of which has been dis-covered in the Solenhofen slates, was a bipedalanimal. The parts of this skeleton are somewhat
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecad, booksubjectpaleontology, bookyear1895
