. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. 488 MESOZOIC ERA—AGE OF REPTILES. and the short, strong, well-fingered paddles of a whale, with the essen- tial characters of a lizard. Another snake-like character possessed by this order was rows of teeth on the palatal bones, in addition to those in the jaws; and a peculiar joint in the lower jaws, by means of which, when aided by the recurved teeth, the jaws could act separately like arms, in dragging down their throats prey which was too large to swal- low directly (Fig. 818).. Fig. 818.—Jaw of an Edesto
. Elements of geology : a text-book for colleges and for the general reader. Geology. 488 MESOZOIC ERA—AGE OF REPTILES. and the short, strong, well-fingered paddles of a whale, with the essen- tial characters of a lizard. Another snake-like character possessed by this order was rows of teeth on the palatal bones, in addition to those in the jaws; and a peculiar joint in the lower jaws, by means of which, when aided by the recurved teeth, the jaws could act separately like arms, in dragging down their throats prey which was too large to swal- low directly (Fig. 818).. Fig. 818.—Jaw of an Edestosaurus (Clidastes), x J (after Cope). We give on page 486 a restoration by Cope of one of the most slender forms—Edestosaurus—and also, on page 487, head and tooth, and limbs, of other Mosasaurs. The number of species are yearly increasing by new discoveries. The remains of at least fourteen hundred individuals of Mosasauroids alone are now gathered in Marsh's collection. According to Cope, 147 species of reptiles have been described from the Cretaceous of North America, of which fifty are Mosasaurs, forty- eight Testudinata (turtles and tortoises), eighteen Dinosaurs, fourteen Crocodilians, thirteen Sauropterygia (Plesiosaur-like), and four Ptero- saurs. At least three more Pterosaurs have been found, making the whole number seven (Marsh). In Europe, Iguanodons, Teleosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, and Pterosaurs still continue in the Cretaceous, some of the last being twenty-five feet in expanse of wing; and also a few Mosasaurs were introduced. Birds.—The history of the discovery of the earlier fossil birds is instructive. Until 1858, with the exception of the doubtful tracks in the Connecticut River sandstone, no birds had been found lower than the Tertiary. In that year the bones of a bird, probably related to the gull, were found in the upper greensand of England. In 1862 the won- derful reptilian bird Archceopteryx macroura, already described (p. 444), was fo
Size: 3914px × 639px
Photo credit: © Paul Fearn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1892
