Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-18

the body to the little finger of each of its hands
the digits being enlarged and heightened
to an immense extent to support the wings.
as the gaff supports the upper edge of a fore
and aft sail.
Since the time of Cuvier large numbers of
these bird lizards have been described from
fossils found principally in Europe and Amer
lea, varying in size from those smaller than
sparrow to enormous creatures. with a spread
of wing measuring from eighteen to twenty
feet
Writing of these larger species, the late Sir
Richard Owen said, The flying reptile on
outstretched pinions must have appeared like
the soaring roc of Arabian romance: but with
the features of leathern wings and crooked
claws superinduced, and gaping mouth with
threatening teeth.
Appearance of the Monsters
THE structure and appearance of the crea-
lures varied as greatly as their dimensions.
In some the head is prodigiously heightened in
others it is shorter and thicker, and in Others
again moderate IN size. The neck. whether
stout or slender is generally long. and while
some have only the mere vestige of a tall
others rejoice in one-with a sort Of fiat paddle
at the end-almost as long as the head neck
and back of the animal combined. But what
ever their size or proportions. pterodactyls
without doubt the werdest. most Inn
possible looking, nightmarish creatures that
ever existed on this earth; all the more SO
because. unlike the grotesques born of artistic
imagination. they were not made up OF
heterogeneous assortment of odds and ends OF
other creatures: but had conformity OF parts
all their own, and, to speak. an originality
of structure that cannot really be identified
with any class of vertebrate animals now
living
Were they flying reptiles? They are called
SO: but number of psychologists believe
them to have been more nearly allied to birds.
They had brains like those OF a bird, and
beaks.-holow bones with apertures in them
to be filled with air. Like a bird. they were
warm blooded and had wings: but they had
not a single leather with which to clothe their
naked skins: and they had four legs That
they were not mammals was evident to the in
vestigators
Did they lay eggs as do birds and most of
Did they build nests? What did their young
resemble, They must have had young: but
no remains of such have ever been found. Why
Were these naked birds plain or brilliantly
colored as are the skins OF the SO called flying
lizards of to-day? Had pterodactyls voices,
How came they to exist. and. seemingly with
out any intermediate forms. become at once
adapted for flight? And finally, how came
the whole race to perish?
Problem for Future Scientists
Is it possible for the reader to con- Mcclure that
= in the far future, as far removed IN point OF
time from our day and generation as is the
geological age in which pterodactylS hourished.
some inconceivably endowed creatures may
chance upon fossil remains of the genus ho,noS
IT so, one may conjecture how Impossible 1t l.
to imagine what will be the ideas of such future
intelligences with respect to their find. or tie
questions that may arise concerning the nature
of the nondescript creatures whose remains the;
will have discovered. Whatever the questions
are that will SO arise. it is certain the dead
bones will not be able to answer them ALL as it
is that the science of to-day is unable to answer
one out of scores of questions that occur re-