THE LIZARDS, SNAKES, AND OTHER REPTILES. 195 



which flourished long ago, and whose tracks have, in some 

 cases, been preserved in the New Red Sandstone of the Con- 

 necticut Valley. Many of these forms were colossal, stand- 

 ing from fifteen to twenty-five feet in height. They walked 

 on their hind legs, making a three-toed track, and holding 

 their short, small fore legs off the ground. In peculiarities 

 of the skeleton they approached very nearly the lower 

 aquatic birds. 



Another extinct reptile, the Pterodactyl, came near the 

 birds by another line of approach. It was a flying rep- 

 tile, the fore leg not used in walking, but with a long, 

 slender little finger, and a broad membrane connecting the 

 fore and hind legs. The skull was small and bird-like in 

 shape, the jaws very long, and in certain kinds toothless. 



Such forms as these, and many others, were once the 

 rulers of the sea and land, as well as of the air; and they 

 gave the name of the Age of Reptiles to one of the most 

 striking periods in the earth's history that immediately 

 succeeding the Coal period. As the reptilian dynasty, after 

 a long and successful reign, began to die out, there appeared 

 the birds and beasts, whose supremacy it was reserved for 

 man himself to witness. 



