Nov. 1, 1S69.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



255 



rivalled the Condor or the Lammergeier in magni- 

 tude and powers of flight. In many respects this 

 flying lizard resembled the little bat of our own era, 

 especially in the form and structure of its wings, 

 which were not as those of a bird, but consisted of 



Fig. 226. Head of Pterodactyle. 



a membrane stretched between the bones of the arm 

 and the hand, and therefore in a position to be 

 folded up when the animal was walking or at rest ; 

 and it probably both walked and rested in an up- 

 right position. But there is one main point of 

 difference to be observed in the structure of the 

 wing, in these two widely separated animals, which 

 could not have been without a special purpose. In 

 the bat the thumb is the shortest member of the 



Fig. 227. Skeleton of Bat's wing. 



hand (fig. 227), the fingers|being enormously length- 

 ened in order to admit of the membrane being 

 stretched between them (fig. 22S). In consequence, 

 the thumb alone is free for prehensile purposes ; it 

 terminates in a stiff hook, and by it the animal 



Fig. 228. Wing of Bat. 



suspends itself when at rest. Now, the construc- 

 tion of Pterodactyle's hand was totally different ; 

 there the thumb and the three next fingers were of 

 normal size, while the little finger alone was 

 lengthened so as to reach nearly the whole length of 

 the body (fig. 229). The result of this arrangement 



was that the wing membrane was spread out only 

 between the arm-bones and this finger, the remain- 

 ing members of the hand being left free for pre- 

 hensile purposes. It is probable, then, that the wing 

 of the Pterodactyle, not 

 being stretched on ribs, 

 was more " baggy" than 

 that of the bat, and that 

 consequently its move- 

 ments were not of so 

 active a nature; and 

 this would help to con- 

 firm the words of Pro- 

 fessor Phillips, that it 

 "was accustomed to flap 

 the air rather heavily, 

 not far above shallow 

 waters." ("Life on 

 Earth," p. 41.) The bat, 

 as is well known, takes 

 its food with its mouth 

 as it flits through the 

 night-air ; in fact, it has 

 no hand at liberty where- 

 with to seize its prey. 

 Pterodactyle too is be- 

 lieved to have been in- 

 sectivorous ; but he is 

 also more than suspected 

 of a penchant for a fish 

 diet, and that the power 

 of swimming was deve- 

 loped in his singular 

 body. It is almost absurd 

 to suppose that those 

 huge crocodilian jaws 

 were confined to snap- 

 ping up beetles and dragon flies; but the form 

 and structure of the teeth preclude the idea of its 

 having been a flesh-feeder. So I suppose it partook, 

 in some respects, of the habits of its aquatic brethren, 

 and fed largely on fish, in the seizure of which its 

 strong talons must have been of considerable use. 

 But whether it pursued them beneath the water, or, 

 like the Sea-Eagle, struck them as they rose to the 

 surface, must for ever remain a mystery. 



The remains of this monster are distributed 

 through the Lias of Lyme Regis, the Stonesfield 

 Oolite, and more especially the lithographic lime- 

 stone of Solenhofen in Bavaria, which also abounds 

 in the remains of fish and Crustacea. 



N.B.— Pterodactyle would repudiate with scorn 

 any but the most distant relationship with the so- 

 called "Flying Lizard" {Draco volans) of these 

 degenerate days, whose only organ of flight is a 

 membrane stretching out from the ribs, and enabling 

 the animal, like the flying-squirrel and the flying 

 fish, to make long leaps. 



Havre. W. W. Sficeb. 



Fig. 229. Skeleton of Wing 

 of Pterodactyle. 



