VI.] 



SPECIES AND TIME. 



147 



few of its antecedent state — with nascent wings just com- 

 mencing their suspensory power. Yet had such a slow 

 mode of origin, as Darwinians contend for, operated exclu- 

 sively in all cases, it is absolutely incredible that birds, 

 l)ats, and pterodactyles should have left the remains they 

 have, and yet not a single relic be preserved in any one 

 instance of any of these different forms of wing in their 

 incipient and relatively imperfect functional condition ! 



WING-BONES OF PTEEODACTYLE, BAT, AND BIRD. 



AVhenever the remains of bats have been found they 

 have presented the exact type of existing forms, and there 

 is as yet no indication of the conditions of an incipient 

 elcA'ation from the ground. 



The pterodactyles, again, though a numerous group, are 

 all true and perfect pterodactyles, though surely some of 

 the many incipient forms, which on the Darwinian theory 

 have existed, must have had a good chance of preservation. 



As to birds, the only notable instance in which dis- 

 coveries recently made appear to fill up an important 

 hiatus, is that concerning the remains of some Dinosaurian 

 reptiles, the interpretation of which, as given by Professor 



