TlllIlD ANNUAL MEETING 



17 



^vhicll is only another ^\ay of saying it is a connecting link in the 

 evolution of its kind. This mixture of characters is the more api^arent 

 when one groups and contrasts those characters which are reptilian 

 and those which are avian. The following are reptilian inheritances: 

 upper jaw and mandible set with teeth in sockets (thecodont or socket- 

 tooth dentition); the centra of the vertebrae with flat articulations; 

 numerous caudals, each with a pair of rudder-feathers; ribs slender 

 and probably lacking uncinate processes; cervical ribs moveably artic- 

 ulated throughout life; abdoininal ribs like those of crocodiles; digit 

 III with four phalanges and with a claw which is strongly reptilian. 



Fig. 38 — Archaeoptery.r mucrum (lithiiiirdphica). H. von Meyer. Skeleton from the 

 Solenhofen slates of Bavaria (upper .Jurassic). Showing the impression of feathers 

 on wing, tail, and tibia — = natural size, cl, clavicle; co, coracoid; c, carpus; h, hu- 

 merus; r, radius; u, uhia. Comp.ire Figs. 37, and 39 to 44. 



