

THE GREATEST FLYING CREATURE. 659 



As Omithostoma was capable of long sustained flight, and as its bones 



are found under conditions indicating that it went far out to sea. il is not 

 improbable that it fed largely or entirely on fish. That they formed a 

 part of its diet is certain, for fish bones and scales are found with the 

 remains of pterodactyls, and it is easy to imagine this great reptile 

 gliding over the sea. with outspread wings, snatching up fish right and 

 left with its long beak as easily as a museum assistant picks them out 

 of a jar of alcohol with a pair of forceps. The bird in the foreground 

 is represented in our illustration as just turning to its right, the left 

 wing- being advanced and raised to cause the turn. 



With its small body and enormous wings 0?>nithostoma may be 

 looked upon as the king of flying creatures, and as more highly spe- 

 cialized than any flying animal before or since his time. 



Finally, it is an interesting question as to whether or not the con 

 dor, the albatross, and the pterodactyl mark the limit of size attain- 

 able by flying- creatures — are the mechanical difficulties in the way of 

 using wings so great that evolution stops at a weight of 30 pounds and 

 a spread of wing of 2<> feet? Would animals above that size have 

 trouble in manipulating their wings and he unable to compete with 

 smaller and more active forms, or is it that the exigencies of life have 

 never called for the development of a larger creature? 



These are queries that may not be settled offhand, and it may only 

 be said that the vast majority of birds are small and agile, and that, 

 although birds and pterodactyls flew side by side over the Cretaceous 

 seas and shores, the birds never reached the size of their reptilian 

 associates, and, so far as we know, these mark the limit of size among 

 living animals. 



