Dragons of Sea and A 



ir 



10^ feet from tip to tip of wings, tlie albatross 

 at times does a little better, but Ornithostoma 

 reached 10 feet when he was young; in his 

 prime he had an expanse of wing of 20 feet. 



Skeleton of the great pterodactyl Ornithostoma compared with 

 the skeleton of a condor. 



And if his beak was toothless, it was a yard 

 or more long and as sharp as a dagger, while 

 the entire skull measured nearly 4 feet in 

 length — 45 inches, to be quite accurate.* The 

 structure of this great flying creature was a 

 marvel of lightness not exceeded by that of 

 a racing yacht, and the largest of the finger- 



* It is to be understood that these measurements apply to the 

 largest specimens only. The majority were much smaller than this. 



211 



