132 HIGH SCHOOL ZOOLOGY. 



artificially, if fresh air and moisture, as well as the proper temperature 

 — 104° F. — be afforded to the eggs. 



14. Having examined the structure of the fowl as a con- 

 venient carinate tyjje, let us now see in what respects Ai-chte- 

 opteryx and the Ratitje differ from it. As far as the plumage 

 is concerned, Archfeopteryx approaches the Fowl more closely 

 them do the Ratitaj, for in the latter the feathers are mere 

 downs, while in the former quill-feathers were present, and 

 pi'obably also fine contour-feathei"S, although the impressions of 

 these have not been preserved. The quill-feathers wei-e at- 

 tached to the ulnar side of the hand and fore-arm, round the 

 ueck, to the leg as far as the tarsal joint, and in a single series 

 along each side of the long tail. That is really the most im- 

 portant peculiarity of the fossil, for instead of the short tail of 

 the Fowl, there were twenty independent vertehrfe, each with a 

 quill-feather attached right and left to it. The trunk I'egion, like- 

 wise, shows less of the conci'escence so marked in the carinate 

 bird, for the the vertebrae are all amphiccelous, and only a few of 

 them are united into a sacrum ; furthermore, the ribs are de- 

 cidedly reptile-like in their arrangement. In place of the horny 

 sheath of the bird's bill, Archseopteryx was furnished with 

 nmnerous little conical teeth, probably lodged in sockets ; in 

 other respects the skull was bird-like. It is argued from the 

 absence of a crest on the humerus that Archfeopteryx was a 

 poor flier, (the stei-uuin has not been found, so we lack the 

 evidence which would liave been forthcoming from it), but the 

 hand was formed of three fingers with iuvlependent metacarpals 

 and stout claws, so it is likely that the anterior extremity must 

 have been of great service in climbing, the plumage serving, 

 perhaps, more as a parachute than for true flight. lu the 

 structure of the hinder extremity there is no great diffei'ence 

 from that of a bii'd. 



15. The Eatitfe or Cursorial Birds are unquestionably much 

 closer to the Carinate Birds than Archseopteryx is ; indeed many 



