180 SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



nials, birds, or reptiles ; but when comparative anatomy 

 became better understood, it was perceived that their re 

 lations to mammals and birds were only in external forms, 

 while the essential features of their structure were undeni 

 ably reptilian. Every one has heard of flying dragons, 

 reptiles which, like &quot; flying fishes&quot; and &quot; flying squirrels,&quot; 

 are able partially to sustain themselves in the air by 

 means of parachute -like expansions from their bodies. 

 But in the Pterodactyls were true aerial reptiles, as bats 

 are genuine flying mammals (see Fig. 72). The Pterodac ; 

 tyl, in the length of its neck and form of its head, resem 

 bled a bird. The trunk and tail were like those of a quad 

 ruped. The numerous conical recurved teeth were formed 

 after the Saurian type. The anterior extremities were con 

 structed after the character of bats, the last finger having 

 been greatly elongated, and adapted for supporting a mem 

 branous wing, the impression of which is sometimes pre 

 served in connection with the bones. &quot;VVe kno^p. twenty 

 species of this remarkable order, all Old- World marvels 

 save a single pair of long finger-bones found at Phoenix- 

 ville in Pennsylvania. Some were no larger than a snipe, 

 while others were capable of expanding their wings to a 

 breadth of sixteen feet. 



Along the valley of the Connecticut River, from the 

 neighborhood of New Haven to the northern part of Mas 

 sachusetts, is a brownish-red sandstone, resting mostly in 

 horizontal beds, which have been extensively quarried for 

 building purposes. On the banks of the river at Portland, 

 opposite Middletown, are excavations several acres in ex 

 tent, which have been in progress more than a hundred 

 years. Thousands of ship-loads have been sent doVn the 

 Connecticut, and built into the aristocratic brown stone 

 fronts of New York. This formation furnished a valua 

 ble resource to the earliest settlers of Connecticut. Their 



