ANTERIOR LIMBS OF BIRDS, ETC. 69 



cormorant to a snipe. By professor Blumen- 

 bacli, these wonderful creatures were regarded 

 as birds, and professor Hermann, of Strasburg, 

 considered them to have been intermediate 

 between mammaHa and birds ; but the opinion 

 of Cuvier, that they are within the pale of 

 the reptile class, is now generally received — 

 winged reptiles pursuing their prey in the 

 air ! This latter philosopher describes them 

 as reptiles, " whose appearance would be 

 frightful did they occur at the present day," 

 and of which " the principal characters are a 

 very short tail — a very long neck — the muzzle 

 much elongated and armed with sharp teeth, 

 legs also long, and one of the toes of the 

 anterior extremity excessively elongated, having 

 probably served for the attachment of a mem- 

 brane, adapted for supporting them in the air. 

 Besides this, there are four (in some species 

 three) other toes of the ordinary size, termi- 

 nated by hooked claws" — to this we may add 

 that the ribs are numerous and slender ; and 

 the neck variable in length and the character 

 of the vertebras composing it. In the long- 

 muzzled pterodactyle, the jaws are exceed- 

 ingly produced, but slender ; the neck is long, 

 and the vertebras composing it are individually 



