AGE OF REPTILES. 



251 



Fig. 152. 



posed that the Pterodactyl was a flying animal, as here 

 represented, and that it lived on insects as the bats do, 

 although, perhaps, at the same time, it would dive down 

 occasionally into the water for fishes, to mingle them 

 with its insect food. Agassiz expresses, on the contra- 

 ry, the opinion that it was an aquatic animal, preying 

 upon fish and other animals in the water. This opinion 

 he bases upon two facts. First, the teeth are conical, 

 sharp, and separated from each other, and are, indeed, 

 such as are common to animals that live on aquatic prey, 

 and such as would not be required for the capture and 

 destruction of insects. Secondly, there is nothing in the 

 frame-work of the breast of the animal to indicate that 



