170 THE STORY OF REPTILE LIFE. 



the fore-arm was relatively shorter than in those 

 with shorter hands. 



Here this examination of the wing must stop, 

 lest we become wearisome. 



The method of locomotion when on the ground 

 has given rise to much speculation. According 

 to Professor Seeley, these creatures walked on all 

 fours on upright legs, the wing-finger and its 

 membrane being folded and turned upwards 

 like a pair of umbrellas, to allow the palm of the 

 hand to reach the ground. Though it savours of 

 presumption to question the verdict of one so 

 versed in all that concerns these creatures, we 

 venture to doubt whether this was possible. 

 Rather, we believe, they scrambled along the 

 ground after the fashion of a bat. 



Whilst the majority of these creatures hunted 

 their prey by daylight, others would appear to 

 have been crepuscular in habit, inasmuch as the 

 eyes in these forms are of great size. Whether 

 these nocturnal species were also fish-eaters we 

 'do not know. 



In general appearance, as we have already 

 remarked, the Pterodadyles varied considerably, 

 .at least when extreme types are compared. The 

 earliest known species, Dimorphodon macronyx, 

 from the Lower Lias of Dorsetshire, had a 

 relatively enormous head and a relatively small 

 brain. Its jaws were armed with large teeth, 

 and the tail was extremely long. This species 

 was, by the way, by no means a pigmy in point 

 of size, having a skull of some eight inches in 

 length and an expanse of wing of four feet. The 

 Pterodactyles of the genus Rhamphorhynchus, of 



