FLYING-DRAGONS. 173 



record after death. As we have already re- 

 marked, the general coloration of the body 

 may have been extremely brilliant. The play 

 of colour over the wing-like expansions of the 

 Flying-Lizard of to-day (Draco wlans), is at times 

 wondrously vivid, and there is certainly no 

 reason why the wings of these old-world creatures 

 should not have been equally beautiful. The 

 only evidence, however, that we can produce 



FIG. 12. Outline restoration of an extinct Flying-dragon (Pteranodori). 

 By the author. 



in support of this hypothesis, is of an indirect 

 character. This is afforded by the giant Pter- 

 anodon longiceps, of the Cretaceous of North 

 America, wherein the hinder regions of the 

 skull was produced backwards and upwards 

 into an enormous bony crest, comparable to 

 that of the Cassowaries among living birds, 

 which is certainly an ornamental feature. We 

 may conceive that this ancient flying-dragon, 

 then, was one of the beaus of his kind. His great 

 toothless stork-like beak a yard long and 

 cranial crest ensheathed in a gaily-coloured case, 

 and his body made resplendent with all the 



