36 



D1N0SA URS, 



amalgamation which takes place between those bones in birds ; while in one 

 remarkable American form the metatarsal bones of the foot were reduced to 

 three in number, and had nearly the same relationship to 

 one another and to the bones of the ankle as obtains in 

 birds. While the megalosaur attained a height, when erect, 

 of some 15 feet, the little Compsognathus, of the lithographic 

 limestones of Bavaria, did not stand more than 2 feet ; and 

 there were other equally diminutive forms, both in England 

 and the United States, in which the whole backbone was so 

 permeated by air-cavities as to be little more than a mere 

 shell of bone. 

 The Bird-Like The whole of the dinosaurs mentioned 



Group. above agree with one another in possessing a 

 pelvis approximating to the crocodilian type ; that is to say, 

 the pubis or anterior lower bone of this part of the skeleton is inclined down- 

 wards and forwards, and thus diverges in the form of an inverted Ffrom the 



THE LEFT HUCKLE-BONE AND 

 LOWER END OP TIBIA 

 OP THE MEGALOSAUR. — 



After Gaudry. 



SKELETON OF THE CLAOSAUR, ONE OF THE BIRD-LIKE DINOSAURS (^ Hat. size).— After Marsh. 



backwardly and downwardly directed ischium, or posterior lower bone, as shown 

 on the figure on p. 3. On the other hand, in the bird-like dinosaurs the main 



