ZOOLOGY. 65 
we find the bones of the foot (first series of tarsal bones) 
soldered together and with the tibia as in birds, whereas in 
most reptiles these bones remain distinct. The Compso- 
enathus in this, as well as in other respects, is a very bird- 
like reptile. The Compsognathus is considered by some 
anatomists to belong to the order of Dinosaurian reptiles. 
The Dinosauria agree in many respects with the Ostrich 
family, perhaps being more nearly allied to them than to 
any other order of birds. They used their hind limbs only 
as a means of progression; in this respect they resembled 
birds more than reptiles; their feet were terminated with 
claws (Fig. 70), and the curious arrangement by which the 
bones of the leg (tibia and fibula) are united to those of the 
foot (astragalus) in birds seems to have been exactly the 
same in these huge reptiles. The bones of the leg of the 
embryo bird (Fig. 72) are like those of the adult Dinosau- 
rian and Reptile. (Figs. 70, 69.) There is good evidence 
for supposing that the muscles moving the foot had the 
same disposition in some of the Dinosauria as exhibited in 
the chicken. According to a high authority on this subject, 
“if the whole hind quarters from the ilium (haunch bone) 
to the toes of a half-hatched chicken could be suddenly 
enlarged, ossified, and fossilized as they are, they would 
furnish us with the last step of the transition between birds 
and reptiles, for there would be nothing in their characters 
to prevent us from referring them to the Dinosauria.” And 
according to the same high authority (Prof. Huxley), if 
certain bones of the Hypsilopodon had been found alone, 
they would have been certainly described as belonging to 
a bird. The idea of these huge Dinosaurs having so 
much in common with birds is not a mere theory, but a 
truth, whatever inferences may be drawn from it,as the 
bones of some of them (the Megalosaurus, etc.), at least in 
reference to the posterior extremities, are absolutely the 
same as those of a bird. The Compsognathus, in the 
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