ANCESTORS OF BIRDS. 



It is unnecessary to discuss here the relationships of the 

 birdlike reptiles, but, as the most convincing argument 

 in support of the theory of the reptilian descent of birds, 

 I present a restoration of the Archgeopteryx, the earliest 

 known progenitor of the class Aves. This restoration is 



Fie. 1. — Kestoration of the Arohseopteryx, a, toothed, reptilelike bird of the 

 Jurassic period. (About '/s natural size.) 



based on an examination of previous restorations in con- 

 nection with a study of the excellent plates which have 

 been published of the fossils themselves.* Two speci- 

 mens have been discovered ; one being now in the British 

 Museum, the other in the Berlia Museum. They were 

 both found in the lithographic slates of Solenhofen, in 

 Bavaria, a formation of the Jurassic period, and, together, 

 furnish the more important details of the structure of this 

 reptilelike bird. 



This restoration, therefore, while doubtless inaccurate 



* For recent papers on the Archeeopteryx see Natural Science 

 (Macmillan Co.), vols, v-viii. 



