The Flying Lizards of the Secondary Rods. 4-43 



Some readers of this may associate the subject with the 

 recollection of an act of discourtesy on my part. On the 12th 

 and 19th of June, 1850, I delivered two lectures at the London 

 Mechanics 5 Institution, in the course of which I gave an account 

 of the effects of Haschisch on myself. Something like a Haschisch 

 society was formed there immediately afterwards, and I was 

 requested to furnish the material for gratifying the wish of the 

 young men to understand Haschisch at first-hand. A readiness 

 to oblige led me astray ; I consented. I obtained a large cube 

 of Haschisch from Paris, and was about to send it on to the 

 gentleman who had corresponded with me on the subject. I 

 felt that I might be the author of incalculable mischief, so I 

 destroyed the cake, and purposely sent no word of explanation or 

 apology. I thought if I now refused they would get it by some 

 other means ; but if I remained silent, the enthusiasm for Has- 

 chisch would die out in disappointment. I know not if my discre- 

 tion at last was equal to my folly at first ; but if any of those 

 persons read this, I wish them to understand that it was for their 

 good I adopted such a method of disappointing them. 



THE FLYING LIZARDS OF THE SECOND AET EOCKS. 



BY HENRY WOODWARD, F.Z.S. 

 (With an Illustration.) 



The discovery of the remarkable fossil animal in the Litho- 

 graphic Limestone of Solenhofen, which was described in the 

 Intellectual Observer for December last, has naturally 

 awakened great interest in all inquirers into Zoology. 



This interest has been still more strongly excited by the 

 statement of the high authorities, Drs. A. Wagner and H. Von 

 Meyer, that this creature ivas not a bird, but a long-tailed flying 

 lizard furnished with feathers. Having, in our description of 

 the ArehcBopteryx (as it is now definitely named), informed our 

 readers of the positive reasons for regarding it as a bird, we 

 are happy now to be able to show, on the other hand, that it 

 is not a reptile. Since that description was in print, another 

 instalment of Dr. Haberlehr's magnificent collection has been 

 received at the British Museum, and in it are two most instruc- 

 tive specimens of the very genus of long-tailed Pterodactyles, 

 or Bhamphorhynchus , with which our fossil bird has been com- 

 pared. These admirable specimens, the first ever brought to 

 this country, have, together with the two slabs containing the 

 Archceopteryx, been placed in the glass cases of the Geological 

 Gallery, so that they are now within view of all who desire to 

 see them. 



