184 



SKETCHES OF CREATION. 



that the so-called bird-tracks of the Connecticut sandstone 

 were mostly made by Bathygnathus^ a reptile to which I 

 have already alluded. One fact, however, of comparative- 

 ly recent discovery I must not omit to mention. Among 

 the lithographic schists of Solenhofen, in Bavaria, have 

 been exhumed the remains of a vertebrate possessing 

 some of the characteristics of both birds and reptiles. 

 The tail, which is somewhat elongated, after the fashion 

 of the reptiles of the same age, is seven inches in length, 

 and consists of twenty vertebra, but is furnished with a 



Fig. 74. Ramphorhynchus (restored). One quarter natural size. 



row of quills along each side. The metacarpal bones are 

 four in number, instead of two or three, as in birds, and 

 the pelvis is also decidedly reptilian. Whether bird or 

 reptile, paleontologists have well hesitated to decide. Pro- 

 fessor Dana is fully convinced that we ought to regard it 

 as a " herpetoid" bird, exhibiting a transition from the low- 

 er to the upper type, a composite + ype destined in the next 

 period to be decomposed into tw r distinct class types. 

 Even if we regard the Arcliazoptenyx as more bird than 

 reptile, and admit that beings of this structure may have 



