THE TEETH OF REPTILES 113 



the Swallows and Night-Jars ; hooked, sharp, and 

 strong in the Eagles,. Vultures, Hawks, and 

 other carnivorous species for tearing flesh; long 

 and stout with a chisel-like point in the wood- 

 cutting Woodpeckers ; short, wide, and curved in 

 the Parrots and others which crush nuts, etc. ; 

 long, tapering, and delicate in the Humming Birds 

 for penetrating the corolla of flowers to suck 

 honey; ponderous and ungainly in the Horn-bills 

 and Toucans for cutting and crushing; long, 

 strong, notched, or variously modified for catch- 

 ing fish in the Storks, Herons, Pelicans, Penguins, 

 Kingfishers, etc. ; flat, elongated, with soft sensi- 

 tive edges, for separating food from sand and 

 mud in the Swans, Geese, Ducks, Spoonbills, etc. 

 In all birds, as in other animals, there is a direct 

 adaptation of the tools to material, — or oral ap- 

 paratus to the kind of food employed by each 

 species. 



While no living species of birds possess teeth, 

 dental pulp are sometimes found in the jaws of 

 bird embryos, as the Parroquet, showing that they 

 retain a reminiscence of a former toothed stage 

 in the history of their descent. That there was 

 such a stage is now demonstrated, for fossil birds 

 with teeth have been found. The Cretaceous for- 

 mations of the West have yielded one hundred 

 and fifty species. One group is called Odonto- 

 nitlies, some of which are quite small and had 



