328 Marvels of the Universe 



beautiful fungus, the Orange Elf-Cup. It is a representative of a very numerous family of fungi, 

 of which many are quite minute ; but most of them are beautiful. Certainly no one would deny 

 that epithet to the present species if he came upon a colony of it on the margin of the wood or 

 on a low bank with the autumn sunshine upon it. It may be met with in scores or a \-ery few 

 of the cups, in crowded groups or scattered individuals : small spherical ones with almost closed 

 tops, fairly open deep cups, and widely expanded saucer-shapes. Their substance is firm, wax- 

 like and brittle. They may be almost white with a pink tinge, but are usually of some fine tint of 

 lucent orange. The spores of this group are contained in microscopic cylinders embedded in the 

 flesh of the cup ; and the careful observer may see as he approaches minute puffs of smoke or vapour 

 given off. In reahty it is a discharge of spores from these pits. The Orange Cup has a pleasant 

 though faint aroma, and it is said to be edible, though it is too small to be worth cooking. 



THE ARCH/EOPTERYX 



BY SIR H.\RRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G. 



" How did birds originate ? " is one of the unsolved problems of evolution. They are, of course, 



nothing but a branch of the reptile class — exquisite reptiles which have achieved in a supreme 



degree the art of flying (though not a few of them have since taken to an exclusively ground or water 



life), with warm blood, highly-organized brains, and a skin covering of feathers (feathers and down 



being only a modification of the same substance as produces nails and scales). The Archaeopteryx 



is the earhest bird type as yet discovered in the records of the earth's historj^ and although it retains 



many reptilian features, it is still an out-and-out bird. Its genus may have developed forms as 



large as a raven, but the fossil skeletons of the two species found in the slate or " lithographic " rocks 



of Bavaria, and dating from the Upper Jurassic (the middle part of the Secondary Epoch), indicate 



birds of the average size of a rook. The Archaeopter\'x still retained teeth in the jaws, mainly 



in the upper jaw. It had large eyes, supported by bony plates, and feathers attached to fore-limbs 



which were like those of the modern bird in having only three fingers. But the thumb was large, 



and no doubt freely projected beyond the feather contours. It was furnished with a large claw, 



^^ as were also the two joined-together fingers. 



. g^ P These in their terminal joints seem to have been 



_ uncovered bj' the wing surface, and with the 



^^ V " ' thumb probably enabled the Archaeopteryx to use 



'^ ' ^% - . ' f, ' its fore-limbs occasionally for climbing up rough 



surfaces, just as is done by the young of a very 

 ^ remarkable bird still livine in South America, the 



Hoatzin (see page 177). 

 ^■'? ■'■ 1 '^ • " Besides this greater freedom of the fingers, the 



Archseopteryx differed from modern birds in its 

 long and lizard-like tail. \\'e are accustomed to 

 regard many living birds as being " long-tailed." 

 This only means that they develop long-quilled 

 .^ .*^"^ feathers growing out of the tail-stump ; but, as a 



matter of fact, all existing birds are very short- 

 tailed, the vertebrae being much reduced in numbers. 

 The Archasoptervx, however, retained the lone tail 



Photo h,{] [i". C- -i'''- 



B.ACiLLi OF .ANTHRAX. of the reptile so far as its bony skeleton was 



In this photo the rod-shaped objects are the bacilli. COnCenlCd, and thC quills, iuStCad of grOwiug 



They produce spores which are able to retain their . j r j_t_ j. "1 j.1- J 



• 1 t . M c.^ ,v,„,„ sno times HI 3. bunch from the end of the tail, as the^■ do 



virulence for twenty years. Magnitied about 3UU tiines. i»' ^ > 



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