59 
Sept, i, 1885.] The Australasian Scientific Magazine . 
genus — the Pterodactylus — from the length of its neck and form of its 
head, which resembles a bird, whilst its anterior extremities were at once 
feet and wings. This animal was fitted for arboreal life in the forests. It 
led the life of a bat and swallow when no birds or bats existed. The 
difference in form from other birds arises from circumstances, habits, and 
modification required to keep up a complete and harmonious link in 
creation’s scheme. 
The Hesperornis Regalis , a swimming and diving bird, five or six feet 
long, was provided with long jaws, armed with teeth, with curved crowns 
and thick roots, not set in distinct sockets, but lodged in a groove. This 
bird diminishes the hiatus between reptiles and birds. There is again the 
Ichthyornis Dispar , a bird with teeth, but in distinct sockets, and only 
rudimentary wings. Its vertebrae have not the peculiar characters of 
existing birds. Again, the Archapteryx, which to a certain extent occupies 
a midway place between a bird and a reptile ; but the gradation is best 
seen in the extinct terrestrial reptile, the Ornithoscoelida. 
HOLIDAY RAMBLES IN THE AUSTRALIAN 
ALPS. 
BY 
JAMES STIRLING, F.G.S., F.L.S 
PART II. 
Here in the umbrageous shade of a casuarina ( C. suborosa J, the she- 
oak, let us rest awhile. 
As yon bright orb lights up the panorama with a golden sheen, 
Let’s contemplate Dame Nature’s beauties in a transformation scene ; 
From eucalyptus forests grand, where giant trees occur, 
Clothing in sombre hues each steep Silurian spur ; 
Or, in moist glens, where each perennial spring survives 
The parching summer droughts, and irrigates the soils where denser vegetation thrives 
In rich luxuriance with other shrubs. And there, where trickling waters flow, 
The aromatic sassafras, the scented native musk, and noble fern-trees grow. 
How oft in these deep glens is heard the dingo’s mournful cry ; 
Or else, in mocking tones, the warbling lyre-bird’s pert reply. 
Anon, from out fork’d limbs of giant gums, there echoes through the air 
The harsh yet child-like screech of climbing native bear. 
While other sounds, like thud, thud, thud, attract the listening ears — 
’Tis but a wallaby from out the thicket hops ; a moment seen, then disappears. 
