FLYING DRAGONS 
203 
Another genus, also from the lithographic slate of Bavaria, 
namely, Scaphognathus (so called on account of its large beak 
and jaws), had a very short tail, and its skeleton looks 
somewhat clumsy for a creature adapted to fly through the air 
(Fig. 73). 
Pterodactylus spectabilis, from the same strata, also possessed 
a very short tail, but has a more elegant and bird-like skull. 
This pretty little flying dragon was only about as large as a 
T^ig. 73. — Skeleton of ScajohognatMis crassirostris. natural size. 
sparrow (see Fig. 74). Its neck is comparatively short, with but 
few joints. The long slender beak was probably sheathed in 
horn, and the skull in several ways approaches that of a bird. 
Since there are no teeth in the jaws, we may suppose that it 
devoured dragon-flies or other insects, such as we know were in 
existence during the period when the lithographic stone of Bavaria 
was being deposited. Those forms that were provided with teeth 
probably devoured such fishes as they could catch by swooping 
down upon the surface of the water. 
