FERNS, FOSSILS AND FUEL 
of the region. In this stone, a rich fossil plant and animal 
life has been brought to light. The plant fossils are of 
a gymnospermic type, called Auraucaria, that is still an 
important tree in the floras of the southern hemisphere. 
Gingko trees and a conifer resembling the present-day 
yew tree, also were found. There were many ferns, but 
the most important trees were undoubtedly still the cycads. 
Enormous reptiles populated the Jurassic forests, and 
small mammals were still hiding from them. The air 
also was populated. The earliest bird, the Archaeopteryx , 
flew from tree to tree, probably still clumsily. When it 
settled down to feed on the berries of the cycads, it used 
not only its feet but the claws with which its wings were 
armed. Then, too, unlike modern birds, it had teeth 
in its jaws. The real rulers of the air were the enormous 
flying reptiles, big as aeroplanes, which flew, like bats, 
with the help of a membrane between their front and 
hind legs. 
Insect life also became manifold. A big fly with beau¬ 
tiful wings almost like those of a butterfly and with a 
wing-spread of almost ten inches, named the Kalligramma 
Haeckeli, has been found in the lithographic slate of 
Solenhofen. This developing insect life had a great 
influence on the plant life; the first two flowering plants 
we know appeared in the Jurassic period. Certain types 
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