Archaeopteryx

ar-ka-op'te-riks, a genus of fossil birds. In 1861 Andreas Wagner, observing a sheet of slate in the lithographic quarries of Solenhofen, Bavaria, noted a peculiar fossil impression, the imprint of a feather. Two other similar fossils, but in this case skeletons, were found in the same locality. They enabled scientists to make out a flying creature to which they have given the name archaeopteryx, meaning ancient wing or bird. This strange combination had the body and short wings of a heavy bird, but it had the head, teeth, long neck, and long tail of a lizard. These fossils occur in rocks older than the rocks in which bird fossils are found. Students have long been of the opinion that birds are a higher development of reptiles. In these nondescript animals of the air, we have reptiles half way developed into birds--a striking confirmation of the reptilian theory of bird origin. One of the skeleton fossils has been secured for the British Museum; the other is in the Museum at Berlin. The impressions in the fine grained lithographic stone are clear.