Dragons of the Air

Harry Seeley (1839 - 1909)

Sir Richard Owen coined the term "dinosaur" ("Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile") in the 19th century. When Harry G. Seeley, a student of law at that time, attended a lecture on flying reptiles, his interest in paleontology was piqued, and he pursued paleontology for the remainder of his life. He determined that dinosaurs could be divided into two groups, the lizard-hipped dinosaurs and the bird-hipped dinosaurs. He is also credited with characterizing flying dinosaurs as warm-blooded active flyers rather than cold-blooded passive gliders. His popular book on the flying dinosaurs, Dragons of the Air, is a comprehensive treatise on the structure, classification, and possible evolutionary origins of the Pterosaurs as well as their relationship to birds. - Summary by Jeffery Smith

Genre(s): Animals, Nature, Life Sciences

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 Preface Jeffery
00:04:28
Play 01 Chapter 1 - Flying Reptiles Jeffery
00:06:55
Play 02 Chapter 2 - How a Reptile is Known Jeffery
00:16:18
Play 03 Chapter 3 - A Reptile is Known by its Bones Jeffery
00:07:04
Play 04 Chapter 4 - Animals Which Fly Jeffery
00:20:27
Play 05 Chapter 5 - Discovery of the Pterodactyle Jeffery
00:19:29
Play 06 Chapter 6 - How Animals are Interpreted by their Bones Jeffery
00:16:00
Play 07 Chapter 7 - Interpretation of Pterodactyles by Their Soft Parts Jeffery
00:25:45
Play 08 Chapter 8 - The Plan of the Skeleton Jeffery
00:44:16
Play 09 Chapter 9 - The Backbone, or Vertebral Column Jeffery
00:29:46
Play 10 Chapter 10 - The Hip Girdle and Hind Limb Jeffery
00:28:24
Play 11 Chapter 11 - Shoulder Girdle and Fore Limb Jeffery
00:56:32
Play 12 Chapter 12 - Evidences of the Animal's Habits from its Remains Jeffery
00:20:28
Play 13 Chapter 13 - Ancient Ornithosaurs from the Lias Jeffery
00:21:13
Play 14 Chapter 14 - Rhamphocephalus Jeffery
00:35:34
Play 15 Chapter 15 - Ornithosaurs from the Upper Secondary Rocks Jeffery
00:26:48
Play 16 Chapter 16 - Classification of the Ornithosauria Jeffery
00:15:04
Play 17 Chapter 17 - Family Relations of Pterodactyles to Animals which lived with them Jeffery
00:34:35
Play 18 Chapter 18 - How Pterodactyles may have originated Jeffery
00:42:08