The great flying reptile, twenty-one feet long, clawing his way up the cliff to get a start for his soaring flight; restoration from Gregory, in “Geology of To-day.”] “Excellent,” he said heartily, “excellent piece of work! Very well handled indeed, Perry. You’ve got a real specimen there, and the preparation is first class.” The director, who had hurried out of his office on the approach of the car, heard the last couple of sentences and smiled at the boy. “Of course,” the professor continued, “there are one or two small points, quite small points, that I think might be changed.” “What?” queried Perry. “That crest, for one thing,” the scientist replied. “There is every reason to think that the Pteranodon developed that large crest sticking out the back of his head as a balance. As the genus grew in size, the toothed beak of the Pteranodon became longer in order to enable him to get food easily. Judging from the bones of his neck, which you see are small, Perry, it is unlikely that he could have carried heavy enough muscles to support the one-sided weight of a heavy jaw, and the crest acted as a balance. Now, you have the crest standing up from the skull at an angle of forty-five degrees. That would put more weight on the top of the skull and diminish the balancing effect. If you draw a straight line along the upper jaw to the skull and project that backwards, you will have the right line for the crest.” “So that’s why he had that crest!” exclaimed Perry. Then turning to the director, he added, “Mr. Thompson, neither of us thought of that reason, did we?” “Then,” continued the professor, “I think you have the stretch of the wings a little too straight. The wing-finger of nearly all the Pterodactyls was curved.” He also mentioned one or two smaller matters, but turning to the director of the local museum, concluded: “I think, Mr. Thompson, if you will make those trifling changes, you will have in your Museum here without question the finest specimen of a Pteranodon extant.” “Very well, Dr. Hunt,” the director answered, “I’m obliged for the suggestions. I think I’ll let Perry carry them out, since you think he’s done so well so far.” “He has done a first-class piece of work,” the scientist said, quite enthusiastically, “one that would do credit to any museum. If you’ll let me have a photograph, Perry, and the exact dimensions of all the bones, I’ll write a short scientific paper on it and give you the credit for the restoration, under Mr. Thompson’s direction.” “Oh, Uncle George,” he said, “that would be great, but it was Mr. Thompson who showed me what to do.” “No,” remarked the director, “Dr. Hunt is speaking of the restoration, and I let you go ahead on that in your own way. If Dr. Hunt writes a paper on it, the credit for the restoration is all yours. Mounting the skeleton, of course, is a different matter.”