apollyonic

Updated: May 4, 2025

The giant fruit bats of the tropics clamber about the trees quite acrobatically with their thumbs and feet. That Apollyonic monster of the prime, the pterodactyl, did even better. Stretching on each little finger a lateen sail that would have served to waft a skiff across the Thames, it kept the rest of its hands for other uses. But what bearing has all this on the case of birds?

Edward Hamilton Aitken - Concerning Animals and Other Matters