Page 214 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

212 The Origin of Birds and Flight

archosaurs is evidence alone that they have nothing to do with feath-
ers. 177
Feduccia recalls that various structures found around these fossils
and thought to belong to them, were later determined to consist of inor-
ganic matter:
One is reminded of the famous fernlike markings on the Solnhofen
fossils known as dendrites. Despite their plantlike outlines, these
features are now known to be inorganic structures caused by a solution
of manganese from within the beds that reprecipitated as oxides along
cracks or along bones of fossils. 178
The fossil beds preserve not only an indefinite structure such as
dino-fuzz but also bird feathers. But all the fossils presented as feathered