Terror of the flying lizard
QUESTION What was the largest flying creature in history?
THE flying reptile, the Pterosaur winged lizard, existed during the late Triassic and late Cretaceous periods, 228million to 66million years ago. It evolved the power of flight long before birds came on the scene 60million years ago. Fossil finds show that some
pterosaurs were enormous. The largest was Quetzalcoatlus northropi, of the Azhdarchidae, a family of toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiff necks. Its name means feathered serpent god.
It flew on wings spanning 10metres, supporting a body weighing 190-254kg. Its wingspan was equivalent to a Cessna light aircraft.
Instead of feathers, Pterosaur wings are thought to have been membranous, like bats’ wings.
They stretched from one elongated digit to their ankle with reinforcing fibrous edges to help them fly. It’s a matter of debate as to how they flew, but most researchers believe they employed a slow, soaring flight.
The largest flying bird by wingspan was Pelagornis sandersi, which lived 25million years ago. Its wings measured 7.2metres from tip to tip and it weighed between three and six stone. It was much lighter than Argentavis magnificens, which lived nine million years ago, weighed 70-82kg and had a 6metre wingspan.
At 3.5metres, the wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any flying bird now in existence. However, the Andean condor is considered to be the largest flying bird as it is twice as heavy. Among these mountain-dwelling South American vultures, males can tip the scales at two stone and have a 3.2metre wingspan.
Derek Cape, Hertfordshire.
QUESTION Why was the 19th-century Kingdom of the Two Sicilies so called?
THE Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was formed in 1815 by the unification of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples. It extended from southern mainland Italy to the island of Sicily. The Kingdom of Sardinia annexed it in 1860 to form the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
The name Sicily originates from the Greek Sikelia. The plural
Sikeloi became Sicilians, the name of an ancient people living along the Tiber somewhat north of what became the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The original kingdom of Sicily, with its capital at Palermo, was founded in the 1100s by the Normans and included the island and all of the southern part of the mainland, just south of Rome.
It passed intact to the house of Hohenstaufen (or Swabia). Following the death of Frederick II in 1250, his daughters’ descendants laid claim to the inheritance.
Naples and Sicily were in Angevin hands (a royal house of French origin) when Charles I lost Sicily in the war of the Sicilian Vespers.
The island offered its crown to Peter III of Aragon, husband of Constance, the Hohenstaufen heiress, in 1282.
The Angevins retained control of the mainland kingdom, but though their realm was usually called the Kingdom of Naples, it derived its right to exist from the Norman conquest, which was associated with Sicily. ‘King of Sicily’ was part of the official royal title.
In the 1430s, Alfonso the Magnanimous, the Aragonese ruler of the Island of Sicily, sought to fill a power vacuum. After defeating the mainland Angevins, he established his rule from Naples in 1443. Since he had reunited the two kingdoms, he designated himself
rex Utriusque Siciliae — king of both Sicilies.
The term became an anachronism, as subsequent Spanish rulers referred to their Neapolitan vice-realm as Naples. Even the early Bourbon usage preferred the Kingdom of Naples.
However, in 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, the restored King Ferdinand IV of Naples revived the title and styled himself as Ferdinand I of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Simone Walters, Bath.
QUESTION Why are woollen jumpers called sweaters?
REFERRING to jumpers as sweaters is a form of American English. During the late 19th century, when it was believed profuse sweating while exercising was a good form of weight loss, athletes in training often wore heavy-knitted tops in order to sweat — so the point of a sweater was to make the wearer perspire.
It was later realised that sweating causes dehydration instead of weight loss, but the name had caught on.
Sweater is a collective term that includes cardigans, so has a broader application than what people here call a jumper.
The noun jumper is unrelated to the verb jump, but is derived from a modified form of the French
jupe, used to mean a short coat in the 19th century. It applied to the sort of shapeless garment worn by workmen we call a smock.
In America, a jumper refers to a dress worn over another dress. This dates back to the Thirties and the all-in-one infants’ jumper.
Irish people in the US would be better off to refer to a pullover, another word for the garment. Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge.
QUESTION When the Second Amendment to the American Constitution, referring to the right to bear arms, was ratified in 1791, what were the most deadly weapons available?
GUNS at the end of the 18th century were very different from the semi- and fully-automatic weapons so controversial today.
The most common infantry weapon was the musket, a muzzle-loading long gun.
It was loaded with a single round lead ball, and a skilled artilleryman could fire three shots per minute. Its maximum accuracy range was 45-55 metres.
Compare this with a modern-day AR-15, which has a magazine capacity of 30 rounds, can fire 45 rounds a minute and has an accuracy range of 550 metres.
In the 18th century, the most powerful artillery were three-, four- or six-pound cannon, mounted on wooden carriages with large wheels. Some threepound guns had iron legs and were called grasshoppers.
By the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s, most European armies had adopted the 12-pounder, while the nine-pounder was favoured by the British. Such weapons had a range of about 1,300 metres.
During the American Revolution, the British and Americans rarely fielded anything larger than a six-pounder because of the difficult terrain.
The versatile three-pounder was the most deadly: it ranged 730 metres with solid shot and 180 metres with grape shot. At close range, loaded with shot, it could destroy an entire company. Keith Thurstone, Ilford, Essex.
O IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Irish Daily Mail, Embassy House, Herbert Park Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. You can also fax them to 0044 1952 510906 or you can email them to charles.legge@dailymail.ie. A selection will be published but we are not able to enter into individual correspondence.