EARDWICKE'S SCI EN CE-GOSSIP. 



neck, it could dart at and seize the finny tribes as 

 they swam past. It breathed air, as the whale does, 

 and, indeed, as the Ichthyosaurus also did. The 

 Pterodactyle, or winged lizard, was buried at sea 

 simply because it was sometimes carried out by the 

 wind, or else because its carcases were carried sea- 

 wards by the rivers ; but it sometimes frequented 

 the shallower mud flats on fishing expeditions. 

 Anyhow, its remains were frequently buried in the 

 deposits then forming. If the Plesiosaurus was a 

 strange-looking creature, believe me, the Pte- 

 rodactyle was much more singular. Some of the 

 specimens must have been nearly fourteen feet 

 across the spread of wings ! Imagine a creature of 

 this kind, possessing a long-snouted, crocodile-like 

 head, and a long bird-like neck, with wings like 

 those of the Bat, a smallish body, and little or no 

 tail ! And yet, this type of reptile did not depart 

 from the normal form more than does the Duck-billed 

 Platypus from existing mammalia. The Pterodoctyle 

 could perch, on trees, hang against perpendicular 

 surfaces, stand firmly on the ground, hop like a bird, 

 or creep like a bat. 



So much for the reptiles with which necessity 

 made me acquainted. I cannot speak much for 

 the others, as most of them were not very common 

 until later on. But the fish which lived in the 

 Lias sea were almost as strange, compared with 

 recent forms, as the reptiles. Most or all of them 

 were covered with bony plates instead of scales, 

 each plate being glossy with an enamelled varnish. 

 Among the commonest of these fishes were the 

 Dapedius, which had its scales set like a mosaic 

 pavement — hence its name. The Lcpidotus, or " bony 

 pike," was related to a family still living in Africa 

 and North America, and its haunt was usually off 

 the mouths of rivers, or in estuaries. The JEch- 

 modus had a peculiar, " bream-like " appearance, 

 whilst its small mouth was set with sharp, needle- 

 like teeth. The Acrodus was a fish which lived on 

 mollusca, &c, and its teeth were adapted for bruising 

 and crushing them. In their fossil condition they 

 go by the vulgar name of " fossil leeches," on 

 account of the fine strise which converge towards 

 the centre of the upper surface. The Hybodous 

 was a fish of somewhat different structure, having 

 shark -like teeth, and very formidable and well-de- 

 veloped spines on the dorsal fins. Hosts of smaller 

 fry abounded, but my recollection does not go back 

 so vividly towards them. 



It would certainly be a gross mistake not to 

 recall the appearance of one very remarkable object 

 — the Bxtraerinus, or Pentacrinus, as it used to be 

 called. This was the commonest of the Eucrinites, 

 which lived in the seas of the period. Of course, 

 my hearers are well aware that this object is nearly 

 related to the "feather-star" (Comaiula), which is 

 anything but rare in British sea3. But, instead of 

 being free, as is the case with the latter object, the 



Extracrinus was usually fixed. Sometimes this was 

 to drifting wood, but usually to the sea-bottom, 

 where it grew in thick submarine forests. In some 

 places the Lower Lias shale is composed of hardly 

 anything else than the remains of these fossils. 

 Erequently they are changed into iron sulphite, or 

 pyrites, and then they have a very brilliant ap- 

 pearance when first laid open with the chisel. This 

 splendour, however, is very transitory, for the action 

 of the atmosphere plays sad havoc with them. The 

 whole struc: ire of the Extracnnus was built up of 

 little ossicles, or joints, which fitted one into an- 

 other, so that mobility as well as strength was 

 obtained. The arms divided and subdivided into 

 an infinite complexity, but all were arranged around 

 the central mouth. One individual alone contained 

 scores of thousands of joints or ossicles, like living 

 nets. These complex arms groped through the 

 waters in search of food. Nothing could be more 

 graceful or elegant than the forms and motions of 

 these extinct crinoids. 



In many places the sea-bottom was a perfect 

 aggregation of colonies of conchiferons shells. The 

 Ammonite and Nautilus floated on the surface, and 

 sometimes crept along the bottom. That strange- 

 looking cuttlefish-like creature, the Belemnite, 

 swarmed in such numbers that the internal bones 

 sometimes lay on the sea-bottom in hundreds. One 

 species, at least, of the true cuttle-fish lived along 

 with them, for its ink-bag has been found fossilized 

 and its ink so unexpended that the creature's like- 

 ness was drawn with it ! The Nautilus was an old 

 inhabitant of the world when the Ammonite was 

 introduced on the stage of existence. As a family, 

 it had reached the' maximum of its existence, and 

 was slowly waning into extinction, although it has 

 been able to survive the flourishing class of Ammon- 

 ites, for one species still represents it ! Seventeen 

 European species of Nautilus are known from the 

 Lias strata alone. But the Ammonites were by far 

 the most abundant, and I may say also, by far the 

 most beautiful, of all objects which lived at this 

 time. Nothing could be more graceful and varied 

 than the outward forms of different species. They 

 differed in structure from the Nautilus in having 

 the divisional chambers foliated along their edges, 

 instead of being straight. Another leading distinc- 

 tion was the position of the air-tube, or siphuncle, 

 which did not run centrally through the chambers, 

 as it did in the Nautilus, but along the margin of 

 the outside, or back, of the shell. No fewer than 

 266 species of Ammonites are peculiar to the 

 Lias deposits of Europe, whilst those of Britain 

 alone contain 128. Next in abundance to them 

 were the Belemnites — vulgarly called " Thunder- 

 bolts "—above mentioned. The Lias strata of Great 

 Britain have yielded 105 species, the British beds 

 alone having produced fifty-seven of them. The 

 Brachiopodous, or "Lamp-shells," which were so 



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