THE 



FOSSIL REPTILIA OF THE LIASSIC FORMATIONS. 



CHAPTER II. Order— ICHTHYOPTERYGIA, Owen. 

 Genus — Ichthyosaurus, Kionig} 



A. Introduction. 



Remains of the extinct mai'ine Reptiles, now known as Iclithyosaurs, have attracted 

 the attention of collectors and describers of organic fossils for nearly two centuries past. 



In Scheuchzer's ' Querelge Piscium,' 1708, tab. iii contains figures of the 

 biconcave vertebree of an Ichthi/osaur from the Lias of Altdorf, supposed to be a 

 fish. Knorr, also, in his ' Naturgeschichte der Versteinerungen,' vol. ii, represents, in 

 figs. 5 — 7 of tab. i, vertebrae of the same Reptile, as " Ichthgosjjondi/len." 



So, likewise, when the attention of more modern palaeontologists was awakened to 

 remains of the remarkable subjects of the present Monograph, as in the paper by Sir Everard 

 Home, Bart., F.R.S. (' Philos. Trans.,' 1814), we find such described as "Fossil Remains 

 of an animal more nearly allied to Fishes than any of the other classes of animals." 



In this paper, however, as in succeeding ones by the same author, which appeared 

 in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for the years 1816, 1818, 1819, and 1820, 

 the accurate and beautiful engravings of the drawings of the several subjects by 

 William Clift, F.R.S. , enabled contemporaiy investigators, more capable than Home 

 in determining the true nature and affinities of the fossils, to contribute a durable and 

 rich accession to their science. 



In this work the names of Contbeare and De la Beche^ stand pre-eminent, and with 

 them must be associated that of Charles Konig, whose appreciation of the affinities of 



1 'Icones Fossilium Sectiles,' fol., pi. six, fig. 250, 1825. 



* " Notice of a Discovery of a new Fossil Animal forming a link between the Ichthyosaurus and Croco- 

 dile ; together with general remarks on the Osteology of the Ichthyosaurus," ' Transactions of the 

 Geological Society,' 4to, vol. v, 1821, p. 559, pis. Ix, Ixi, Ixii. 



6 



