Great Salamanders and their Associates 



ally seek tlie shore, these marine reptiles seem 

 never to have done so, and while it was once 

 thought that they might have crawled upon the 

 beach to bask in the sun, this is now looked 

 upon as very doubtful. The ichthyosaurs va- 

 ried somewhat in shape, as do our dolphins, 

 but in general shape were not unlike them. 

 They had a pointed head, sometimes very long 

 and slender, a rather short body, four swim- 

 ming paddles, and a powerful tail. 



Like whales, they were clad in smooth skin 

 and the back bore a fin, but unlike the whales, 

 the tail was not in the form of flukes, set cross- 

 wise, but like that of a fish, up and down. This 

 tail was long a puzzle : it was noticed that in 

 every specimen discovered, no matter how com- 

 plete it might be, there was a downward bend 

 in the tail, just the reverse of what is found in 

 the sharks. 



It was supposed by Professor Owen that 

 the tail of the ichthyosaurus ^vas flat, like that 

 of a newt or poUywog, and that this bend in 

 the vertebral column was brought about by 

 the dropping to one side of the flattened tail 

 10 137 



