THE GREAT FISH-LIZARDS. 35 



lead us to conclude that the Ichthyosaur never ventured to leave 

 the " briny ocean " to bask upon the land. 



This great uncouth beast presents some curious anomalies in 

 his constitution, being planned on different lines to anything now 

 living, and presenting, as so many other extinct animals do, a 

 mixture, or fusion, of types that greatly puzzled the learned men 

 of the time when his remains were first brought to light, after 

 their long entombment in the Lias rocks forming the cliffs on the 

 coast of Dorset. Some have christened him a " sea-dragon," and 

 such indeed he may be considered. But the name Ichthyosaurus, 

 given above, has received the sanction of high authority, and, 

 moreover, serves to remind us of the fact that, although in many 

 respects a lizard, he yet retains in his bony framework the traces 

 of a remote fishy ancestry. So we will call him a fish-lizard. 



We remember in our young days the amiable endeavours of 

 Mr. "Peter Parley" to introduce us to the wonders of creation; 

 and his account of the Ichthyosaurus particularly impressed itself 

 on our youthful imagination. How surprised that inestimable 

 instructor of youth would be could he now see the still more 

 wonderful remains that have been brought to light from Europe, 

 Asia, Africa, and America ! 



The curious quotation given at the head of the present chapter 

 refers to a widespread belief, prevalent among the highly civilised 

 nations of antiquity, that the world was once inhabited by 

 dragons, or other monsters "of mixed shape" and characters. 

 To the student of ancient history traces of this curious belief 

 will be familiar. Sir Charles Lyell refers to such a belief 

 when he says, in his Priticiples of Geology^ " The Egyptians, it 

 is true, had taught, and the Stoics had repeated, that the earth 

 had once given birth to some monstrous animals that existed 

 no longer." It may be surprising to some, but it is undoubtedly 

 the fact, that modern scientific truths were partly anticipated 

 by the civilised nations of long ago. Take the ideas of 

 the ancients as interpreted from the records of Egypt, Chaldsea, 



