134 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



The modern evolutionist believes that snakes are descended 

 from lizards, possessing, as usual, four legs ; that some primitive 

 form of lizard with very small legs appeared on the scene, and 

 found that it could better move along by wriggling its body and 

 pushing with its ribs than by walking. So, in course of time, 

 a race of lizards without legs arose ; these, by Natural Selection, 

 and perhaps other means, became more and more elongated, 

 so that they could move faster than their ancestors, and glide 

 out of harm's way more effectually. Thus was the snake evolved 

 from a lizard. 



Now, in the great geological museum of the stratified rocks, 

 there have been discovered skeletons of marine reptiles, which 

 propelled themselves chiefly by means of their tails and elongated 

 bodies, rather than by their limbs. The limbs were not discarded 

 entirely as in the case of the serpents, but were useful in their 

 way as the fins of fishes are. Perhaps, therefore, we may be 

 justified in calling these ancient monsters sea-serpents, in con- 

 sideration of their long thin bodies ; for they certainly would be 

 called by that name if now living. 



Strictly speaking, they were not serpents, but more or less like 

 some of the extinct saurians described in chap. iv. The name, 

 however, has been adopted by geologists, and is useful in so far 

 as it serves to remind us of their very peculiar shape and 

 structure. Remains of these strange creatures have been found 

 both in Europe and America. 



One of the earliest discoveries of remains of a fossil sea- 

 serpent was made by M. Hoffman, a Dutch military surgeon, 

 in the year 1770. Maestricht, a city in the interior of the 

 Netherlands, situated in the valley of the Meuse, stands on 

 certain strata of limestone and sandstone, belonging to the Upper 

 Chalk. Extensive quarries have, for many centuries, been worked 

 in the sandstone, especially in the eminence called St. Peter's 

 Mount, which is a cape or headland between the Meuse and the 

 Jaar. This elevated plateau extends for some distance towards 



