102 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Extinct SAnRiANS. 



lensith, which consists of enormously stout veriebrae, i 

 exceedinir those of the back; indeed (he body seems 

 disproportionately small to the volume of llie head | 

 and neck ; but the anterior limbs are very long, the | 

 paws lar>;e, and the tinger for supportinij the mem- i 

 brane greatly developed : and no doubt, when this 

 membrane on each side was unfolded, it advanced 

 so as to prevent the animal fiom necessarily droop- i 

 ing the head during flisht, and thus maintained the . 

 balance of the botly. Fig. 2214 is a delineation of 

 this species, as restored by Dr. Goldfuss. 1 



Dr. Huckland remarks that in one species (the Pt. ; 

 macronyx, from the lias at Lyme Regis) there is 

 an unusual provision for giving support and move- 

 ment to a large head at the extremity of a long 

 neck, by the occurrence of bony tendons, running 

 parallel to the cervical vertebrK, like the tendons 

 that pass along the back of the pigmy musk-deer, 

 and of many birds. This provision, he observes, 

 does not occur in any modem lizards, whose necks 

 are short and require no such aid. 



With respect to the habits and food of these flying 

 lizards — these aiirial sauria — we can only form a con- 

 jecture. Dr. Ruckland thinks it probable that, be- 

 sides having the power of flight, they might be ca- 

 pable of swimming also, as the Rousette bat of the 

 island of Bonin (Pteropus), and that the larger spe- 

 cies might possibly have fed upon fishes, darting at 

 them as they rose to the surface and carrying them 

 away ; the smaller were probably insectivorous. He 

 adduces the size and form of the hind foot, and also 

 of the leg and thigh, to show that the Pterodactyles 

 had the power of standing firmly on the ground, 

 where, with their wings closed, they possibly moved 

 after the manner of birds; and that they could also 

 perch on trees and climb on rocks and cliffs, with 

 their hind and fore feet conjointly, like bats and 

 lizards. 



Contemporary with these strange monsters — 

 " chimsene dire" — were monstrous ichthyosauri and 

 plcsiosauri ploughing the waters, while on the shore 

 crawled gigantic crocodiles and tortoises, and huge 

 Crustacea. 



2215. — Camper's MosASArans 



{Mosa.i(atnis Camperi). Head fossil. In the cal- 

 careous hills of the valley of the Meuse near Maes- 

 tricht, in the upper chalk in England, and also in 

 the green sand of Virginia, occur the remains of a 

 huge aquatic lizard, the head of which in many 

 points resembles that of the Varans (Varanus 

 Mersem) of the present day, but had teeth in the 

 palate (pterygoid bones) as well as in the jaws, like 

 the iguanas. This gigantic reptile, the remains of 

 which have been by some mistaken for those of the 

 whale, appears to have succeeded the ichthyosauri 

 and plesiosauri, as the tyrant of the waters, its re- 

 mains occurring in strata posterior to those in which 

 the bones of these later reptiles are imbedded. It 

 e.Kceeded twenty-five feet m length, and was ex- 

 pressly foi-med for cleaving the ocean with wonder- 

 ful rapidity. The tail was compressed laterally, 

 high and deep, in the vertical direction, and with 

 this huge oar it lashed vigorously from side to side, 

 sculling itself onwards. Instead of legs, it had four 

 large flippers, like those of the plesiosaurus, and 

 could therefore dive and mount again to the surface 

 with the utmost ease. The ball-and-socket union of 

 thevertebrsB forming the spinal column allowed the 

 utmost flexibility of movement, and thus was it or- 

 ganized for a life of aquatic rapine, destroying the 

 largest fishes with a snap of its tremendous jaws. 

 Tne head measures four feet in length ; that of the 

 largest living Varan five inches. 



2216, 2217, 2218, 2219.— Sommbking's Gkosaueds 



(Geosaurus Scemmeringii). Fossil bones. 



The remains of this reptile were found in the 

 canton of Meulenhardt (near Mannheim) at the 

 depth of ten feet, and at a little distance from the re- 

 mains of a crocodilus prisons, by labourers em- 

 ployed to work the mines of granular iron which 

 fill the fissures of the calcareous schist. Near 

 these relics were the shell of an ammonite, fragments 

 of a bluish shell, and a great quantity of small scales. 

 Other fragments of this reptile have been found in 

 the Soleiihofen slate, and we believe in America 

 (marl of the green sand. New Jersey). This species, 

 though allied to the preceding, differs in dental 

 characters ; and the orbit presents us with bony 

 lamins, which belonged either to the upper eyelid, 

 or, as is more probable, to the sclerotic coat of the 

 eye, a structure occurring in the recent varans, but 

 not in crocodiles. It appears to have measured 

 twelve or thirteen feet in length. Fig 2216, a and b 

 represent part of the head, which has been com- 

 pressed ; some of the sclerotic plates are still visible 

 within the orbit, at h. Fig. 2217, c, d. e, teeth which 

 had preserved their shining, hard, and brown enamel. 

 Fig. 2218, a portion of the vertebral column, with 

 fragments of ribs, See. Fig. 2219, //, another portion 

 of the vertebral column, also with Irasuieuts of ribs. 



2220. — The Megalosaubus. 



Portions of the lower jaw. The remains of this 

 enormous reptile have been found in the oolitic j 

 slate at Stonesfield, the ferruginous sandstone of 

 Tilgate Forest, and the oolite of Normandy. No 

 entire skeleton has been discovered, but the frag- 

 ments prove Its colossal dimensions; and the struc- 

 ture of its teeth that it was carnivorous. The 

 thigh-bone of an individual, formerly in the collec- 

 tion of Gideon iMantell, Esq., and now in the British 

 Museum (from the Tilgale Forest), measures more 

 than twenty inches in circumference, equalling in 

 magnitude that of the largest elephant. Hence, if 

 the total length of this reptile was in proportion to 

 the length of its extremities, it mu»t in height have 

 equalled our largest elephants, and have fallen but 

 little short of the largest whales in length ; making, 

 however, every deduction, it would not have mea- 

 sured less than sixty or seventy feet. To such a 

 reptile our hugest cro"codiles are mere pigmies. 

 Thigh-bones of smaller individuals are in the mu- 

 seum of Oxford. Of these the largest is nearly three 

 feet in length, and ten inches in circumference at 

 its smallest part. Hence, calculating according to 

 the ordinary standard of the lizard families, the in- | 

 dividual when alive could not have been less than 

 from six to seven feet high, nor than forty feet long. \ 

 The teeth of this animal were compressed, sharp, 

 and arched backwards, with the edges finely denticu- 

 lated; the germs of successive teeth (those taking , 

 the place of such as are worn out and fall) are in ! 

 distinct sockets by the side of their antecessors. 



Fig. 2220 represents, a, the anterior extremity of j 

 the right lower jaw seen from the inside ; b, the same, 

 presenting its outer side. Fig. 2221 shows the tooth 

 of Megalosaurus, two-thirds the natural size. The 

 dotted lines indicate the conical cavity containing 

 pulp, within the root of the growing tooth, a is a 

 transverse section, showing the compressed form, 

 rounded back, and sharp cutting edge anteriorly. 



2222. — The Ichthyosaurus 



{Ichtfii/osaurus communis). It is in the lias and 

 oolitic formations that the remains of the Ichthyo- 

 sauri, or fish lizards, abound. They have been found 

 chiefly in the lias at Lyme Regis ; but, according to 

 Dr. Buckland, they exist along the whole extent of 

 this formation throughout England, from the coasts 

 of Dorset, throueh Somersetshire and Leicestershire, 

 to the coast of Yorkshire. They are found also in 

 the lias of France and Germany. The range of the 

 genus Ichthyosaurus, says Dr. Buckland, "seems to 

 have begun with the Muschelkalk, and to have ex- 

 tended through the whole of the oolitic period into 

 the crestaceous formation. The most recent stratum 

 in which any remains of this genus have been found 

 is in the chalk marl at Dover, where they have been 

 discovered by Dr. Mantell. I have found them in 

 the gault, near Benson, Oxon." The general form 

 of this extraordinary animal may be easily under- 

 stood from a survey of the skeleton as restored by 

 Conybeare, Figs. 2222 and 2223, compared with Fig. 

 2224, the skeleton merely cleared from the lias in 

 which it was imbedded. Some of the largest of these 

 aquatic reptiles must have exceeded thirty feet in 

 length. Let us suppose a grampus, with a sharp 

 muzzle, with four broad paddles, and a long tail 

 laterally compressed, deep and high, forming a 

 caudal fin for lashing the water from side to side, 

 large eyes, and tremendous jaws, and we have a 

 tolerably faithful likeness of this tenant of the an- 

 cient seas. The whole organization of the skeleton 

 demonstrates that the habits of the Ichthyosaurus 

 were exclusively aquatic. The muzzle is elongated 

 and pointed, and the teeth, amounting to one hun- 

 dred and eighty in some specimens, are set in a fur- 

 row of the jaws, and their succession is managed, as 

 in the crocodile, by "the young tooth budding up 

 at the base of the old tooth, where, as it grows, its 

 pressure sets the absorbents at work ; the base of 

 the old tooth is thus partially removed, and as the 

 new tooth advances, is finally disp'aced to make 

 room for its more efficient successor.' The nostrils 

 are placed just anterior to the orbits, in which we 

 observe still remaining the osseous sclerotic ring, 

 composed of distinct portions, placed in regular 

 array. The eye was extremely large ; and we can 

 imagine how it glared with ferocity as the monster 

 darted towards his prey. Tremendous must have 

 been 'the snap of the jaws when the animal seized 

 his victim, and as they ar§ long and slender, some 

 liability to fracture, from the mere force of the 

 muscles producing their sudden and forceful col- 

 lision, might not unreasonably be expected ; indeed, 

 as Dr. Buckland well observes, a definite provision 

 is made against this in the lower jaw, each ramus of 

 which consists of six pieces of unequal length, 

 placed together on the same principle as the plates 

 forming the steel springs of carriages ; they are 

 most numerous and strong at the portion of the jaw 

 where the greatest strength is required to be exerted, 

 where in lact the main stress is, and are thinner 



and fewer anteriorly. This arrangement is well 

 seen on the uppermost skull. Fig. 2225, and in the 

 sketch of the lower jaw. Fig. 2226. 



The neck is short, and the vertebral column very 

 peculiar; it consists of nioie than one hundred ver- 

 tebne, which, instead of resembling those of saurian 

 reptiles, are formed on the type of those of fishes ; 

 they are, in fact, concave anteriorly and posteriorly, 

 and were doubtless filled by a thick fluid, and bound 

 together by elastic capsules. " The sauroid type." 

 observes Dr. Buckland, " is here departed from, in 

 favour of a conformation demanded by the habits of 

 the animal." It is further noticed, he adds, by Sir 

 E. Home, that the annular part of the vertebrae 

 (enclosing the spinal cord above) is neither consoli- 

 dated with the body of the separate bones as in 

 quadrupeds, nor connected by suture as in crocodiles, 

 but remains always distinct, being articulated by a 

 peculiar joint resembling a compressed, oval, ball- 

 and-socket joint ; and Mr. Conybeare observes that 

 this mode of articulation co-operates with the cup- 

 shaped form of the intervertebral joints, in giving 

 flexibility to the vertebral column, and assisting its 

 vibratory motions ; for, had these parts been conso- 

 lidated as in quadrupeds, their articulating processes 

 must have locked the whole columti together, so as 

 to render such a motion of its parts impossible. 



Every one knows that the spinal column of a 

 recent fish maintains itself straight (when removed 

 from the animal), and has a certain degree of springi- 

 ness, or elasticity, by which, when bent, it returns to 

 the same form ; this results from the form of the 

 vertebr*, the elastic capsules binding each to each, 

 and the presence of the fluid which fills their cup- 

 shaped cavities; it is very probable that in the 

 Ichthyosaurus the same character prevailed. 



Fig. 2227 represents the sternal arch and anterior 

 paddles of this animal, in which it will be seen how 

 provision is made for the strain of the latter, while 

 breasting the rolling waves ; at the same time the 

 broad surfaces of the clavicles, besides adding to the 

 strength of the chest, afford an ample and solid 

 surface for the attachment of powerful muscles. 

 The blades of the paddles, if we may use the 

 expression, consist of polygonal bones disposed in 

 regular order, exhibiting a tessellated surface. 



It is however, not only the external form and 

 general habits of this being of an antique world that 

 the anatomist has the means of ascertaining ; he has 

 also data from which he can deduce many important 

 inferences with respect both to the internal structure 

 and the nature of the food ; indeed, the fossilized 

 contents of the abdominal viscera, termed Coprolites, 

 are often found in abundance between the ribs ; and 

 without entering into details, we may observe that 

 the alimentary canal must have been very analogoiis 

 to that of the sharks of the modern ocean : these 

 coprolites consist principally of the scales of extinct 

 fishes, and chiefly of those of a species (known in a 

 fossil state) termed Pholidophorus limbatus; these 

 scales are not only found in most of the coprolites, 

 but dispersed throughout the entire region of the 

 ribs. Fig. 2228 shows the ordinary form of the 

 coprolites : n is a magnified scale of Pholidophorus 

 limbatus imbedded therein (internal surface); b, the 

 external surface of the same. 



With respect to the tegumentary covering of the 

 ichthyosaurus, we may conclude, from the absence 

 of plates or large scales, or the impressions of such, 

 in the lias, that it was simple and naked, resembling 

 that of the grampus and other cetaceous animals. 

 Thus then, from the beds of lias in which they have 

 been entombed for ages, have the relics of these 

 aquatic sauria " been summoned by the labours of 

 the geologist to give evidence of events that passed 

 at the bottom of the ancient seas in ages long pre- 

 ceding the existence of man." They tell of seas 

 over \vhich the canoe of the savage never floated, 

 yet teeming with life ; of a system of warfare anil 

 destruction in which man took no part ; of alterations 

 on the surface of our planet, themselves being the 

 historic monuments ; of changes in the forms of 

 i organic existence ; of races commencing, spreading 

 far and wide, and then blotted out of the catalogue of 

 living things. This is no dream of fancy, no theory 

 based upon an unstable foundation ; the proofs are 

 abundant, and such as to force conviction. We may 

 picture to oui-selves the huge ichthyosaurus plough- 

 ing the billows, driving the shoals of fish belbre 

 him, pursuing them with unrelenting pertinacity, 

 and thinning their numbers ; we may picture him 

 cruising about the mouths of rivers, and scattering 

 terror in the finny hordes around ; but a change has 

 taken place, and the ploughman drives his team 

 where the ichthyosaurus, entombed below, once 

 revelled in his might. 



Ten distinct species of ichthyosaurus are recorded 

 by Professor Owen, viz. : Ichth. communis, Cony- 

 beare ; intermedius, Con. ; platyodon, Con. ; conchi- 

 odon Owen ; latifrons, Konig ; latimanus, Owen ; 

 thyreospondylus, Owen ; trigonus, Owen ; tenui- 

 rostris. Con. ; and acutirostris, Owen. 

 This admirable anatomist, comparing the paddks 



