CHAPTER IV 



THE GREAT FISH-LIZARDS 



" Berossus, the Chaldaean saith : A time was when the universe was dark- 

 ness and water, wherein certain animals of frightful and compound forms were 

 generated. There were serpents and other creatures with the mixed shapes of 

 one another, of which pictures are kept in the temple of Belus at Babylon." 

 The Archaic Genesis. 



VISITOKS to Sydenkam, who have wandered about the spacious 

 gardens so skilfully laid out by the late Sir Joseph Paxton, will 

 be familiar with the great models of extinct animals on the 

 "geological island." These were designed and executed by that 

 clever artist, Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, who made praiseworthy 

 efforts to picture to our eyes some of the world's lost creations, as 

 restored by the genius of Sir Eichard Owen and other famous 

 naturalists. His drawings of extinct animals may yet be seen 

 hanging on the walls of some of our provincial museums ; but 

 of these many are far from correct. The difficulties were much 

 greater in those early days. Mr. Karl Hagenbeck is now setting 

 up " Eestorations " in his famous Zoological Garden at Hamburg. 

 Lazily basking in the sun, when it condescends to shine, and 

 resting his clumsy carcase on the ground that forms the shore 

 near the said geological island at Sydenham, may be seen the 

 old fish-lizard, or Ichthyosaurus, that forms the subject of the 

 present chapter. He looks awkward on land, as if longing to 

 get into his native element once more, and cleave its waters with 

 his powerful tail-fin. His " flippers " seem too weak to enable 

 him to crawl on laud. Moreover, the most recent discoveries 



