296 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



Sir Charles Lyell said : " The vertebral column of one skeleton 

 found by Dr. Buckley at a spot visited by me, extended to a 

 length of nearly seventy feet, and, not far off, part of another 

 backbone, nearly fifty feet long, was dug up. I obtained 

 evidence, during a short excursion, of so many localities of 

 this fossil animal within a distance of ten miles, as to lead 

 me to conclude that they must have belonged to at least forty 

 individuals." 



This animal is particularly interesting as marking the first 

 appearance of the very distinct order of cetaceans, so unlike any 

 other order, except the Sirenia (Manatee and Dugong). 



Professor D'Arcy Thompson thinks that Zeuglodon and other 

 members of its family are related to the seals, and have no direct 

 affinities with the cetacea ; their teeth certainly are very similar, 

 but unfortunately we do not at present know what their limbs 

 were like though one would expect, from the long pointed head 

 of Zeuglodon, that the body also was long like a whale's, and 

 adapted for rapid progress through the water, rather than for 

 progression on land. One cannot easily picture a creature with 

 such a skull walking on the land, even in the awkward manner 

 of a seal ; but we must wait for further evidence on this point. 

 A portion of a skull of Zeuglodon was found in the Barton Clay, 

 an Eocene deposit in Hampshire. 1 



We have already recorded one or two cases in which curious 

 mistakes have been made by paleontologists ; but the student 

 soon finds how many and great are the difficulties that have to 

 be overcome by those who study lost forms of life, difficulties 

 which in most cases are due to the imperfection of the material 



1 The late Professor Dames, of Berlin, has described certain bony plates 

 found with Zeuglodon remains, which probably indicate that its back was pro- 

 tected by an armour of scutes (see Natural Science, vol. iv. p. 175). 



