THE GREAT FISH-LIZARDS. 



37 



divided. Here is what Professor Blackie says of the Ichthyo- 

 saurus 



" Behold, a strange monster our wonder engages ! 



If dolphin or lizard your wit may defy. 

 Some thirty feet long, on the shore of Lyme-Regis, 



With a saw for a jaw, and a big staring eye. 

 A fish or a lizard ? An ichthyosaurus, 



With a big goggle eye, and a very small brain, 

 And paddles like mill-wheels in chattering chorus, 



Smiting tremendous the dread-sounding main." 



A glance at our restoration, Plate II., will show that the fish- 

 lizard was a powerful monster, well endowed with the means of 

 propelling itself rapidly through the water as it sought its living 

 prey, to seize it within those cruel jaws. The long and 

 powerful tail was its chief organ of propulsion ; but the paddles 

 would also be useful for this purpose, as well as for guiding its 

 course. The pointed head and generally tapering body suggests 

 a capability of rapid movement through the water ; and since we 

 know for certain that it fed on fishes, this conclusion is con- 

 firmed, for fishes are not easily caught now, and most probably 

 were not easily caught ages ago. 



The personal history of the fish-lizard, merely as a fossil or 

 " remain," is interesting ; so much so, that we may perhaps be 

 allowed to relate the circumstances of his debut before the 

 scientific world, in the days of the ever-illustrious Cuvier, to 

 whom we have already alluded. But England had its share of 

 illustrious men, too, though lesser lights compared to the founder 

 of comparative anatomy, such as Sir Richard Owen, on whom 

 the mantle of his friend Cuvier has fallen; Conybeare, De la 

 Beche, and Dean Buckland. 



These scientific men, aided by the untiring labours of many 

 enthusiastic collectors of organic remains, have been the means 

 of solving the riddle of the fish-lizard, and of introducing him to 

 the public. By this time there is, perhaps, no creature among 

 the host of Antediluvian types better known than this reptile. 



