NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PRIMEVAL WORLD. 



25 



which at one time rose above the rolling waves. These 

 reefs, however, were principally constructed in the 

 Jurassic period, and their number and extent are one 

 of the characteristics of that age, or ccon. A similar 

 phenomenon continues in our own time through the 

 never-ceasing labours of the corallines, whose opera- 

 tions, as shown in the atolls of the Pacific, may be 

 destined one day to create a new continent. 



We pass now to the sub-period known as the Middle 

 Oolitic. Then first appeared on the fluent earth cer- 

 tain new types of hemipterous insects, and the Bees 

 wandered from flower to flower in quest of honied trea- 

 sures. Then, too, among the Lepidoptera, came the 

 bright glancing wings of the Butterflies, and among the 

 Neuroptera, the sparkling Dragon-flies shot through 

 the warm air like sparks of light. The Pterodactyle 

 still perched on its leafy boughs ; in the ocean-waters 

 roamed the voracious Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus; 

 on the marshy shore wallowed the huge Megalosaurus ; 

 the gigantic Chelonia haunted the river banks, and the 

 woods and plains were tenanted by Iguanodons, Am- 

 phitheria, and Phascolotheria. 



At this epoch, moreover, flourished a reptile allied 

 to the marvellous and apparently anomalous Pterodac- 



Ramphorynchus restored. One quarter natural size. 



tyle. This was the Ramphorhynclius, distinguished 

 from the latter by its long tail. In size it resembled 

 the existing crow. Its powers of flight, however, were 

 very limited ; it did not really fly, but making use of 

 the natural parachute formed by the membrane which 

 connected its fingers with its body, it flung itself from 

 a height upon its prey. 



Of another family of reptiles, abundant in the Middle 

 Oolite, we had a glimpse in the earlier age of the Great 

 Oolite, the Teleosaums, which a German writer has de- 

 scribed as " the great baron of the kingdom of Neptune, 

 armed to the teeth, and clothed in an impenetrable 

 panoply; the true pirate or freebooter of the primeval 

 seas." 



In its anatomical structure it bore a close resem- 

 blance to the existing Gavial, or Gangetic crocodile, 

 but certain modifications peculiarly adapted it for a 

 marine life. Both surfaces of the vertebrae were slightly 

 concave. Its hind legs were singularly large and strong, 

 the anterior portion of its huge body tapered off with 

 long slender jaws bristling with a formidable array of 

 sharp teeth, slightly recurved, and admirably fitted for 



the capture of its fishy prey. The nasal aperture, 

 instead of being oblique, as in the crocodile of the 

 Ganges, opened vertically on the truncated end of the 

 upper mandible. 



The Teleosaums was about thirty feet in length, of 

 which the head consumed some three or four feet. Its 

 colossal jaws were well protected beyond the ears, and 

 yawned sometimes, with an opening of six feet, through 

 which it could entomb, in the depths of its huge palate, 

 animals of the size of an ox. Its body was protected 

 by a cuirass, both on the back and belly. Twenty 

 species of the Teleosaums have been described, and 

 these exhibit so many distinctive characteristics that 

 they have been arranged into six sub-genera. 



At the same time the seas teemed with fishes, with 

 Crustaceans, Cirripedes, Molluscs, and Zoophytes. 

 Passing from these to the Polyps, we are astonished at 

 their abundance, and are inclined to regard them as 

 peculiar, in the main, to the Oolitic age. They are 

 discovered in vast aggregated masses at a considerable 

 depth beneath the soil. Of old they played the same 

 part in the economy of creation which in our own day 

 is played by the coral animals. To a certain extent 

 their mode of production must always remain a problem, 

 but a flood of light has recently been thrown upon this 

 interesting subject through the exertions of Charles 

 Darwin. Describing what he believes to be a sea-pen 

 (Virgularia Patagonica), he says : 



" The zoophyte consists of a thin, straight, fleshy 

 stem, with alternate rows of polypi on each side, and 

 surrounding an elastic stony axis. The stem at one 

 extremity is truncate, but terminates at the ofher in a 

 vermiform fleshy appendage. The stony axis which 

 gives strength to the stem may become at this extremity 

 a mere vessel, filled with granular matter. At low 

 water hundreds of these zoophytes may be seen pro- 

 jecting, with the truncated end upwards, a few inches 

 above the surface of the muddy sand. When touched 

 or pulled they suddenly draw themselves in, so as nearly 

 or quite to disappear. By this action the highly elastic 

 axis must be bent at the lower extremity, where it is 

 naturally slightly curved ; and I imagine it is by their 

 elasticity alone that the zoophyte is enabled to rise 

 again from the mud. Each polypus, though closely 

 united to its brethren, has a distinct mouth, body, and 

 tentacula. Of these polypi in a large specimen there 

 must be many thousands. Yet they act by one move- 

 ment. They have also one central axis, connected 

 with a system of obscure circulation." 



In the sub-period of the Upper Oolite flourished 

 some marsupial mammals of the genus Spalacotherium. 

 Among the huge griffins with sharp, trenchant teeth, 

 was the Pcedlopleuron ; among the crocodiles, the 

 Macrorhynchus ; among the chelonidse, the Emys and 

 Platemys. And then appeared the first type of bird- 

 life on the globe, the Archceopteryx, or Bird of Solen- 

 hofen, as it is sometimes designated, from the locality 

 where its fossil remains were discovered. 



Such were the principal forms of animal life which 

 inhabited our world during the Liassic period. How 

 strange, how impressive must the scene have appeared? 

 If it could be reproduced before our eyes in all its 

 actual vividness, in all its exuberant vigour, and with 

 d 



