12 



WATER REPTILES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT 



that the creature was clothed during life with long and abundant 

 hair, such as has been found with the frozen bodies in Siberia. 

 Nor should we suspect that the dromedary and Bactrian camels of 

 today have large masses of fat on their backs, if we knew only their 

 skeletons. It must therefore be remembered that all restorations 

 of extinct animals, representing them as in life, are merely the sum 

 of our knowledge concerning them, as close approximations to the 

 real truth as it is possible to make. Or, rather, they should be 

 such approximations; unfortunately many such restorations have 

 been made by artists wholly unacquainted with the anatomy of the 

 creatures they attempt to represent, often adorned with appendages 

 drawn from a too vivid imagination. 



