8 [LLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY. 



Among the amphibious animals, there were creatures of still more extraordinary proportions. 

 One of these, the ichthyosaurus, was a fish-lizard, with the teeth of a crocodile, the head of a 

 lizard, and the fins of a whale The plesiosaurus was similar, hut still more remarkable. Cuvier 

 asserts thai its structure was altogether monstrous. To the head of the lizard it united the teeth 

 of the crocodile, w ith a neck of enormous length resembling the bod} of a serpent ; it had a trunk 

 and tail of the proportions of an ordinary quadruped, with paddles similar to those of the turtle 

 nr whale. Twenty species of this have been discovered, having a general structure like that of the 

 ichthyosaurus. A skeleton is t>> be seen in the British Museum, eleven feet long, and so nearly 

 perfect, thai the form of the original creature may be readily traced. It was probably carniv- 

 orous, and lived in shallow seas and estuaries, and breathed the air like the ichthyosaurus ami 

 our modern cetacea. The vertebrae of the neck are about thirty-three, equal to those of the 

 longest-necked bird, the swan. This neck was probably of great use in aiding it to seize upon 

 fish beneath the waters, and perhaps flying reptiles and insects. Its tail was so short that it 

 could not have been used, like the tail of tidies, to impel the creature rapidly forward, hut was 

 doubtless employed as a rudder to steer him when swimming, as well as to raise or depress him 

 when ascending or descending in the water. Mr. Conybeare, after considering all the character- 

 istics of the animal, draws the following inferences with respect to the habits of the plesiosaurus. 

 "That it was aquatic, is evident from the form of its paddles; that it was marine is almost equally 

 so, from the remains with which it is universally associated; that it may have occasionally visited 

 the shore, the resemblance of its extremities to those of the turtle may lead us to conjecture; its 

 motion, however, must have been awkward on land, and its long neck must have impeded its 

 progress through the water, — presenting a striking contrast to the organization which so admi- 

 rably fitted the ichthyosaurus to cut through the waves. May it not, therefore, be concluded — 

 since, in addition to these circumstances, its respiration must have required a frequent access 

 of air — that it swain upon or near the surface; arching its long neck like the swan, and occasion- 

 ally darting it down at the fish which happened to float "within its reach? It may, perhaps, 

 have lurked in shoal water along the coast, concealed among the sea-weed, and, raising its nostrils 

 to ,i level with the surface from a considerable depth, have found a secure retreat from the assaults 

 of dangerous enemies." 



The iguanodon, whose hones were found in the soil of Tilgate forest, England, was of altogether 

 ■ monstrous proportions, its length having been probably near a hundred feet. It was, in fact, 

 i g gjantic lizard, bearing a resemblance to the iguana of Brazil. It is supposed that such an animal 

 coiiM only have existed in a hot country, and hence it is concluded that a torrid climate once 

 prevailed in England. The large hones of the iguanodon having been evidently filled with 

 marrow, this, with the form of the hones of the feet, shows that the animal was adapted and 

 di signed to move on the land. Its teeth, also, prove that they were remarkably fitted for cropping 

 tough vegetable food, such as the clatharia, and similar plants, which are found buried with its 

 bones. A- the iguana lives chiefly upon vegetables, it is furnished with long and slender feet, by 

 which it is enabled to climb trees with facility in search of food; but no tree could have borne 

 the weight of the colossal ijraanodon. Its movements must have been confined to the land and 

 water, and it is evident that its enormous bulk must have required limbs of great strength. 

 Accordingly, we find that the hind feet, as in the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and other large mam- 

 malia, were composed of strong, short, massy bones, furnished with claws,-— not hooked, as in the 

 iguana, but compressed, .-is in land tortoises ; thus forming a powerful support for the enormous leg 

 and thigh. But the bones of the hands or fore-fe< t an' analogous to those of the iguana, — long, 

 Blender, flexible, and armed with curved claws; thus furnishing prehensile instruments fitted to 

 seize tli,. palms, a rh. iresce 1 1 1, ferns, and d ragon-blooi 1 plants, which probably constituted the food of 

 the iguanodon. 



Another of these fossil mammals was the pterodactyle, whose bones were of such strange con- 

 formation, that the first specimen discovered was classed by one naturalist as a bird, by another as 

 a species of bat, and by yet a third as a flying reptile. The creature, indeed, combined certain 

 characteristics of all three. The head, and the length of the neck, resemble those of a bird; its 

 wings, in proportion and form, are like those of the bat; while the body and tail approximate in 



