OF CREATION. 223 



A strangely formed animal, however, is perceived 

 running along upon the ground : its general appear- 

 ance in motion is that of a bird, but its body and 

 long neck, its head and wings, are not covered with 

 feathers, but are either quite bare, or perhaps re- 

 splendent with glittering scales ; its proportions are 

 quite unlike those of any known animal ; its head 

 is enormously long, and like that of a crocodile ; its 

 neck long and outstretched, or thrown back on the 

 body; its fore extremities have four free toes, but 

 the fifth toe folded down on the body ; its hind legs 

 are short, and its feet perhaps webbed. This animal, 

 running along upon the ground, pursues and devours 

 the little quadruped we have been watching, and then 

 perhaps darts off towards the sea to feed upon the 

 fishes, which its peculiar powers would enable it to 

 take, either pouncing upon and so trans'fixing the 

 victim, or even occasionally wading or diving in 

 search of prey. 



But we have not yet noticed the strangest pheno- 

 menon. This mailed reptile, four of its fingers still 

 free, but the fifth opened out, and by a connecting 

 membrane forming a wing of very large size, rises 

 into the air, and flits about or hovers over-head, 

 realising and even surpassing, in the conditions of its 

 existence, the wildest mythological accounts of flying 

 dragons which we read of, or those representations 

 which we see pictured by the pencil of the Chinese. 

 There is scarcely any freak of the imagination, how- 

 ever wild or vague, that does not seem surpassed by 

 some reptilian reality during this remarkable period. 



Modified, no doubt, by considerable and even im- 

 portant changes in matters of detail, but still remain- 



