2i3 PLEASANT WAYS SN SCIENCE. 



species existing in the mesozoic period may have as largely 

 exceeded those whose skeletons have been found, as the boa- 

 constrictor exceeds the common ringed snake. It is also 

 altogether probable that in the struggle for existence during 

 which the enaliosaurian reptiles have become almost extinct 

 (according to the hypothesis we are considering), none but 

 the largest and strongest had any chance, in which case the 

 present representatives of the family would largely exceed in 

 bulk their progenitors of the mesozoic period. 



A writer in the Times of November 2, 1848, under the 

 signature F. G. S., pointed out how many of the external 

 characters of the creature seen from the Dcedalus corres- 

 ponded with the belief that it was a long-necked plesiosaurus. 

 " Geologists," he said, " are agreed in the inference that the 

 plesiosauri carried their necks, which must have resembled 

 the bodies of serpents, above the water, while their propul- 

 sion was effected by large paddles working beneath, the 

 short but stout tail acting the part of a rudder. ... In the 

 letter and drawing of Captain M'Quhae .... we have .... 

 the short head, the serpent-like neck, carried several feet 

 above the water. Even the bristly mane in certain parts 

 of the back, so unlike anything found in serpents, has its 

 analogue in the iguana, to which animal the plesiosaurus 

 has been compared by some geologists. But I would most 

 of all insist upon the peculiarity of the animal's progression, 

 which could only have been effected with the evenness and 

 at the rate described by an apparatus of fins or paddles, not 

 possessed by serpents, but existing in the highest perfection 

 in the plesiosaurus." 



At this stage a very eminent naturalist entered the field 

 Professor Owen. He dwelt first on a certain characteristic 

 of Captain M'Quhae's letter which no student of science 

 could fail to notice the definite statement that the creature 

 was so and so, where a scientific observer would simply 

 have said that the creature presented such and such charac- 

 teristics. " No sooner was the captain's attention called to 

 the object," says Professor Owen, "than 'it was discovered 



