THE PLESIOSATTEUS; 321 



" From the known anatomical character of the Plesio- 

 sauri, derived from the examination of their organic re- 

 mains, geologists are agreed in the inference that those 

 animals carried their necks (which must have resembled 

 the bodies of serpents) above the water, while their pro- 

 gression was effected by large paddles working beneath — 

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

 would be superfluous to point out how closely the sur- 

 mises of philosophers resemble, in these particulars, the 

 description of the eye-witnesses of the living animal, as 

 given in the letter and drawings of Captain M'Quhae. In 

 the latter we have many of the external characters of the 

 former, as predicated from the examination of the skele- 

 ton. The short head, the serpent-like neck, carried seve- 

 ral feet above the water, forcibly recall the idea conceived 

 of the extinct animal ; and even the bristly mane in cer- 

 tain parts of the back, so unlike anything found in 

 serpents, has its analogy in the Iguana, to which animal 

 the Flesiosaurus has been compared by some geolo- 

 ^ts. But I would most of all insist upon the pecu- 

 liarity 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 pos- 

 sessed by serpents, but existing in the highest perfection 

 in the Flesiosaurus." 



A master in science now appeared upon the field, — 

 Professor Kichard Owen, who, in a most able article, gave 

 his verdict against the serpentine character of the animal 

 seen, and pronounced it to have been, in his judgment, a 



