FEILL OF THE CHLAilYDOSAUE. 359 



exceeded it m dimensions. What if the existing form 

 should be essentially a Plesiosaur, with the colossal mag- 

 nitude of a Pliosaur / 



There seems to be no real structural diflSculty in such 

 a supposition except the " mane," or waving appendage, 

 which has so frequently been described by those who 

 profess to have seen the modern animal This, however, 

 is a difficulty of ignorance, rather than of contradiction. 

 We do not know that the smooth integument of the Ena- 

 liosaurs was destitute .of any such appendage, and I do 

 not think there is any insuperable improbability in the 

 case. The nearest analogy that I can suggest, however, 

 is that of the Chlamydosaur, a large terrestrial lizard of 

 Australia, whose lengthened neck is furnished with a very 

 curious plaited friQ of thin membrane, extending like 

 wings or fins to a considerable distance from the animal* 



Two strong objections, however, stand in the way of 

 our acceptance of the present existence of Enaliosauria; 

 and these are forcibly presented by Professor Owen. 

 They are, — 1. The hypothetical improbability of such 

 forms having been transmitted from the era of the secon- 

 dary strata to the present time; and, 2. The entire 

 absence of any parts of the carcases or unfossiUsed skele- 

 tons of such animals in museums. 



My ignorance of the details of palaeontology makes me 



* It was not till after this paragraph was written that I noticed the 

 very close similarity of the fins with which Hans Egede has adorned 

 hi3 figure of the sea-serpent, (copied in the Illustrated London Naos, 

 Oct. 28, 1818,) to the frill of the Chlamydosaurtu. 



