288 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



a neck of enormous length, resembling the body of a Serpent; 

 a trunk and tail having the proportions of an ordinary quad- 

 ruped; the ribs of a Chameleon, and the paddles of a 

 Whale."* 



The Plesiosauri appear to have lived in shallow seas and 

 estuaries, and to have breathed air like the Icthyosauri, or 

 like the Whale and the Porpoise. The most remarkable 

 character is the extraordinary extension of the neck, to a 

 length nearly equalling that of the body and tail together, and 

 surpassing, in the number of its vertebra (thirty- three), that 

 of the Swan. It is supposed to have " swum upon or near 

 the surface, arching back its long neck like the Swan, and 

 occasionally darting it down at the fish which happened to 

 float within its reach." 



The Pterodactyles \ (Fig. 232) constitute another genus. 



Fig. 232. PTERODACTYLES. 



About eight species are now known, the size varying from 

 that of a Snipe to that of a Cormorant. They were consi- 

 dered by Cuvier the most extraordinary of all the extinct 

 animals that had fallen under his observation; and such as, if 

 we saw them restored to life, would appear most unlike to 

 anything that exists in the present world. 



These flying reptiles resembled, in some degree, our modern 



* Dr. Buckland's Bridgewator Treatise. We use the words of that 

 eloquent writer, so far as our limited space will permit. 



f From two Greek words, signifying "wing-fingered," some of the 

 finger-joints being of such a length as to have served as the supports for 

 a membraneous wing. The dotted lines in the figure (232) indicate the 

 supposed outline of this wing, and of the skin of other parts of the body. 



