134 MARINE SAURIANS. 



which are now dispersed through various classes and orders 

 of existing animals, but are no longer united in the same 

 genus. Thus, in the same individual, the snout of a Porpoise 

 is combined with the teeth of a crocodile, the head i^f a 

 Lizard with the Vertebrae of a fish, and the sternum of an 

 Ornithorhynchus with the paddles of a whale. The gene- 

 ral outline of an Ichthyosaurus must have most nearly re- 

 sembled the modern Porpoise, and Grampus. It had four 

 broad feet, or paddles, (PI. 7,) and terminated behind in a 

 long and powerful tail. Some of the largest of these rep- 

 tiles must have exceeded thirty feet in length. 



There are seven or eight known species of the genus 

 Ichthyosaurus, all agreeing with one another in the general 

 principles of their construction, and the possession of those 

 peculiar organs, in which I shall endeavour to point out the 

 presence of mechanism and contrivance, adapted to their 

 habits and state of life. As it will be foreign to our purpose 

 to enter on details respecting species, I shall content myself 

 with referring to the figures of the four most common forms 

 (Plates 7, 8, 9.) 



* PI. 7, is a large and nearly perfect specimen of the Ichthyosaurus 

 Platyodon, from the lias at Lyme Regis, being one of the splendid series 

 of Saurians, purchased in 1834 of Mr. Hawkins by the British Museum. 

 Portions of the paddles, and many lost fragments, are restored from the 

 corresponding parts which are preserved; a few vertebrae, and the extremity 

 of the tail are also restored conjecturally. Beautiful and accurate litho- 

 graphed figures of this specimen, and of the greater part of this collection , 

 are published in Mr. Hawkins's Memoirs of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, 

 London, 1834. PI. 8. Fig. 1, is a small specimen of the Ichthyosaurus 

 Communis, from the lias at Lyme Regis, belonging to the Geol, Soc. of Lon* 

 don. PI. 8, Fig. 2, a small Ichthyosaurus Intcrmedius, from the lias at 

 Lyme Regis belonging to Sir Astley Cooper. PI. 9, Fig, 1, an Ichchyosau. 

 rus Tenuirostris, from the lias of Street, near Glastonbury, in the collection 

 of Rev. D. Williams. Fig. 2 is the continuation of the tail, and Fig. 3, tlie 

 reverse of the head. The teeth in this species arc small, and in due propor- 

 tion to the slender character of the snout. 



