REPTILES IN GEOLOGY 147 



thingB. They had in them elements which are f oxmd 

 in all other groups modem and extinct. 



The next three orders of these monsters were 

 aquatic purely — degenerates probahly from a terres- 



FlGt. 64. 



trial form, and were something like the crocodilians, 

 though they are often thought to come up from the 

 fishes. They all had paddles for limbs, and had tails 

 adapted to swimming. Professor Cope makes three 

 very natural orders out of three forms of them. 



The first, Samropterygia, had whalelike bodies 

 with necks longer than the tails. The Plesiosomrus 

 (Fig. 66) is a type of these. 



The next group of paddle-limbed kinds is called 

 Ichthycypterygia, because they (had a sort of fishlike 

 body (Greek ichthyos — a fish) and a long pointed tail 



