590 THE UNIVERSE, 



At this time lived tlie Ichthyosatui, veritable fish- 

 lizards, as is indicated hj their name. These reptiles, 

 Avliich mnst have s^jread terror through the ancient seas, 

 attained a length of about thirty-three feet. Their -whole 

 organization is a series of paradoxes. With the vertebra; 

 of the fish they have the fins of a dolphin; and while 

 armed with the teeth of a crocodile they display an optic 

 globe which is without any parallel. This eye, the bulk 

 of which was sometimes as large as a man's head, Avas 

 protected in front by a framework of bony plates, and 

 was beyond all doubt the most 2)owerful and perfect visual 

 apparatus ever seen in creation. Hence Buckland main- 

 tains that the Ichthyosauri could discover their prey at 

 the greatest as well as the shortest distances; in the pro- 

 found darkness of night, and in the depths of the ocean; 

 the delicate structure of the organ of vision being protected 

 from the pressure of the Avater and the shock of the Avaves 

 by the osseous buckler which surrounds the transparent 

 cornea. 



Natiu'alists have investigated the remains of these 

 animals Avitli such skill, that in spite of the destruction of 

 the softer organs thousands of years ago, they have been 

 enabled to make out the structure of the intestinal tube! 

 It has been shown that this Avas formed exactly like an 

 Archimedian scrcAV, and Avas strictly analogous to that of 

 our sharks and rays. At the same time the nature of the 

 food of these A'oracious reptiles has been discovered. 

 These tAvo facts Avere revealed hj an examination of the 

 fai'ces or coprolites of Ichthyosauri, AAdiich are found in 

 large quantities in some localities. Their fi^rm, moulded 

 on that of the intestine, shoAved the structure cpiite clearly, 

 Avhile the petrified remains of food AA'hich Avcre discoA'cred 

 proved that these animals devoured an enormous quantity 



