THE ICHTUYOSAURI AND PLESIOSAUBI. 123 



enthusiastic female geologist. Miss Anning^ in the 

 blue lias of Lyme Regis, and subsequently described 

 with great ability by Mr. Conybeare. This skeleton is 

 almost entire, and is now, by the munificence of the 

 duke of Buckingham, deposited in the collection of the 

 geological society of London : a still finer specimen has 

 since been found in the same locality, and is placed in the 

 British Museum; both these, however, are of one species, 

 the Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus, or long-necked snake- 

 lizard of Conybeare. The habits of this reptile, when 

 alive, have thus been conjectured by M. Cuvier, and 

 the theory of that able anatomist is fully supported by 

 the extraordinary structure of the animal ; to these par- 

 ticulars we shall subsequently refer. " Th.Q Plesiosau- 

 rus in its movements, and in some degree in its figure, 

 must have resembled the chelonian reptiles or sea- 

 turtles : for supposing the turtle to be stripped of its 

 shelly armour, the resemblance would be tolerably exact. 

 There can be no doubt, from the nature of its paddles, 

 that it was an aquatic animal ; and that it was marine 

 is equally to be concluded from the debris by which its 

 remains are invariably accompanied. It is probable, 

 that, like the turtle, to whose extremities there is a strong- 

 analogy in the Plesiosaurus, it may occasionally have 

 visited the coast, where, however, its mode of locomotion 

 must have been exceedingly awkward ; neither was it 

 by any means so well fitted for swimming as the Ichthyo- 

 saurus, as its long neck must have presented a consider- 

 able impediment to its progress through the watery 

 element. It is the conjecture of Mr. Conybeare, that, as 

 it breathed the elastic air, and had frequent need of 

 respiration, it generally swam upon, or near the surface 

 of the water, arching back its long neck like the swan, 

 and plunging it downwards at the fishes that passed 

 within its reach : he also thinks it might have lurked in 

 shallow water near the coast, concealing itself among 

 the weeds : thus, raising its nostrils to the surface like 

 the cayman, it might have found a secure shelter from 

 its enemies, and a place of ambush from which to dart 



