Marvels of the Universe 



297 



enter entirely the four-sided mouth ; hence 

 in these circumstances, when the animal is 

 feeding it assumes all manner of curious 

 shapes, which for the most part resemble that 

 of the object contained within. 



Before closing this short account, notice 

 should be made of the curious-looking little 

 black objects — almost circular in shape, 

 sometimes single and sometimes double — 

 that he on the margin of the disc of the 

 animal between the tentacles, for their actual 

 use has been much discussed. Some have 

 thought them to be organs for stinging the 

 prey — paralysing or killing it — although such 

 is difficult to believe, seeing that no secreting 

 glands or delivery- tubes can be made out. 

 Others believe — and this is the opinion 

 mostly held — that they are simph' additional 

 suckers used in some way to assist the 

 animal in making its slow gliding motion 

 already referred to, and hence have been 

 appropriately named " anchors." 



^!?!S!§S1P^ 



-cy 



THE ICHTHYOSAUR 



BY SIR H.\RRY JOHXSTOX, G.C.II.G. 



WuRTTEMBERG, in Southern Germany, is 

 quite a small kingdom, only some seven 

 thousand five hundred square miles in area ; 

 but from the point of view of the science of 

 extinct animals it is perhaps the most 

 wonderful countrj- in the world. This arises 

 partly from the fact that during long periods 

 of its ancient history it has been the great 

 gulf of a shallow sea — a sea interspersed with 

 islands and peninsulas. Together with the 

 western parts of Bavaria it has produced 

 some amazing links in the chain of life. 

 many of which are referred to in the course 

 of the present work. The sea which covered 

 so much of the kingdom of Wiirttemberg in 

 the Secondary- Epoch was no doubt con- 

 nected through the valley of the Danube 

 with the ancient sea of Hungary, the Black 

 Sea and the Caspian — the " Sarmatian Sea," 

 as it is sometimes called by zoologists. This 

 sea swarmed with fish, and consequently 

 attracted to its waters an incredible variety 

 and number of fish-eating reptiles of those 





^ ' 



THE LUCERNARIAN. 



Various phases of activity are here shown 

 Liicernarian can swim rapidly, it can only crawl slowly 

 chiefly occupied in throwing out its tentacles for food. 



; for though th 



and 



