Marvels of the Universe 



573 



our estuaries), has a striking arrangement of teeth 

 The teeth are harmless to other molluscs ; but 

 the shell is cordiallj' hated bj? oyster-growers, as 

 it is exceedingh- prolific and crowds out the baby 

 oysters. 



A somewhat similar set of teeth is shown by 

 the Tritons. The one figured is from a Cape Verde 

 Island species. 



These are but a few e.xamples of the w'onderful 

 beauty and variety of molluscan tongues and 

 teeth. 



FOSSIL SEA-SERPENTS 



BY W. P. PYCR.-\FT, F.Z.S. 



Despite the fact that the Mosasaurus represents 

 the head of a most interesting and distinguished 

 family of reptiles which have long since had their 

 day and ceased to be, no one of them has, until 

 recenth^ received what we may call public recog- 

 nition, though savants have written much and 

 speculated much about them since 1770, when 

 the " head of the house " was brought to light. 

 The\- have been thrust into the shadow by those 

 old sea-dragons, the Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs, 

 whose remains are so much more common in 

 museums, and have accordingly attracted so much 

 more attention. Yet the Mosasaurs, as we may 

 call the family collectively, are a most interesting 

 tribe, and lose nothing b}' comparison with their 

 more famous rivals. 



The first indication of their existence was 

 obtained when some workmen, blasting the rock in 

 one of the caverns near Maestricht, in the valley 

 of the Meuse, exposed a pair of huge jaws, armed 

 with formidable teeth. They were not long in 

 conveying the news of their discovery to Herr 

 Hoffmann, a Dutch mihtary surgeon attached to 

 a neighbouring fort, and known to be interested 

 in such " curiosities." After laborious weeks he suc- 

 ceeded in detaching these remains, and the marvel 

 thereof soon spread. His house was besieged by 

 the curious. In a httle while the canon of the 

 neighbouring cathedral, marking the excitement, 

 claimed the bones as his own, as lord of the manor, 

 and bore them off in triumph to the cathedral, 

 and poor Hoffmann died without regaining his prize. 

 But time brings its revenges. In due course came 

 the -French Revolution, and the armies of the 



The Volutes have a very simple tongue, merely one 

 row of three-poinled teeth. 



The delicate toolh-coils of the Glass-snail. 







noun h,i\ V- E- Cooper. 



The fine teelh of the Worm-eatins Slug already 

 described in these pages. 



