CHAPTER III. 
THE GREAT FISH-LIZARDS. 
“ Berossus, the Chaldgean saith : A time was when the universe was dark- 
ness and water, wherein certain animals of frightful and compound forms were 
generated. There were serpents and other creatures with the mixed shapes of 
one another, of which pictures are kept in the temple of Belus at Babylon. ” — 
The Archaic Genesis. 
Visitors to Sydenham, who have wandered about the spacious 
gardens so skilfully laid out by the late Sir Joseph Paxton, will 
be familiar with the great models of extinct animals on the 
“geological island.” These were designed and executed by that 
clever artist, Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, who made praiseworthy 
efforts to picture to our eyes some of the world’s lost creations, as 
restored by the genius of Sir Richard Owen and other famous 
naturalists. His drawings of extinct animals may yet be seen 
hanging on the walls of some of our provincial museums ; and 
doubtless others still linger among the natural history collections 
of schools and colleges. 
Lazily basking in the sun, when it condescends to shine, and 
resting his clumsy carcase on the ground that forms the shore 
near the said geological island at Sydenham, may be seen the old 
fish-lizard, or Ichthyosaurus, that forms the subject of the present 
chapter. He looks awkward on land, as if longing to get into his 
native element once more, and cleave its waters with his power- 
ful tail-fin. His “flippers” seem too weak to enable him to crawl 
on land. Moreover, the most recent discoveries of Dr. Fraas 
