THE GREAT FISH-LIZARDS. 
41 
find. In this way he finally obtained the co-operation of all the 
quarry men in the county. 
Mr. Hawkins thus expresses his delight on obtaining an 
Ichthyosaurus which was pointed out to him by Miss Anning, 
near the church at Lyme-Regis, in the year 1832: “Who can 
describe my transport at the sight of the colossus? My eyes the 
first which beheld it ! Who shall ever see them lit up with the 
same unmitigated enthusiasm again ? And I verily believe that 
the uncultivated bosoms of the working men were seized with the 
same contagious feeling ; for they and the surrounding spectators 
waved their hats to an ‘ Hurra ! ’ that made hill and mossy dell 
echoing ring.” 
This specimen, however, got sadly broken in its fall from the 
cliff ; but in time he put all the pieces together again. Speaking 
of his own collection, he says, “ This stupendous treasure was 
gathered by me from every part of England ; arranged, and its 
multifarious features elaborated from the hard limestone by my 
own hands. A tyro in collecting at the age of twelve years, I 
then boasted of all the antiquities that were come-at-able in my 
neighbourhood, but, finding that everybody beat my cabinet of 
coins, I addressed myself to worm-eaten books, and last to 
fossils.” Before he was twenty years of age he had obtained a 
very fine collection of organic remains. 
When, however, he complains of the Philistine dulness and 
stupidity of quarrymen, who often, in their ignorance, break up 
finds of almost priceless value, we can fully sympathize. 
In general contour the body of the fish-lizard was long and 
tapering, like that of a whale (see Plate II.). It probably showed 
no distinct neck. The long tail was its chief organ of propulsion. 
I We notice two pairs of fins, or paddles ; one on the fore part of 
the body, the other on the hinder part, like the pectoral and 
abdominal fins of a fish. The skin was scaleless and smooth, or 
slightly wrinkled, like that of a whale. No traces of scales have 
ever been found ; and if such had existed, they would certainly 
