SEA-SERPENTS. 
137 
consisted of one hundred and thirty-one vertebrae, of which ninety- 
seven belonged to the tail. The total length of the skeleton is 
Fig. 37. — Skull of Mosasaurtis Hoffmanni. The original is 4I ft. by 2| ft. 
estimated at twenty-four feet, and the head was about one-sixth 
ot the total length. The tail is only ten feet long, whereas in a 
2 
1 
Fig. 38. — Teeth of Mosasaurus (half natural size), i®, 2% transverse 
sections of the teeth. 
crocodile the tail exceeds the length of the body. Although in 
his day the limbs of the Mosasaurus were imperfectly known, 
Cuvier rightly considered them to be adapted for swimming, and, 
