62 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
whom we have already alluded. But England had its share of I 
illustrious men, too, though lesser lights compared to the founder | 
of comparative anatomy, — such as Sir Kichard Owen, on whom ' 
the mantle of his friend Cuvier has fallen; Conybeare, De la 
Beche, Dean Buckland, and Huxley. 
These scientific men, aided by the untiring labours of many 
enthusiastic collectors of organic remains, have been the means 
of solving the riddle of the fish-lizard, and of introducing him to 
the public. By this time there is, perhaps, no creature among 
the host of Antediluvian types better known than this reptile. 
The remains of fish-lizards have attracted the attention of 
collectors and describers of fossils for nearly two centuries past. 
The vertebrae, or cup-bones,” as they are often called, of which 
the spinal column was composed, were figured by Scheuchzer, J 
in an old work entitled Querdce Piscium ; and, at that time, | 
they were supposed to be the vertebrae of fishes. In the year ; 
1814 Sir Everard Home described the fossil remains of this | 
creature, in a paper read before the Eoyal Society, and published | 
in their Philosojphical Transactions, This fossil was first discovered 
in the Lias strata of the Dorsetshire coast. Other papers followed 
till the year 1820. We are chiefly indebted to De la Beche and 
Conybeare for pointing out and illustrating the nature of the fish- 
lizard ; and that at a time when the materials for so doing were 
far more scanty than they are now. Mr. Charles Konig, Mr. | 
Thomas Hawkins, Dean Buckland, Sir Philip Egerton, and Pro- 
fessor Owen have all helped to throw light on the structure and | 
habits of these old tyrants of the seas of that age, which is known | 
as the Jurassic period. They lived on, however, to the succeeding I 
or Cretaceous period, during which our English chalk was forming ; 
but the Liassic age was the one in which they flourished most 
abundantly, and developed the greatest variety. 
