72 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
the same species as the one that encloses them, and with the 
head pointing in one direction. Such specimens are most 
probably the fossilised remains of little fish-lizards, that were 
yet unborn when their mothers met with an untimely end. 
In some cases, however, they may be young ones that were 
swallowed. 
The jaws of these hungry formidable monsters were provided 
with a series of formidable teeth — sometimes over two hundred 
in number — inserted in a long groove, and not in distinct 
sockets, as in the case of crocodiles. In some cases, sixty or 
more have been found on each side of the upper and lower jaws, 
giving a total of over two hundred and forty teeth ! The larger 
teeth may be two inches or more in length. 
The jaws were admirably constructed on a plan that combined 
lightness, elasticity, and strength. Instead of consisting of one 
piece only, they show a union of plates of bone, as in recent 
crocodiles. These plates are strongest and most numerous just 
where the greatest strength was wanted, and thinner and fewer 
towards the extremities of the jaw. A crocodile. Sir Samuel 
Baker says, in his Wild Beasts and their Ways, can bite a man 
in two ; and no doubt our fish-lizard would have been glad to 
perform the same feat ! But in his pre- Adamite days the oppor- 
tunity did not present itself. 
The spinal column, or backbone, with its generally concave 
vertebrae, must have been highly flexible, as is that of a fish, 
especially the long tail which the creature worked rapidly from 
side to side as it lashed the waters. 
Our description of the fish-lizard has, we trust, been sufficient — 
although not couched in the language used by men of science — to 
give a fair idea of its structure and habits. 
In conclusion, a few words may be said about the ancestry and 
