THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
165 
trees, while at the same time they had the faculty of climbing along rocks and 
cliffs, assisting themselves with their feet and fingers like our modern bats and 
lizards.” 
“ The most striking peculiarity of this animal,” says Dr. Hoefer, “ is the 
curious assemblage of vigorous wings, joined to a reptile’s body; the imagina¬ 
tion of poets alone has hitherto framed anything resembling it. Hence the 
description of those dragons which fable represents to us as having, in the early 
ages of the world, disputed with man the sovereignty of the earth, and whose 
destruction was one of the 
glorious attributes of the 
mythic heroes, gods and 
demigods.” 
There was one other 
monster which I must not 
omit to mention, since 
its importance among the 
antediluvian inhabitants 
of the deep can hardly 
be over-estimated. I refer to the Teleosaurus , or perfect lizard, teleo being 
the Greek word for complete, perfect. The plesiosaurus and ichthyosaurus were 
destitute of scaly covering, but the teleosaurus was clothed with an adamantine 
coat of mail, which would have been impervious to the heaviest rifle-ball 
of to-day. It was also armed with tremendous teeth, and its massive jaws, 
which it could open to a distance of six feet, made it capable of swallow¬ 
ing the largest ox. This fearful animal was thirty feet in length, and is 
supposed to have been the most destructive monster of the mighty deep. 
Another saurian known as the Dicynodon (from the Greek meaning “two 
tusks”) was formerly a habitant of African regions, the fossil remains of one 
having been found by Mr. Bain, in that country, in 1845. The skull of this 
creature presented characteristics alike common to the crocodile, tortoise and 
lizard, while the teeth were clearly those of a mammal. The lower jaw 
was remarkably tortoise-like, carrying the resemblance even to having the 
anterior part sheathed with horn. In size it was equal to a walrus, 
and like the walrus was armed with two tusks growing downward, which 
it probably used to dig up roots of water plants upon which it no doubt 
fed, as the teeth indicate that it was both a vegetable and flesh-eating 
animal. The Belodon was another creature of appalling aspect, representing 
