MONSTERS OF THE PAST.

Otago Witness, Volume 30, Issue 2353, 30 March 1899, Page 55

MONSTERS OF THE PAST.

The lias is an English provincial name given to an argillaceous limestone which, with marl and clay, forms the base of the Jurassic formation. Zoophytes, mgllusca, and fishes of a peculiar organisation, and reptiles of an extraordinary size and structure are found in the lias clay. Cuvier exclaimed, when the drawings of the Plesiosaurus were sent him, "Truly, this is altogether the most monstrous animal that has yet been dug out of the ruins of a foimer world!" The Plesiosaurus belongs, as its name indicates, to the lizard family. A description of this animal reads as follows: "The Plesiosaurus was a marine, air-breathing, carnivorous reptile, combining the characters of Hie head of a lizard, the teeth of a crocodile, a neck of excessive length, resembling that of a swan, the ribs of a chameleon, a body of moderate size, a very short tail, arid, finally, four paddles, like those of a whale. Its enormous long neck comprises a greater number of vertebrae than the neck of either the camel, the giraffe, or even the swan. The body is cylindrical and rounded, like that of the great marine turtles. It was, doubtless, naked — i.e., not protected with the scales or carapace with which some authors have invested it, for no traces of such coverings have been found neai any of the skeletons which have been hitherto discovered."

In England, in the quarries of Lyme Regis, have been found numerous remains of the Ichthyosaurus, another marine monster of- ancient times. We are told that *'in 1811 a country girl, who made her precarious living by picking up fossils, for which the neighbourhood was famous, was pursuing her avocation, hammer in hand, •when she p?rceived some bones projecting a little out of the cliff." These bones, when they were carefully excavated, proved to be those of " a monstei some 30ft long, with jaws nearly a fathom in length, and huge saucer-eyes", which have since been found so perfect that the petrified lenses have been split off and used as magnifiers." This was the complete skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus. These dragons of the sea had jaws Bft in length and 160 teeth. Whenever a tooth wa-s lost in the monster's head by contests Yrith other animals or in any other manner, nature soon replaced it; for at the inner side of the base of every old tooth there ia the bony germ of a new one. The eyes of this monster were larger than those of any animal now living, their size frequently exceeding that of the human head, and were an optical apparatus of wonderful pewer and singular perfection, capable of performing the office of microscope and telescope at pleasure. Its food was fish and smaller individuals of its own race, which it swallowed without masticating. It was essentially' voracious and destructive.

The Pterodactyl was a still more wonderful creature of this period. In size and general forjn, and in the character of its .■wings, this genus resembled our modern bat and vampires, but it had a beak elongated like -the bill- of a woodcock, and armed with teeth like the snout of a crocodile ; its vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, legs, and feet resembled those of a lizard, while it was partly covered with naked skin. "It was, in short," says a writer, " a monstei resembling nothing that has ever been heard of upon earth except the dragons of romance and heraldry. With flocks of such-liko creatures flying in the air, and shoale of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri swarming in the ocean, and gigantic crocodiles and tortoises crawling on the shores of primeval lakes and rivers, air, sea, and land must have been strangely tenanted in these early periods of our infant world."

The vegetation of the Jurassic period ■was peculiarly rich and abundant. The tree ferns of the carboniferous period had lost their enormous dimensions, but were still beautiful in form. The Cycads nowappeared for the first time, and seem to be forerunners of the palms, which appeared in the next epoch. In the next, or Oolitic sub-period, mammals began to make frequent appearances*. Hitherto, they had been limited to a single species. These early mammals exhibited the peculiar characteristic of the kangaroo and the opossum, in that the young were transferred in a half-developed state to an external pouch upon the abdomen of the mother, and there regained until they had become perfected. During the Oolitic period bees, butterflies, and dragon flies appear on earth for the first-time. The Ceteosaurus, the bones of ■which have been discovered in England, was a species ot crocodile, and probably the largest creature that evet walked upon the earth. We are told by a modern Avriter that " a full-grown Ceteosaurus must have been at least 50ft long, 10ft high, and of proportionate "bulk. In its habits it was probably a marsh-loving or riverside animal." and was not apparently carnivorous, ■which was certainly a- great blessing to the fitoftiter animals wish which it was sur-

rounded. The Ramphorynchus was a creature similar to the Pterodactyl, already described, except that it had a very long tail. The Teleosaurus was another formi-dable-looking reptile, about 30ft in length, resembling a crocodile, and coated with a cuirass both on the back and belly. Corals appear in great abundance during this epoch. In the last formation of the Jurassic period we notice the first bird — the remains of a bird, with feet and feathers, having been discovered, but without a head. — Extract from "In the Beginning," in the Argosy.