Chapter XX: Part II: Reptilia (8)

These crocodiles dig long subterranean passages of 30 to 40 feet in length; the passage opens in the bank below the level of the water, and gradually ascending ends in a somewhat wider compartment, which allows the creature to turn round. Two or three air-holes are pierced through the ceiling of the burrow, in which bones and other remains of food are often found, so that the natives' belief, that the crocodiles retire into these chambers in order to devour their prey in undisturbed secrecy, appears very probable. When suddenly disturbed or frightened they take to these lairs, and since their position is clearly marked by the air-holes, the natives block the passage and then dig the animal out from above.

Eggs are laid, in Madagascar, from the end of August to the end of September; the number of one set varies from twenty to thirty. They are deposited in a nest. This is in the ground, mostly in white sand, and consists of a hollow 18 inches to 2 feet deep. The walls are rather vertical, but near the bottom they are undermined, and here the eggs are placed. The centre of the pit being somewhat higher, the eggs roll by themselves into the undermined peripheral region. The laying takes place {464}during the night, mostly a little before daybreak. After one half of the eggs has been laid, they are covered up with sand, whereupon the other half is deposited. Then the hole is completely filled up and no visible traces are left behind; but the mother sleeps upon the nest and thus leads to its discovery. The position of the nest is so chosen that it cannot be reached by moisture from below; the eggs are most susceptible to moisture, a very slight amount of which causes them to turn bad.

The shape of the eggs of one and the same clutch varies much, some being elliptical, others cylindrical with rounded off ends. Their size varies from 5.5 to 9 cm. in length, and 4 to 5 cm. in width. The shell is white and glossy, thick and hard, either roughly granular or smooth. They are hatched in about twelve weeks.

Voeltzkow feels certain that the mother returns to the nest at the proper time in order to dig the young ones out and to conduct them to the water. To test this story he had a nest surrounded with a fence; the mother returned several times and partly destroyed the fence, which was then replaced by a stronger one. One day, when the young had been hatched, the nest was found to be filled with sand, the shells and one dead little crocodile being at the bottom of the hole. The mother had dug a deep ditch below the fence, but had not succeeded in reaching the nest, although she had received and conducted her offspring away. As a rule, when the young are hatched, the sand and the shells are found to be scraped out of the nest. The mother is probably warned by the hiccough-like sound which the young emit while still within the unbroken shell. Voeltzkow heard them piping from the other end of his room, the eggs being covered with a layer of sand two feet high. The sounds were heard when he walked past the nest, or knocked against the box. Possibly the young hear the mother when she retires to the nest to sleep on it, and give her warning to remove the eggs out of the groove. However, they do not break the shell until several days later.

The hatching is not caused by the rainy season, since it took place a fortnight before the first showers. The "egg-tooth" of the newly hatched young is 0.5 to 0.75 mm. high, bicuspid, and acts like a borer or auger. It is still visible on the tip of the upper jaw, in front of the nose, when the creature is two weeks old. The {465}newly hatched crocodile is of an astonishing size, so that it is rather puzzling to understand how it was stowed away in the egg. For instance, an egg of 8 cm. length and 5 cm. width, sends forth a crocodile 28 cm. or 11 inches in length. Even at this early age they snap at the finger.

The egg is covered by a hard shell, within which is a thicker outer and a thinner inner membrane. The "white" is jelly-like, sometimes of a greenish tinge, and is so consistent that it will not flow. The yolk is round, and so large that it nearly reaches the shell-membrane in the short diameter. The yolk itself is surrounded by a very thin but strong membrane.

The embryo begins to develop long before the egg is laid. When laid the germ is about 4 mm. long and shows about twelve somites. The cephalic bend begins at the end of the second week, the tail grows longer and the embryo becomes curled up. At the end of the third week it measures 10 mm. in a straight line from brain to vent. The limbs begin to bud in the fourth week. With the sixth week the final shape begins to reveal itself, and is completed at the age of eight weeks; but a third month is necessary to ripen the embryo.

_C. cataphractus_ is the Common Crocodile of West Africa, from the Senegal to the Congo. In opposition to _C. niloticus_ it does not enter brackish water. It is easily recognised by the very slender snout, which rather resembles that of the Gavial; but the mandibular symphysis, although extending to the level of the eighth tooth, does not reach the splenial bones. The premaxillo-maxillary suture on the palate is not transverse, but extends backwards. In conformity with the length of the snout the maxillaries meet in the dorso-medial line behind the nasal opening, thus excluding the nasals from the latter. The nuchal scutes consist of two large pairs, almost in contact with the dorsals, six of which form the principal longitudinal rows. The gular and ventral scutes ossify in the adult, hence the specific name. The fingers and toes are slightly webbed. General colour above, dark olive-brown; yellowish below. The young are olive with large black spots.

The natives of the Lower Congo catch the crocodiles with two pointed sticks tied together cross-wise, surrounded with entrails by way of a bait. The whole is fastened to a pole or a strong rope and thrown into the river; and a narrow line, with a float {466}attached to the cross-sticks, indicates the whereabouts of the crocodile when it has taken the bait and has sunk to the bottom.

_C. johnstoni_, of Northern Australia and Northern Queensland, and _C. intermedius_, of the Orinoko, are allied to _C. cataphractus_, at least so far as the configuration of the bones of the slender and long snout is concerned. The former is small, scarcely reaching the length of 7 feet, while the South American species grows to 13 feet.

_C. americanus_ s. _acutus_.–This species, which inhabits the West Indian Islands, being there the only representative of the order, occurs also in Florida, and extends through the warmer parts of Central America into Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. Its characteristic feature is a median ridge or swelling on the snout. The length and relative width of the latter varies considerably. The maxillaries sometimes meet dorsally, or they remain separated by the narrow nasals, which in this case reach the posterior corner of the nasal groove. The nuchal scutes vary likewise; there being often a smaller pair on the side of and another behind the four principal scutes, which, as usual, form a square. A transverse row of little suboccipital scutes is also common. Largest size about 12 feet long.

_Osteolaemus tetraspis_ s. _frontatus_.–The only species of this genus inhabits the rivers of the west coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to the Ogowai. It differs from _Crocodilus_ chiefly by the bony septum of the nasal groove, produced by forward extension of the nasal bones. The snout is rather short and stout; the upper surface very rugose and deeply pitted, but without ridges. The gular and ventral scutes are ossified, hence the generic name. Total length about 5 feet.

_Alligator._–The fourth mandibular tooth fits into a pit in {467}the upper jaw, and this pit is in some adult specimens transformed into a hole, the tip of the tooth appearing on the upper surface through the perforation. Most of the other teeth of the lower jaw are overlapped by those of the upper jaw. The number of teeth on either side amounts to seventeen to twenty in the upper and eighteen to twenty in the lower jaw. The nasal bones form not only the posterior border of the nasal groove, but they divide the latter by a median bony septum. The dorsal shield is formed by six or eight longitudinal series of keeled bony scutes, which, although standing close together, do not articulate with each other. Ossification of the gular and ventral scutes is absent or very slight.

Alligators occur in the fluviatile deposits of the age of the Upper Chalk in Europe, where they did not die out until the Pliocene age; they are now restricted to two species, one in the Southern States of North America, the other in China.

_A. mississippiensis._–The much-depressed and broadly rounded snout bears some resemblance to that of a pike, hence the now discarded specific name of _lucius_. The neck is protected by two pairs of large scutes, which form a square, interrupted in the middle line, with a pair of small scutes in front and another behind. Of the eighteen transverse dorsal rows of scutes eight are broad and prominent. The fingers are about half webbed, the outer toes about two-thirds webbed. The general colour is greenish black or dark brown above, yellowish below. Young specimens have yellowish cross-bands on a darker brown ground.

The Alligator's northern limit is the mouth of the river Neuss in North Carolina, 35° N. lat. From this point they abound near the mouths of all the creeks and rivers as far south as the Rio Grande, ascending the Mississippi to the entrance of the Red River in 33° 50' N. lat.

The habits and the embryology of the American Alligator have been described by S. F. Clarke,[143] who gives the following vivid and minute account:–

"Usually one finds them in the waters of the smaller streams and ponds, lying with only the tip of the nose and the eyes exposed, or lying on an exposed place on the bank where the grass and other plants are beaten down, and the black, rich mud of the river bank is smoothed by the repeated movements of the {468}alligators in climbing up and down. There they bask in the sunlight until disturbed by the hunter or the desire for food. When aroused they make for the bottom, and I have never waited long enough to see one return unless he were vigorously stimulated with a long pole. They frequently dig a cave for themselves in the bottom of the pond or stream, or in the bank beneath the water. Oftentimes one can start them out of the cave by using a pole, but if very obstinate, the hunters dig them out with spades.

"As the water decreases in the streams and ponds with the summer heat, the alligators travel to the larger bodies of water. {469}During the breeding season, from the end of May to the beginning of July, the males are very active, wandering about to various ponds and rivers in search of the females. Fierce battles are said to take place during this time between the excited males; and the mutilated specimens that one sees are weighty evidence for the truth of this assertion.... It is in the breeding season also that their bellowing is mostly heard, and more in the night than during the day. I have frequently heard them, while lying in the swamps at night, when they were in ponds fully a mile distant.

"The largest specimen I saw measured 12 feet in length; and none of the many hunters and other natives of Florida I have met have seen any longer than 13 feet. All the hunters agree that it is only the males that acquire the great size; no one had ever seen a female that measured over 8 feet, and the majority are not over seven.

"The male has a heavier, more powerful head, and during the breeding season especially is more brilliantly coloured. The more brilliant colour occurs in patches and streaks on the sides of the head and body; it is generally a light yellow, or even whitish, and on one large male I saw a fairly bright red spot over each eye.

"The alligators are rapidly diminishing in numbers under the stimulus of the high prices offered to the hunters for their hides. Both Whites and Indians make increasing war upon them. Several thousand skins were brought into the little station of Fort Pierce in 1890. The pioneers and settlers always destroy the nests and eggs, because the alligators eat their pigs; and the cleaned eggs and young alligators are sold by hundreds in the curio shops farther north. As their numbers diminish in Florida it is noticed that the Moccasin snakes increase. In Louisiana also the alligators are disappearing; and there the musk-rats are at the same time increasing, and are doing much damage by burrowing in the levees along the Mississippi. While the alligator can make a very stout fight, I have never seen one offer fight if there was any chance of retreat. They never offered to molest us, even when we waded through the ponds where they were.

"The nest of the alligator is very large, and is built by the female. A great quantity of dead leaves and twigs, together with {470}much of the finely divided humus underlying them, is scraped together into a low mound about 3 feet high; this varies considerably in its other dimensions, being in some instances 8 feet in diameter at the base. The nests are built on the bank of a stream or pool, and the female digs a cave under water in the bank close to the nest. Careful examination, of the largest nest found showed a root of a neighbouring palmetto-tree, nearly an inch in diameter, running through it at about a foot above the ground; there were also roots of a grape vine growing near, which extended nearly through the nest. This furnishes strong support to the statement of many of the hunters, that the nests are used for more than one season. I could get no evidence whatever that the nests are used more than once a year.

"The eggs are laid near the top of the nest, within 8 inches of the surface, are four or five layers deep, and have no regular arrangement or uniform position of their axes in relation to the nest. The number of eggs to a nest varies from twenty to thirty, and averages twenty-eight; the maximum found was forty-seven.

The eggs are white, elliptical, and vary in length from 50 to 90 mm. or 2 to 3½ inches, and in the shorter diameter from 28 to 45 mm. Generally there is only slight variation in the eggs of one nest, but occasionally a nest is found in which most of the eggs are about the average size, while from two to five are very much smaller.

"The shell is much rougher than that of a hen's egg, and much thicker. The shell membrane consists of an outer and an inner layer, in both of which the fibres are arranged spirally about the egg, but at right angles to one another.

"The white of the egg has the consistency of a very thick jelly, is very clear and transparent, and is so firm that the whole egg, when perfectly fresh, may be turned out of the shell and shell membrane, and transferred from one hand to the other without breaking, and with but slight change of form. The white lies mostly at either end of the shell, but extends also in a thin layer between the yolk and the sides of the shell. The yolk holds a median position in the egg, is spherical, of a very light pale yellow, and so large that it almost touches the shell membrane about the midline."

According to Holbrook the young as soon as they are disengaged from the shell seek the water and shift for themselves, {471}the parents taking no care of them, though they may remain for some weeks in the same locality. In the spring and early summer months, and during the time of incubation, and especially on cloudy days or in the evening, alligators make a great noise; their croak is not unlike that of the bullfrog, but louder and less prolonged. On the approach of winter they select holes in the ground, where they remain torpid until spring. In this state of hibernation many are dug out by the negroes, who esteem the tail as an article of food.

_A. sinensis_.–The first intimation of the existence of a Crocodilian in the Yang-tse-kiang was made by Swinhoe in 1870, but it was not until nine years later that Fauvel[144] described the creature as _A. sinensis_. The same gentleman gave also an exhaustive account of the former records of this species in Chinese literature. According to Boulenger its nearest ally is _A. mississippiensis_, but it approaches the Caimans by the presence of ossifications in the ventral shields, which ossifications are, however, wide apart from each other. There are three pairs of large nuchal scutes in contact in the median line, besides smaller scutes in front of the nuchals and behind the occiput. The dorsal shield contains six rows of larger scutes. The fingers are not webbed. The general colour is greenish black above, speckled with yellow; greyish below. Total length only about six feet.

_Caiman_.–The five species of this genus, confined to Central America or to the East Andesian parts of South America, resemble the Alligators in most features, but differ from them in the following points. The nasals, although bordering the nasal groove, do not form a bony nasal septum. The supratemporal fossae are very small; or closed up, as in _C. trigonatus_ and _C. palpebrosus_ of Guiana. The ventral armour is composed of overlapping bony scutes, each of which is formed of two parts united by a suture.

_C. sclerops_ has the widest distribution, from Southern Mexico to the northern half of Argentina. The upper eyelid is rugose, although only incompletely ossified, and is often more or less produced into a small horn. _C. niger_ has flat upper eyelids.

According to Bates, Caimans exist in myriads in the waters of the Upper Amazons. One species, _C. trigonatus_, the _Jacaré-tinga_ {472}of the natives, reaches only six feet in length and has a slender muzzle and a black-banded tail. Another species, _C. niger_, the _Jacaré-nassu_ or large Caiman, attains an enormous bulk and a length of 20 feet. They migrate annually, retreating to the flooded forests in the wet season and descending to the main rivers in the dry season.

{473}CHAPTER XI

PLESIOSAURIA–ICHTHYOSAURIA–PTEROSAURIA–PYTHONOMORPHA

_SUB-CLASS VII.–PLESIOSAURIA._

_Mesozoic aquatic reptiles, with two pairs of pentadactyle limbs, firmly
fixed quadrate bones, single temporal arches, numerous alveolar teeth,
and ribs which articulate only with the centra of the biconcave
vertebrae._

The Plesiosauria comprise the Mesosauri, Nothosauri, and Plesiosauri in an ascending order of development, which concerns especially the changes from a semi-terrestrial to an absolutely aquatic life;–elongation of the neck with corresponding shortening of the tail, and the gradual transformation of the limbs into hyperphalangeal paddles.

The skull varies considerably in length. Seen from above it shows the nostrils, orbits, very large supratemporal foramina, and the interparietal hole. The nostrils lie rather far back, in front of the orbits, between the elongated premaxillaries, short nasals, and the usually large maxillaries. The orbits are rather small, bordered behind by the postfrontals and postorbitals, which two bones fuse together in the Plesiosauri. The temporal bridge is long, and is formed by the junction of the two bones just mentioned with the squamosal mass, which overlaps the greater portion of the quadrate, and perhaps contains the quadrato-jugal. The dorsal branch of the squamosal joins a corresponding diverging branch of the parietal, and completely shuts off the posterior region of the supratemporal foramen. The interparietal hole is small and placed far back. The palate possesses a row of teeth on the pterygoids in _Lariosaurus_. The choanae open separately between the vomers and maxillaries. The pterygoids are very long; posteriorly they join the quadrates, anteriorly they extend {474}right up to the vomers, separating the palatines from each other thereby. Palatal vacuities are absent in _Nothosaurus_; small and oval, between the palatines, pterygoids, ectopterygoids and maxillaries in _Lariosaurus_; still smaller in the Plesiosauri.

The vertebrae are mostly biconcave, in the Triassic genera still perforated by the chorda, while in many Plesiosauri the centra are solid, with almost plane articulating surfaces. The neural arches are usually firmly sutured, or quite fused with the centra. Intercentra are absent, except as chevrons in the tail. Although the cervical and some of the thoracic ribs of the Triassic genera have typical capitula and tubercula, they articulate exclusively upon the centra, and not upon the neural arches also. The number of cervical vertebrae amounts to nine in _Mesosaurus_; in _Lariosaurus_ it is increased to about twenty; and in some Plesiosauri to between thirty and forty. The cervical ribs are very short, but they increase gradually towards the thorax, which is well protected by long and strong ribs, which decrease again very gradually, being still long in the lumbar region. There is, properly speaking, no sacrum, because the one to four sacral ribs remain quite separate. The tail is still long in _Lariosaurus_, consisting of about forty much shortened vertebrae; considerably shorter than the neck in most of the Plesiosauri. A sternum is absent, but the belly is protected by many strong abdominal ribs, crowded together, and consisting each of a median and two pairs of lateral pieces.

The shoulder-girdle is very strong, composed of scapulae, very strong coracoids, clavicles, and an interclavicle. The precoracoids are indicated by a process and a notch in the Triassic genera; in the later forms they are abolished. The coracoids always meet in the median line, and often produce a strong symphysis. The scapulae possess a very prominent and large acromial process, upon which rest the dorsal or lateral ends of the clavicles. In some Plesiosauri the shoulder-girdle has undergone an absolutely unique modification. The correct interpretation has been given by C. W. Andrews after the examination of exquisitely preserved specimens of _Cryptoclidus_ from the Oxford clay of the Middle Oolite, near Peterborough. The dorsal portion or main shaft of the scapula is reduced to what now looks like a dorso-lateral process, while the broad acromial process is much elongated, and lies in _Plesiosaurus_ upon the {475}ventral surface of the clavicle; the latter and the irregularly T-shaped interclavicle being, however, still visible from below. In _Cryptoclidus_ the two acromial processes meet each other and form a long ventral symphysis, which meets that of the much-enlarged coracoids, the latter enclosing with the scapulae a pair of roundish foramina. The clavicles are not visible from below; they rest upon the dorsal surface of the scapular symphysis, and the interclavicle seems to be suppressed. Young _Cryptoclidus_ (Fig. 113, B) and various species of _Plesiosaurus_ show intermediate conditions.

This unique arrangement is correlated with the enormous development of the fore-limbs, although nothing of the kind has taken place in the Ichthyosauri, which have similar large paddles. The limbs exhibit considerable differences in the various groups of Plesiosauria, but they are all pentadactyle. In the oldest, the Mesosauri and Nothosauri, the limbs are still of the terrestrial type, although fitted for swimming; the chief bones are still slender and elongated, and none of the five fingers and toes have more than five phalanges, the usual number of which seems to be 2, 3, 4, 5, 3 for the first to fifth digits respectively. In the Plesiosauri the limbs are transformed into long hyperphalangeal paddles, unfit for progression on land, rather like those of the Ichthyosauria, with much {476}shortened radius and ulna, tibia and fibula; but the phalanges, which increase to about ten, are always longer than broad, and there is no indication of an increase of the number of fingers, or of additional, lateral, phalanx-like nodules. The pelvis is very strong; the broad pubes and ischia meet in the middle line, and they either enclose one wide undivided foramen, or the two symphysial portions meet, and there are then two obturator-foramina. The pubes are generally much larger, especially broader, than the ischia; and although partaking in the formation of the acetabulum, they do not articulate with the ilia, at least not in Plesiosauri. The ilia are always small; in Plesiosauri attached to only one or two sacral ribs; to three or four in the Triassic genera.

Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri were combined as "Enaliosauria" by Conybeare. Owen recognised their fundamental differences, and separated them as "Ichthyopterygia" and "Sauropterygia," according to the structure of the limbs. We now know that the paddles of the Ichthyosauri bear but a superficial resemblance to the fins of fishes, and are fundamentally referable to the pentadactyle type, as are the paddles of the Plesiosauri, although the latter retain more of the typical features of reptilian limbs. It was soon recognised that the Nothosauri are allied to the Plesiosauri, but the Mesosauri (until then vaguely grouped with the Rhynchocephalia, or linked with Protorosauri as Proganosauria) have only recently[145] received their proper place in the system as members of the Plesiosauria, which we divide into two main groups.

ORDER I. NOTHOSAURI.[146]

The limbs are of the terrestrial type; the five digits have the usual number of phalanges, which do not exceed five. The bones of the limbs are slender; the humerus has an entepicondylar foramen.

FAM. 1. MESOSAURIDAE.–The neck contains about ten vertebrae. The vertebrae are deeply biconcave, perforated by the chorda dorsalis. Sacral vertebrae four in number. Clavicles strong; interclavicle very small. _Mesosaurus_, the only genus, with one species, _M. tenuidens_, about one foot in length, was found in {477}South Africa, probably in Triassic sandstone. Very similar specimens are known from São Paolo in Brazil.

FAM. 2. NOTHOSAURIDAE.–With sixteen to twenty-one cervical and three to five sacral vertebrae. The vertebrae are biconcave. The clavicles are strong; the interclavicle is much reduced. Coracoids with distinct acromial processes.

_Nothosaurus mirabilis_, of the Muschelkalk of Germany. Total length about ten feet. Length of head about one foot. The teeth are very irregular. About five slender, long teeth are implanted in each side of the premaxilla, with wide spaces between them, similar to those of the symphysial portion of the lower jaw. Those of the maxillaries are numerous and small, except two large pairs in the anterior portion, on a level between the orbits and nostrils. The upper and lower teeth overlap, or cross each other. The palate of the long and slender skull is quite bony, without anterior palatal or infra-orbital vacuities.

_Lariosaurus balsami_, about one foot in length, from the fresh-water deposits of the Upper Trias in Lombardy. Neck with about twenty, tail with about forty vertebrae. Head comparatively shorter; more triangular than in _Nothosaurus_; palate with small infra-orbital vacuities. The number of the phalanges of the fingers and toes is apparently 2, 3, 4, 4, 3 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 4.

_Anarosaurus pumilio_, of the Muschelkalk, near Magdeburg, and _Neusticosaurus_ and _Simosaurus_ of the same geological age, are allied forms.

ORDER II. PLESIOSAURI.

The limbs are transformed into hyperphalangeal paddles. The clavicles are small, and are overlapped ventrally by the strongly developed acromial processes of the scapulae. The vertebrae are slightly biconcave or plane. The neck consists of at least twenty vertebrae; those of the thoracic region have long transverse processes; the sacral vertebrae are mostly reduced to two or one. Very large, massive animals.

FAM. 1. PLIOSAURIDAE.–About twenty cervical vertebrae, with proximally bifurcated ribs. The scapulae do not meet ventrally; they enclose with the coracoids a single large foramen, and are fused with the clavicles. _Pliosaurus_, the principal genus, contains several species of gigantic size; for instance, _P. grandis_, of the Kimmeridge clay, Upper Oolite, of England, has a skull {478}nearly 5 feet long and 2 feet broad, armed with many enormous conical teeth, some of which reach one foot in length, inclusive of the long collar and root-portion. The neck is rather short, owing to the much condensed, disc-shaped centra of the vertebrae. Total length of this species about 30 feet. Other species in England and continental Europe as far as Russia.

FAM. 2. PLESIOSAURIDAE.–The neck is very long, and consists of from twenty-eight to forty vertebrae. The scapulae do not meet ventrally, but the symphysial portion of the coracoids meets the clavicles and the interclavicle, the pectoral arch thus enclosing two foramina. Chief genus _Plesiosaurus_, with many species. The head is comparatively small, the neck very long, the tail short, although consisting of from thirty to forty vertebrae. The third digit (Fig. 113, C) is the longest, and possesses nine or ten phalanges. The abdominal ribs are very strong, and reach from the pectoral to the pelvic girdle. Range from the Lower Trias to the Lower Oolite, chiefly European. _P. dolichodirus_ and _P. conybeari_, the latter reaching a total length of more than 15 feet, from the Lower Lias, especially at Lyme Regis.

FAM. 3. ELASMOSAURIDAE.–The neck is extremely long, possessing from thirty-five to seventy-two vertebrae, with single-headed, not bifurcated, ribs. The scapulae meet ventrally, and enclose with the very broad coracoids two foramina. The tail is short. The pisiform bone articulates with the humerus. Otherwise much resembling the Plesiosauridae. Principal genus _Cimoliasaurus_, with many synonyms, and many species from the Middle Oolite to the Upper Chalk; cosmopolitan distribution, e.g. _C. cantabrigiensis_, of the Greensand and Upper Chalk; _C. trochantericus_, of the Kimmeridge clay; _C. haasti_ in New Zealand; _C. australis_, _C. chilensis_; others in North America. _Cryptoclidus_ of the Middle and Upper Oolite of Europe. _Elasmosaurus_, of the Upper Cretaceous formation in Kansas, with a computed total length of 45 feet, of which 22 belong to the neck, with its seventy-two vertebrae.

_SUB-CLASS VIII.–ICHTHYOSAURIA._

_Marine, whale-shaped reptiles, with the anterior and posterior limbs
transformed into hyperphalangeal paddles. Restricted to the Mesozoic age
from the Trias to the Upper Chalk._

The skull is long, owing to the elongated slender snout, which {479}is formed mainly by the premaxillary bones. The nostrils lie far back, in front of the orbits, and are bordered by the long nasals, the premaxillaries, a small part of the maxillaries, and posteriorly by the large lacrymal bones. The eyes are large, and are strengthened by a sclerotic ring composed of many closely overlapping bones. The orbits are very large, and are directed sideways so as to be scarcely visible from above. They are formed above by the long prefrontals, which join the postfrontals; behind by the long postorbitals; below by the long and slender jugals; in front by the lacrymals and prefrontals. The postorbito-temporal region of the skull is short but high, and, with the exception of the supratemporal foramen, is entirely closed in by bones, namely, the quadrato-jugals, supratemporals, and squamosals. The latter, with the parietals and large postfrontals, surround the supratemporal foramina. The parietals and the small frontals enclose the parietal foramen. The whole temporal arch consequently recalls much that of the Pareiasauri and Stegocephali, chiefly owing to the presence of conspicuous supratemporal and postorbital bones, which, together with the quadrato-jugal, close in the whole side without any indication of a lateral or infratemporal foramen. The postorbital completely separates the jugal from the quadrato-jugal, and this almost hides the quadrate. The occipital condyle is single. The lateral occipitals and the supra-occipital bones retain their sutures. The pro-otic and opisthotic bones remain separate. The latter lie between the basi- and lateral occipitals, the squamosal, quadrate, and pterygoid. The pterygoids, which posteriorly touch the quadrato-jugals, basi-occipitals, opisthotics, and basisphenoid, are very long and remain widely separated from each other; in the space between them appears the long ensiform presphenoid. Anteriorly they are connected through the ectopterygoids with the maxillae, and touch the palatines. These are likewise narrow and slender, but touch each other in the middle line, and contain the well-separated, slit-like choanae, laterally to which lie the elongated, rather narrow, palatal vacuities. The vomers are mostly not visible; when they appear on the surface they are long and narrow, and enclose the choanae between them and the palatines.

The teeth are pointed, conical and thickly covered with enamel, which in transverse sections forms vertical ridges, recalling {480}the folds of the Labyrinthodonts. The teeth have open roots, and are not implanted in separate alveoli, but lie in long grooves of the premaxillaries, maxillaries, and dentals.

The vertebrae are numerous, up to 150, two-thirds of which belong to the tail. The centra are deeply biconcave and short, not co-ossified with the neural arches, which have therefore often broken loose. The atlas much resembles the other cervical vertebrae in so far as its centrum is concave in front and scarcely ankylosed with that of the second. Its basiventrals, equivalent to the ventral half of the atlas-ring of other reptiles, thus become an unpaired intercentral wedge, between the first centrum and the basis of the cranium; the neural arches rest upon the centrum, but remain separate from each other, or at least diverge dorsally. The atlas carries no ribs. Intercentra occur also between the second and third vertebrae; they reappear in the tail as chevron-bones. All the other vertebrae carry ribs, which gradually increase in length towards the trunk and decrease again equally gradually on the tail. In the neck and trunk they have separate capitula and tubercula, which articulate upon short knobs of the centra; towards the tail these shift farther and farther towards the ventral side, and ultimately unite. Although the ribs of the trunk are so long, there is no trace of a sternum, but there are many "abdominal ribs" crowded together, each consisting of a middle and a pair of lateral pieces.

The shoulder-girdle is very complete, but the pieces remain separate, or at least do not co-ossify; it consists of a T-shaped interclavicle, clavicles, broad coracoids touching each other in the middle line, and short scapulae. The existence of small separate precoracoids is doubtful. The pelvis is much reduced; the small ilium is quite unconnected with any vertebrae; the small pubes and ischia form no symphyses. The fore- and hind-limbs are very similar to each other; the posterior are, however, much smaller. Both are transformed into highly specialised paddles. It is of the greatest importance, as an indication that the Ichthyosauri are descendants of a terrestrial stock, and have been modified into what they are owing to having taken to marine life, that in the oldest members known, the paddle-like structure of the limbs was less advanced than in the later species. In _Mixosaurus_ of the Muschelkalk of Europe the ulna and radius are still distinctly longer than broad, and they enclose a space {481}between them. They articulate with three carpal bones, the ulnare, intermedium, and radiale, while a small pisiform bone lies on the outer side, between the ulnare and the outer distal carpal bone. In _Ichthyosaurus_, from the Liassic period onwards, the ulna and radius are much shortened, broader than long, and touch each other without any intervening space; the pisiform element is enlarged. Lastly, in _Ophthalmosaurus_ of the Middle Oolite (but not in contemporary species of _Ichthyosaurus_) the ulna and radius are still more reduced, and the pisiform has moved up to the humerus, so that the latter articulates with three bones.

Other important features of these paddles are not only the much-increased number of phalanges (sometimes up to twenty or more), but also the increase of digits to six or more, produced apparently by a splitting of the third finger into two series, and by the development of additional rows of phalanx-like bones on the outer and inner margins of the paddle. This increase of fingers exists, for instance, in _Ichthyosaurus communis_, but not in _I. tenuirostris_. Owing to this peculiar development of paddles the constituent bones are extremely numerous, and from the radius and ulna downwards they are all closely packed, and have assumed a polygonal, often hexagonal, shape, dwindling to more or {482}less flattened nodules towards the ends of the digits. These carpal and phalangeal bones are common objects in amateurs' collections; they fit together by the short angular facets, while the two flat and broader surfaces are those of the dorsal and ventral sides.

The Ichthyosaurs lived upon fishes and cuttlefish, as is indicated by their dentition and the shape of the snout, and proved by the coprolites, most of which are full of fragments of bones and ganoid scales of fishes, and of the beaks and shells of cuttlefish; the larger of these true coprolites (literally "petrified dung"), in coprolite-beds, contain also an abundance of other fossils, such as Ammonites, Terebratulae, molluscs and fish-remains; they are several inches long, and many of them show on the outside ring-like impressions, undoubtedly caused by a spiral valve of the intestinal canal. In conformity with their absolutely aquatic life the Ichthyosaurs were viviparous. Several well-preserved adult specimens have been found, which contain the skeletons of one or more rather large young within the body, in exactly the position in which such foetal creatures would lie, namely, with the head in the pelvic region of the mother, while the rest of the body stretches along the vertebral column towards the chest. The suggestion that these young Ichthyosaurs have been swallowed by their cannibal elders is too idle to require serious refutation.

Until within a few years Ichthyosaurs were always restored with a smooth and even back, but several well-preserved specimens have come to light in Würtemberg which show the complete contour of the animals, with a long, somewhat jagged fin on the middle of the back. Since then not a few specimens in various collections have on closer examination revealed the same feature, except, of course, those in which the outlines of the fin had been chiselled away in order to "improve" the look of the slab. The fins were undoubtedly of the "adipose" kind;–raised folds of the skin. The latter is now known to have been covered, at least at the bases of the dorsal fins, with hard little scales, probably osteoderms.

Many specimens are beautifully preserved, others present a very peculiar appearance. They look, namely, like long rolls of clay, and nobody but an expert would suspect an _Ichthyosaurus_ within such a log. The explanation is simple. The dead {483}creature was rolled about by the waves of the surf on the Liassic muddy beach until it was wrapped in a mantle of clay and then imbedded on the shore.

The distribution of Ichthyosaurs in time and space is wide. The earliest are found in the Middle Trias; in the Lias they are very common, fairly frequent in the Oolites, dying out with the Cretaceous epoch. They have left no descendants, being far too specialised, and their origin is quite unknown. _Mixosaurus_, the oldest genus, occurred in Europe, and has also been found in the Triassic strata of Spitsbergen. _Ichthyosaurus_, the chief genus, is known from the Liassic, Oolite, and Cretaceous strata of Europe, a famous place being Lyme Regis; and also from the Cretaceous strata of Queensland and New Zealand. The Jurassic of Wyoming has yielded _Baptanodon_.

ORDER ICHTHYOSAURI.

The few genera are easily recognised.

_Mixosaurus_, Triassic, with radius and ulna still elongated, a longitudinal space occurring between them. Both jaws with numerous uniform teeth.

_Ichthyosaurus_, with much shortened radius and ulna; both jaws with uniform series of teeth. Many species are known, some with four to five, others with several additional and incomplete rows of fingers and toes. _I. trigonodon_ of the Lias in Würtemberg seems to have reached the size of 30 feet, the vertebrae showing a diameter of 9 inches, while the skull is 6 feet long. _I. communis_ and _I. tenuirostris_ are common in the English Lias. The long-snouted _I. campylodon_, with large, spaced teeth, occurs in the Gault of Cambridge, Dover, and France; and {484}there are many others. _Ophthalmosaurus_, of the Upper Oolitic and Cretaceous formations of England, had very small vestigial teeth.

_Baptanodon_, of the Upper Jurassic epoch of Wyoming, was toothless, and was one of the six-toed forms.

_SUB-CLASS IX.–PTEROSAURIA._

_Mesozoic reptiles with fixed quadrate bones and with the anterior limbs
transformed into wings, the enormously elongated ulnar finger carrying a
patagium._

The skull bears a superficial resemblance to that of Birds. It articulates with the neck by a single condyle, at nearly a right angle. The interparietal foramen is absent, but there are five pairs of foramina on the surface of the skull, namely, the nostrils, orbits, supra- and infra-temporal and pre-orbital foramina. Most of the constituent bones of the cranium fuse with each other, and the composition of the various arches is therefore difficult to make out with certainty. The premaxillaries are fused together, and extend dorsally backwards between the nasals, which themselves diverge towards the prefrontals. The nostrils are bordered chiefly by the maxillaries, nasals, and prefrontals. The orbits are very large, mostly shut off in front from the pre-orbital foramina by a bridge, which is formed by descending processes of the prefrontals and ascending processes of the jugal. Above and behind, the orbits are bordered by the frontals, postfrontals, and possibly the quadrato-jugals. The whole temporal region is shortened from before backwards, but heightened dorso-ventrally, and the whole temporal fossa is divided into a supra- and infra-temporal portion by the junction of the postfrontal with the squamosal, the latter joining the parietal, thus closing the supratemporal fossa behind. This is conspicuous only in the older forms, e.g. _Dimorphodon_, but is very small in _Pterodactylus_, and quite abolished in _Pteranodon_. The infratemporal fossa is a narrow slit, slanting obliquely upwards and backwards, between the quadrate and the quadrato-jugal. A foramen of this kind occurs elsewhere only in the Rhynchocephalia. The quadrate is long, firmly fixed, and slants so far forwards that the mandibular joint lies on a level below the middle of the orbit. The pterygoids articulate with strong and long processes of the basisphenoid, touch the quadrate posteriorly, enclose an interpterygoid vacuity, {485}and extend forwards as slender bones to the vomer, separating the palatines. The choanae are enclosed by the vomer, palatines, and maxillaries, and they lie in dorsal recesses above the level of the roof of the mouth. The teeth are alveolar, pointed, of variable size, and restricted to the jaws; in the Pteranodonts they are absent.

The brain is known from the natural cast of _Scaphognathus_, and shows some remarkably bird-like features, especially the width of the hemispheres, which touch the well-developed cerebellum, while the optic lobes lie on the sides of the cerebellum, with a pair of appendices, the so-called flocculi, elsewhere known in birds only.

The caudal vertebrae are still amphicoelous, while the presacral vertebrae are procoelous. Abdominal ribs are few in number and are very thin. The true ribs possess capitula and tubercula; those of the neck are very short and directed backwards; in the thoracic region they are long, and some are attached to a broad sternum with a keel and a median anterior process, on the sides of which latter articulate the coracoids. Precoracoids and clavicles are absent. The scapulae are long, sabre-shaped, and turned back as in birds; in _Pteranodon_ they show the unique modification of articulating with special processes of the neural arches of several ankylosed thoracic vertebrae.

The hand possesses only four fingers; the four phalanges of the ulnar finger are very much elongated for the support of the patagium; the other fingers remain short and are provided with little claws. The ilia are expanded horizontally, and are firmly attached to from three to six vertebrae, which mostly fuse together into a sacrum. The ventral half of the pelvis consists of a pair of broad bones, which contain a small obturator-foramen; they form a ventral symphysis, and are usually fused with the ilium. These bones represent the conjoint ischia and pubes, while the so-called pubes, a pair of flat and club-shaped bones, are excluded {486}from the acetabulum. The whole arrangement resembles that of the Crocodilian pelvis. The hind-limbs are bird-like in so far as the fibulae are reduced to splints, and attached to the proximal halves of the long and slender tibiae. The feet contain five separate toes with rather long metatarsals and short claws. Many of the bones are hollow.

The Pterosauria have no relationship with the birds, in spite of the number of apparently striking resemblances (_e.g._ choanae, pre-orbital foramina, brain, scapula, fibula, cervical vertebrae), which are, however, coincidences, cases of convergence, in conformity with the aerial life. The totally different plan of the wings is sufficient to show this. On the other hand, the real affinities of this group of flying reptiles are unknown. They turn up "fully fledged" in the Lower Lias, and they reach their highest specialisation in the Upper Cretaceous epoch, with which they have died out. In fact we do not know any forms through which to connect them with other extinct reptiles. The skull shows some Rhynchocephalian features; the pelvis, Crocodilian features; and this combination points back a long way.

ORDER PTEROSAURI.

SUB-ORDER 1. PTERODACTYLI, with alveolar teeth in the upper and lower jaws. Imperfect remains, impressions of phalanges of the long patagial finger, are known from the Rhaetic of Würtemberg. The oldest well-known genus is _Dimorphodon_, Lower Lias of Lyme Regis. _D. macronyx._–Total length between 3 and 4 feet, of which the large light skull takes up about 9 inches, and the long thin tail about 2 feet. The patagial finger is about 20 inches, the whole wing about 28 inches long. _Rhamphorhynchus longicaudatus_ of the Upper Oolite of Germany is remarkable for the long slender teeth, which are directed forwards and separated by wide spaces from each other. The nine or ten cervical vertebrae are elongated. _R. phyllurus_ of the same geological age has left impressions of the flying membranes. They extend from the whole length of the wing and the sides of the trunk to the thigh as far as the knee, and from the inside of the hind-limbs to the tail. The end of the tail carries a spatulate membrane. Allied is _Ornithocheirus_, with many species in the English Wealden and Greensand. {487}_Pterodactylus_, with many species from the Upper Oolite, chiefly of Germany.–The tail is very short, consisting of a few vertebrae only. The seven neck-vertebrae are so much elongated that the neck is as long as the trunk with the tail. _P. longirostris_ measures about 1 foot in total length, while _P. spectabilis_ is one of the smallest, only of the size of a lark. The wings, however, measure 10 inches from tip to tip. The largest is _P. giganteus_, with a "spread" of more than 5 feet.

SUB-ORDER 2. PTERANODONTES.–The beak is long, pointed, toothless, and laterally compressed; mandibular symphysis very long. _Pteranodon longiceps._–The skull has a long parieto-supraoccipital crest, which extends far back. The supratemporal foramina are abolished. The pre-orbital and orbital foramina are confluent. The scapulae are attached to several thoracic vertebrae. The skull of this gigantic species has a length of two feet and a half, and the spread of the wings measures nearly 20 feet. This, and several much smaller species, are from the Middle Cretaceous formation of Kansas.

_SUB-CLASS X.–PYTHONOMORPHA._

_Very long-necked and long-bodied marine Cretaceous reptiles, with
movable quadrates, single lateral temporal arches and procoelous
vertebrae; with paddle-shaped, pentadactyle limbs; and with the teeth
ankylosed to the jaws._

The skull possesses many of the essential features of the typical lizards. The premaxillaries, frontals, and parietals are fused into unpaired bones. There is an interparietal foramen. {488}The nostrils are dorsal, bordered by the premaxillae, nasals, prefrontals, and maxillaries. The quadrato-jugal arch is incomplete, and the orbit is posteriorly confluent with the infratemporal fossa, but a supratemporal space is shut off by the single arch, which is composed of the postfrontal, squamosal, and supratemporal. The latter is interposed between, and connects the squamosal and quadrate with the latero-posterior branch of the parietal. There is a space between this parieto-squamosal arcade and the epi-otic, which is fused with the lateral wing of the lateral occipital bone. The foramen magnum is bordered by the two supra-occipital, lateral occipital, and the unpaired basioccipital bones; the condyle is triple. The quadrate is movable, articulating with the squamosal and laterally expanded epi-otic. There is no bony connexion of the quadrate with the jugal, which is restricted to its anterior half, and attached to the maxillary and lacrymal. The quadrato-jugal is absent as a separate bone; it is probably fused with the anterior surface of the quadrate, as indicated by a perforation of the quadrate, resembling in this respect the Rhynchocephalia. The vomers are long, and separate the elongated choanae from each other. The palatines separate the vomers from the pterygoids, which enclose a long median vacuity and are not connected with the quadrates. The teeth are conical, and stand near the inner margin of the jaws upon little prominences, with which they fuse. Some genera have teeth upon the pterygoids also.

The vertebrae are very numerous and are mostly procoelous. They are noteworthy for the possession of an additional anterior and a posterior pair of articulating processes on the neural arches, homologous with the zygosphenes and zygantra of Snakes and Iguanidae (see p. 582). Intercentra are absent, except in the tail. The ribs have no tubercula, and articulate with the centra of the vertebrae to which they belong.

The pectoral arch is strong. The scapulae are short and broad; the coracoids, fused with the precoracoids, except for a notch, are flat and broad, and meet ventrally; posteriorly they articulate upon the anterior margin of the flat sternum, to the lateral margin of which are attached several ribs. Clavicles and interclavicle seem to be absent. Abdominal ribs are likewise absent. The pelvic girdle is feeble; the ilia, ischia, and pubes are loosely connected with each other, the pairs of ventral elements {489}meeting also in the middle line. The ilia are loosely attached to two vertebrae in the Dolichosauri; in the Mosasauri they have lost this connexion. Both anterior and posterior limbs are transformed into pentadactyle paddles, with much shortened and broadened bones of the arms and legs. The digits are to a certain extent hyperphalangeal, since several of them possess five phalanges.

The Pythonomorpha are undoubtedly allied to the Sauria, but they are certainly not their ancestors, since typical Autosauri occur in the Lower Chalk; nor are the Snakes their descendants, in spite of many convergent resemblances. We consider them to be the marine collateral branch of the Sauria, which rapidly developed highly specialised, often very large forms, restricted to the Cretaceous epoch, with a wide, cosmopolitan distribution.

ORDER I. DOLICHOSAURI.

This older group is characterised by the sutural symphysial connexion of the two mandibles and by the possession of two sacral vertebrae. The body is snake-like. Pleurodont. _Dolichosaurus longicollis_ of the Lower Chalk of Kent and Sussex; total length about 3 feet, with about seventeen cervical vertebrae and pleurodont teeth. _Acteosaurus_ of Istria; anterior extremities distinctly shorter than the posterior pair; tail long. Vertebrae, like those of _Dolichosaurus_, with zygosphenes. _Plioplatecarpus_ of the Upper Chalk of Holland has a slender interclavicle; the vertebrae are without zygosphenes, but those of the cervical region possess a downwardly directed long hypapophysial process with a separately ossified epiphysis.

ORDER II. MOSASAURI.

The two halves of the lower jaw are connected by ligament and are therefore movable as in Snakes. There are no sacral vertebrae, the pelvis having lost its connexion with the vertebral column. The formation of the limbs into paddles is more pronounced than in the Dolichosauri.

_Mosasaurus_, the chief genus, so called from Mosa, the Latin name of the river Maas, with several species from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the Netherlands, England, and North {490}America. _M. camperi_, from Belgium, with a skull about 4 feet in length, armed with many large, curved, acrodont teeth. The vertebral column consists of about one hundred caudal and thirty-four precaudal vertebrae, of which seven are cervical, without zygosphenes. The total length of the type-specimen is estimated at 25 feet.

_Platecarpus_ of North America and New Zealand, and various other North American genera, also contained species of large size.

_Liodon._–Premaxilla without teeth, the others nearly smooth instead of being ridged. With a very wide distribution in the Chalk of Europe, North America, and New Zealand. _L. haumuriensis_ of New Zealand seems to have been the giant amongst these monstrous marine creatures; its total length has been computed from imperfect fragments at 100 feet.

_Clidastes_, of the Upper Cretaceous of North America and Europe, although not so massive, comprises the most elongated forms. The cervical vertebrae possess long median hypapophyses with separate epiphyses; most of the vertebrae are much elongated and have well-developed zygosphenes. _C. tortor_ had a skull nearly two feet and a half long.

{491}CHAPTER XII

SAURIA–AUTOSAURI OR LACERTILIA–LIZARDS

_SUB-CLASS XI.–SAURIA._

_Reptiles with movable quadrate bones, with a transverse, external,
cloacal opening, near the posterior lateral corners of which open the
eversible, paired (right and left) copulatory organs._