No. 13.—Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris.
Behind the Ichthyosaurus platyodon, is placed the restoration of the Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris, or Slender-snouted Fish-lizard. The most striking peculiarity of this species is the great length and slenderness of the jaw-bones, which, in combination with the large eye-sockets and flattened cranium, give to the entire skull a form which resembles that of a gigantic snipe or woodcock, with the bill armed with teeth. These weapons, in the present species, are relatively more numerous, smaller, and more sharply pointed than in the foregoing, and indicate that the Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris preyed on a smaller kind of fish. The fore-paddles are larger than the hind ones. In the museum of the Philosophical Institution, at Bristol, there is an almost entire skeleton of the present species which measures thirteen feet in length. It was discovered in the lias of Lyme Regis. Portions of jaws and other parts of the skeletons of larger individuals have been found fossil in the lias near Bristol, at Barrow-on-Soar, in Leicestershire, and at Stratford-on-Avon. The Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris has also left its remains in the lias formation at Boll and Amburg, in Wirtemberg, Germany.