The Medals of Creation, Volumes 1 and 2 / First Lessons in Geology and the Study of Organic Remains

by Gideon Algernon Mantell

Lign. 214. Paddles of Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus, ¹/₈ nat. size.
Lias Shale. Lyme Regis.

Fig.	1.—	Left fore-paddle of the Ichthyosaurus.
	2.—	Left fore-paddle of the Plesiosaurus.

The Ichthyosaurus has abdominal ribs ([p. 656], note), as in the Crocodile, and it is therefore inferred that, if oviparous, it did not produce ova in such immense numbers as the Batrachians, &c. A specimen found by the late Mr. Channing Pearce renders it probable that the Ichthyosaurus may have been viviparous. A remarkably perfect adult Ichthyosaurus, examined by this gentleman, contained the bones of a fœtus (a few inches long) in the cavity of the pelvis. This specimen is in the collection of Mr. Pearce, at Bath. Remains or traces of the dermal integument have been discovered in some examples from the Lias of Barrow-on-Soar, Lyme Regis, Ilminster, and the neighbourhood of Tewkesbury.[594]

[594] See Mr. Coles’s interesting paper on the Skin of the Ichthyosaurus, in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix. p. 79.

Lign. 215. Hinder Paddle of an Ichthyosaurus (¹/₃ nat.): with the impression of its integuments. Lias. Barrow-on-Soar.
(From Geol. Trans. 2d ser. vol. vi. pl. xx.)