Читать книгу Peter Parley's Wonders of the Earth, Sea, and Sky онлайн

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The fins, or paddles, were very curious, and much like those of the whale; they consisted of above a hundred small bones strongly united together, in a sort of pavement enclosed in a strong skin, and not divided into toes, as you may observe in this representation of the entire skeleton.

You may see many specimens of the skeleton itself in the British Museum.

The Icthyosaurus was a great tyrant, and used to prey on every creature that came within his reach; this is known by the fossil remains found in the inside of his body. He used at times even to act the cannibal, and eat his own relations, for a large one has been dug out of the cliff at Lyme Regis, with part of a small one in his stomach undigested; he must have been altogether a very unamiable character. But as his family has been so long extinct, and we are told that we ought to say nothing but what is good concerning the dead, I shall not say any more about him, leaving you to form your own conclusions from what I have related to you.