Fossils are very rare in these sands; it is not easy to say why. It
may be that the red oxide of iron in them has destroyed them. Few or
none are ever found in beds in which it abounds. It is curious, too,
that the Keuper, which is all but barren of fossils in England, is
full of them in Wurtemberg, reptiles, fish, and remains of plants
being common. But what will interest the reader are the footprints
of a strange beast, found alike in England and in Germany--the
Cheirotherium, as it was first named, from its hand-like feet; the
Labyrinthodon, as it is now named, from the extraordinary structure
of its teeth. There is little doubt now, among anatomists, that the
bones and teeth of the so-called Labyrinthodon belong to the animal
which made the footprints. If so, the creature must have been a
right loathly monster. Some think him to have been akin to lizards;
but the usual opinion is that he was a cousin of frogs and toads.
Looking at his hands and other remains, one pictures him to oneself
as a short, squat brute, as big as a fat hog, with a head very much
the shape of a baboon, very large hands behind and small ones in
front, waddling about on the tide flats of a sandy sea, and dragging
after him, seemingly, a short tail, which has left its mark on the
sand.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95