CHAPTER IX.

SEA-SERPENTS.

"Sand-strewn caverns, cool and deep, Where the winds are all asleep; Where the spent lights quiver and gleam, Where the salt weed sways in the stream; Where the sea-beasts, ranged all round, Feed in the ooze of their pasture-ground; Where the sea-snakes coil and twine, Dry their mail, and bask in the brine."

_The Forsaken Merman._

It has been said that everything on earth has its double in the water. Are there not water-beetles, water-scorpions, water-rats, water-snakes, sea-lions, sea-horses, and a host of other living things, whether plants or animals, bearing some sort of resemblance to others that live on land? Then why not sea-serpents? The great controversy of the sea-serpent, that has so often been discussed in the newspapers, need not be considered here. We are dealing not with the present, but with the past; and whether or no the wonderful sailors' yarns of sea-serpents can be regarded as authentic, even in a single case, we can offer our readers infallible proof that, during the so-called "Age of Reptiles," certain monstrous saurian animals flourished in considerable abundance, which, though not true serpents, nevertheless must have borne a striking resemblance to such, as they cleaved he waters of primæval seas.[32]

[32] See an interesting little work, entitled, _Sea-Monsters Unmasked_, by H. Lee (Clowes and Sons). Appendix II. contains some extracts therefrom.

The modern evolutionist believes that snakes are descended from lizards, possessing, as usual, four legs; that some primitive form of lizard with very small legs appeared on the scene, and found that it could better move along by wriggling its body and pushing with its ribs than by walking. So, in course of time, a race of lizards without legs arose; these, by Natural Selection, and perhaps other means, became more and more elongated, so that they could move faster than their ancestors, and glide out of harm's way more effectually. Thus was the snake evolved from a lizard.

Now, in the great geological museum of the stratified rocks, there have been discovered skeletons of marine reptiles, which propelled themselves chiefly by means of their tails and elongated bodies, rather than by their limbs. The limbs were not discarded entirely as in the case of the serpents, but were useful in their way as the fins of fishes are. Perhaps, therefore, we may be justified in calling these ancient monsters sea-serpents, in consideration of their long thin bodies; for they certainly would be called by that name if now living.

Strictly speaking, they were not serpents, but more or less like some of the extinct saurians described in chap. iv. The name, however, has been adopted by geologists, and is useful in so far as it serves to remind us of their very peculiar shape and structure. Remains of these strange creatures have been found both in Europe and America.

One of the earliest discoveries of remains of a fossil sea-serpent was made by M. Hoffman, a Dutch military surgeon, in the year 1770. Maestricht, a city in the interior of the Netherlands, situated in the valley of the Meuse, stands on certain strata of limestone and sandstone, belonging to the Upper Chalk. Extensive quarries have, for many centuries, been worked in the sandstone, especially in the eminence called St. Peter's Mount, which is a cape or headland between the Meuse and the Jaar. This elevated plateau extends for some distance towards Liége, and presents an almost perpendicular cliff towards the Meuse. From the extensive works that have so long been carried on, immense quantities of stone have been removed, and the centre of the mountain is traversed by galleries, and hollowed by vast excavations. Innumerable fossils, such as marine shells, corals, crustaceans, bones and teeth of fishes, have been obtained from this rock. But St. Peter's Mount is now chiefly celebrated for the discovery of the bones and teeth of a huge saurian, to which Mr. Conybeare has given the name Mosasaurus, on account of its connection with the river Meuse. M. Hoffman had long been an assiduous collector of fossils from this neighbourhood, and he had the good fortune to obtain the famous specimen on which this genus is founded.

It was at first considered, by M. Faujas St. Fond, to be a crocodile; but Cuvier and Camper formed a different and better conclusion. Perhaps no fossil ever had such a remarkable history as this one, as the following account, from M. Faujas St. Fond's work on the fossils of St. Peter's Mount,[33] will show.

[33] _Histoire Naturelle de la Montagne de St. Pierre._ This account is given by Dr. Mantell, in his _Petrifactions and their Teaching_, 1851.

"Some workmen, on blasting the rock in one of the caverns of the interior of the mountain, perceived, to their astonishment, the jaws of a large animal attached to the roof of the chasm. The discovery was immediately made known to M. Hoffman, who repaired to the spot, and for weeks presided over the arduous task of separating the mass of stone containing these remains from the surrounding rock. His labours were rewarded by the successful extrication of the specimen, which he conveyed in triumph to his house. This extraordinary discovery, however, soon became the subject of general conversation, and excited so much interest, that the canon of the cathedral which stands on the mountain resolved to claim the fossil, in right of being lord of the manor; and succeeded, after a long and harassing lawsuit, in obtaining this precious relic. It remained for years in his possession, and Hoffman died without regaining his treasure, or receiving any compensation. At length the French Revolution broke out, and the armies of the Republic advanced to the gates of Maestricht. The town was bombarded; but, at the suggestion of the committee of savans who accompanied the French troops to select their share of the plunder, the artillery was not suffered to play on that part of the city in which the celebrated fossil was known to be preserved. In the mean time, the Canon of St. Peter's, shrewdly suspecting the reason why such peculiar favour was shown to his residence, removed the specimen, and concealed it in a vault; but when the city was taken, the French authorities compelled him to give up his ill-gotten prize, which was immediately transmitted to the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, where it still forms one of the most striking objects in that magnificent collection."

Dr. Mantell quotes the Frenchman's remark on this transaction: "_La Justice, quoique tardive, arrive enfin avec le temps_:" but adds, "The reader will probably think that, although the reverend canon was justly despoiled of his ill-gotten treasure, the French commissioners were but very equivocal representatives of _Justice_!"

The beautiful cast (Fig. 37) at South Kensington (Fossil Reptile Gallery, Wall-case 8) was presented to Dr. Mantell by Baron Cuvier in 1825. It consists of both jaws, with numerous teeth, and some other parts (see Fig. 38). The length is about four and a half feet. This nearly perfect head was for a time a stumbling-block to many naturalists, some of whom were of opinion that it belonged to a whale. Cuvier and others considered it to be a kind of link between the Iguanas and the Monitors.[34]

[34] The Monitors are a family of large lizards inhabiting the warmer parts of Africa and Asia. They live near the banks of rivers, and some are altogether aquatic. They often devour the eggs of crocodiles and aquatic birds. The Nile Monitor, or Varanus, grows to a length of six feet.

The entire backbone of the Maestricht animal appears to have consisted of one hundred and thirty-one vertebræ, of which ninety-seven belonged to the tail. The total length of the skeleton is estimated at twenty-four feet, and the head was about one-sixth of the total length. The tail is only ten feet long, whereas in a crocodile the tail exceeds the length of the body. Although in his day the limbs of the Mosasaurus were imperfectly known, Cuvier rightly considered them to be adapted for swimming, and, with his usual foresight, concluded that this monster was a marine reptile of great strength and activity, having a large tail flattened vertically and capable of being moved from side to side with such force and rapidity as to be a powerful organ of propulsion, capable of stemming the most agitated waters. The large conical recurved teeth, the largest of which was nearly three inches long, are well seen in Figs. 37 and 38. Dr. Mantell was fortunate enough to find, in the year 1820, some vertebræ from the English Chalk near Lewes, which were identified as belonging to a Mosasaurus.

In 1831 a portion of a lower jaw with large conical teeth was discovered in the Chalk near Norwich. But these teeth were not quite similar to those of the Maestricht specimen, and Professor Owen therefore founded upon them the new genus Leiodon.[35] But Leiodon must have been very similar to Mosasaurus.

[35] Greek--_leios_, smooth, and _odous_, tooth.

Of late years many fine specimens have been discovered in North America, and the labours of Leidy, Marsh, and Cope have been of the greatest service in completing our knowledge of this strange group of saurians. In the American Cretaceous seas they ruled supreme, as their numbers, size, and carnivorous habits enabled them easily to vanquish all rivals. Probably some of them were seventy-five feet in length, the smallest being ten or twelve feet long. In the inland Cretaceous sea from which the Rocky Mountains were beginning to emerge, these ancient sea-serpents abounded; and many were entombed in its muddy deposits. On one occasion, as Professor Marsh rode through a valley washed out of this old ocean bed, he observed no less than seven different skeletons of these monsters in sight at once! The same authority mentions that the Museum of Yale College contains remains of not less than 1400 distinct individuals. In some of these the skeleton is nearly if not quite complete; so that every part of its structure can be determined with almost absolute certainty.

According to Professor Cope of Pennsylvania University, who has made a special study of this group of extinct saurians, fifty-one species have been discovered in North America, in the States of New Jersey, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Nebraska. The same authority has shown that they were characterised by a wonderful elongation of form, especially of the tail; that their heads were large, flat, and conical in shape, with eyes directed partly upward; that they were furnished with two pairs of paddles like the flippers of a whale. With these flippers, and the eel-like strokes of their flattened tail, they swam with considerable speed. Like snakes, they were furnished with four rows of formidable teeth on the roof of the mouth, which served admirably for seizing their prey.

But the most remarkable feature in these creatures was the arrangement for permitting them to swallow their prey whole, in the manner of snakes. Thus each half of the lower jaw was articulated at a point nearly midway between the ear and the chin, so as to greatly widen the space between the jaws, and Professor Cope thinks that the throat must consequently have been loose and baggy.

Professor Cope, however, in giving the name Pythonomorpha to this ancient group, has pressed his views too far, and dwelt unduly on their supposed relationship with serpents. Other authorities regard them as essentially swimming lizards, with four well-developed paddles; and this is probably the right view to take of them.

The following graphic account of the region where Professor Cope has discovered the skeletons of many sea-serpents, and of their habits and aspect when alive, is taken from his well-known work on the Cretaceous Vertebrata of the West.[36] After describing this region as a vast level tract between the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, he says, "If the explorer searches the bottoms of the rain-washes and ravines, he will doubtless come upon the fragment of a tooth or jaw, and will generally find a line of such pieces leading to an elevated position on the bank or bluff, where lies the skeleton of some monster of the ancient sea. He may find the vertebral column running far into the limestone that locks him in his last prison; or a paddle extended on the slope, as though entreating aid; or a pair of jaws lined with horrid teeth, which grin despair on enemies they are helpless to resist; or he may find a conic mound, on whose apex glisten in the sun the bleached bones of one whose last office has been to preserve from destruction the friendly soil on which he reposed. Sometimes a pile of huge remains will be discovered, which the dissolution of the rock has deposited on the lower level; the force of rain and wash having been insufficient to carry them away."

[36] _Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories_, vol. ii., 1875 (_Cretaceous Vertebrata_).

But the reader inquires, "What is the nature of these creatures thus left stranded a thousand miles from either ocean? How came they in the limestone of Kansas, and were they denizens of land?" These creatures lived in the Cretaceous period. The remains found in this region were mostly those of reptiles and fishes. Thirty-five species of reptiles are known from Kansas alone, representing six orders, and varying in length from ten to eighty feet. One was terrestrial, four were fliers, the rest inhabited the ocean. "When they swam over what are now the plains, the coast-line extended from Arkansas to near Fort Riley, on the Kansas River, and, passing a little eastward, traversed Minnesota to the British possessions, near the head of Lake Superior. The extent of sea to the westward was vast, and geology has not yet laid down its boundary; it was probably a shore now submerged beneath the waters of the North Pacific."

Other very elongated marine reptiles of this period, but with much thicker bodies, are called, by Professor Cope, Elasmosaurs. In this group, which is not yet fully worked out, occur such genera as Cimoliosaurus, Polycotylus, Polyptychodon, and others. But it seems a pity that they should be in any way separated from the Plesiosaurs, which they strongly resemble (see chap. iv., Plate III.). Though not sea-serpents, we have introduced them here because they flourished at the same time, and lived in the same seas with the Mosasaurs and other forms of that group. The very large teeth, with strongly marked ridges, of the Polyptychodon are abundant in the Cambridge Greensand that underlies the chalk, and represent a very huge animal.

In our illustration, Plate XIII., the artist has represented the Elasmosaurus[37] (of Cope) with its long thin neck stretched out in search of food on the bed of the sea. Professor Cope--thus describing this monster, in language which seems somewhat fanciful--says, "Far out on the expanse of this ancient sea might have been seen a huge snake-like form, which rose above the surface, and stood erect, with tapering throat and arrow-shaped head, or swayed about, describing a circle of twenty feet radius above the water. Then plunging into the depths, naught would be visible but the foam caused by the disappearing mass of life. Should several have appeared together, we can easily imagine tall, flexible forms rising to the height of the masts of a fishing-fleet, or like snakes twisting and knotting themselves together. This extraordinary neck--for such it was--rose from a body of elephantine proportions. The limbs were probably two pairs of paddles, like those of Plesiosaurus, from which this diver chiefly differed in the arrangement of the bones of the breast. In the best-known species twenty-two feet represent the neck in a total length of fifty feet. This is Elasmosaurus platyurus (Cope), a carnivorous sea-reptile, no doubt adapted for deeper waters than many of the others. Like the snake-bird of Florida, it probably often swam many feet below the surface, raising the head to the distant air for breath, then withdrawing it, and exploring the depths forty feet below, without altering the position of its body. From the localities in which the bones have been found in Kansas, it must have wandered far from land; and that many kinds of fishes formed its food is shown by the teeth and scales found in the position of its stomach."

[37] Greek--_elasmos_, plate; _sauros_, lizard: probably on account of the shape of the paddles.

But to return to the sea-serpents. Mosasaurus is now known to have been a long slender reptile, with a pair of powerful paddles in front, a moderately long neck, and flat pointed head. The tail was very long--flat and deep--like that of a great eel. Mosasaurus princeps is computed to have been seventy-five to eighty feet long. Clidastes was another genus of long and slender shape, one species of which reached a length of forty feet. Some forms of sea-serpent had sclerotic plates in the eye, such as we found in the fish-lizard, or Ichthyosaurus (p. 46), but the announcement that their bodies were protected by bony plates has turned out to be a mistake, and the supposed plates really belonged to the eye.

Leiodon proriger (Cope) was abundant in the old North American Cretaceous sea, and reached a length of seventy-five feet. It had a long projecting muzzle, somewhat like the snout of a sturgeon. Platecarpus and Tylosaurus had peculiarly sharp-pointed heads (see Fig. 40).

A few words may be added here with regard to Professor Cope's important discovery of Leiodon--a genus already alluded to as having been founded by Sir Richard Owen. The type specimen of Leiodon dyseplor,[38] which first indicated the characters of this wonderful species, was obtained from the yellow beds of the Niobrara epoch of the Jornada del Muerto, near Fort McRae, New Mexico. The greater part of the remains have been described by Professor Leidy. But a second specimen, more complete in all respects, was discovered by Professor Cope's exploring party during an expedition from Fort Wallace, Kansas, in 1871. This specimen he has fully described and figured in the report already referred to (p. 140). It is a very instructive specimen, including fifty of the vertebræ from all parts of the vertebral column, a large part of the cranium, with teeth, as well as important limb-bones. These precious relics were excavated from a chalk "bluff," or high bank. Fragments of the jaws were seen lying on the slope, and other portions entered the shale. On being followed, a part of the skull was taken from beneath the roots of a bush, and the vertebræ and limb-bones were found farther in. The series of vertebræ, after extending some way along the face of the bluff, finally turned into the hill, and were followed as far as time would permit, but part of the tail series had to be left. In size, the vertebræ of this enormous sea-serpent exceed those of Mosasaurus brumbyi. The latter has hitherto been the largest known species of the order of Pythonomorphs, exceeding twofold in its measurements the M. giganteus of Belgium. So the present reptile is much larger in its dimensions than the New Jersey species called maximus by Professor Cope. "If, as appears certain," says the professor, "the Mosasauroid discovered by Webb measures seventy-five feet in length, and the M. maximus measured eighty, the Leiodon dyspelor must have been the longest reptile known, and approaches very nearly the extreme of the mammalian growth seen in the whales, though, of course, without their bulk. Such monsters may well excite our surprise, as well as our curiosity, in the inquiry as to their source of food-supply, and what the character of those contemporary animals preserved in the same geologic horizon."

[38] We retain the old spelling with the _e_ as being nearer to the Greek, although Professor Cope writes it "Liodon."

In our illustration, Plate XIII., the artist has endeavoured to realise the outward aspect of the two genera of sea-serpents, Mosasaurus and Clidastes. The fishes which they are pursuing are well-known genera from the English Chalk, such as Beryx.

Ten species of Clidastes have been unearthed from the Kansas strata. They did not reach such a size as the Leiodons, but were of elegant and flexible build, the largest species, C. cineriarum, reaching a length of forty feet (see Fig. 41). A smaller species, of elegant proportions, has been called C. tortor (Cope). Its slenderness of body was remarkable, and the large head was long and lance-shaped. Its lithe movements doubtless helped it to secure many fishes. It was found coiled up beneath a ledge of rock, with its skull lying undisturbed in the centre.

The accounts given by Professor Cope of his explorations and the difficulties encountered in procuring the valuable specimens on which his conclusions are based, are most interesting, and such as every fossil-hunter will appreciate. We, in England, who visit clay pits, stone quarries, railway cuttings, etc., during a morning or an afternoon walk, and return home at our leisure with a few small specimens in our pockets, or in a bag at our back, can hardly realise how arduous must be the work of finding, digging out, and transporting for such long distances the remains of the monsters of Kansas and other parts of North America.

The following extracts have been selected from Professor Cope's report, with a view to illustrating the nature of the explorations undertaken. "The circumstances attending the discovery of one of these will always be a pleasant recollection to the writer. A part of the face, with teeth, was observed projecting from the side of a bluff by a companion in exploration, Lieutenant James H. Whitten, United States Army, and we at once proceeded to follow up the indication with knives and picks. Soon the lower jaws were uncovered, with their glistening teeth, and then the vertebræ and ribs. Our delight was at its height when the bones of the pelvis and part of the hind limb were laid bare, for they had never been seen before in the species, and scarcely in the order. While lying on the bottom of the Cretaceous sea, the carcase had been dragged hither and thither by the sharks and other rapacious animals, and the parts of the skeleton were displaced and gathered into a small area. The massive tail stretched away into the bluff, and, after much laborious excavation, we left a portion of it to more persevering explorers."

"The discovery of a related species, Platecarpus coryphæus (Cope), was made by the writer under circumstances of difficulty peculiar to the plains. After examining the bluffs for half a day without result, a few bone fragments were found in a wash above their base. Others led the way to a ledge forty or fifty feet from both summit and foot, where, stretched along in the yellow chalk, lay the projecting portions of the whole monster. A considerable number of vertebræ were found preserved by the protective embrace of the roots of a small bush, and, when they were secured, the pick and knife were brought into requisition to remove the remainder. About this time, one of the gales, so common in that region, sprang up, and striking the bluff fairly, reflected itself upwards. So soon as the pick pulverised the rock, the limestone dust was carried into eyes, nose, and every available opening in the clothing. I was speedily blinded, and my aid disappeared in the cañon, and was seen no more while the work lasted. A handkerchief tied over the face, and pierced by minute holes opposite the eyes, kept me from total blindness, though dirt in abundance penetrated the mask. But a fine relic of Creative Genius was extracted from its ancient bed, and one that leads its genus in size, and explains its structure."

"On another occasion, riding along a spur of yellow chalk bluff, some vertebræ lying at its foot met my eye. An examination showed that the series entered the rock, and, on passing round to the opposite side, the jaws and muzzle were seen projecting from it, as though laid bare for the convenience of the geologist. The spur was small and of soft material, and we speedily removed it in blocks, to the level of the reptile, and took out the remains as they lay across the base from side to side."

In taking leave of the "Age of Reptiles," we cannot but marvel greatly at the diversity of forms assumed by the various orders of this class, their strange uncouth appearance, their assumption, in some cases, of characters only known at the present day among the mammals, their great abundance, and the perfect state in which their remains have been preserved in the stratified rocks of various parts of the world. And the reader may naturally ask, "How is it that so many types have disappeared altogether, leaving us out of a total of at least nine orders, only four, viz. those represented by crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and turtles?" To such a question we can only answer that the causes of the extinction of plants and animals in the past are not yet known. Climate, geographical conditions, food-supply, competition, with other causes, doubtless operated then as now; but if there is one clear lesson taught by the record of the rocks, it is this--that there has been at work from the earliest periods a Law of Progress, so that higher types, coming in at certain stages, have ousted the lower types, sometimes only partially, sometimes completely. But why the Dinosaurs, for instance, perished entirely, while the crocodiles survived to the present day, no one can yet explain. We can see no reason, however, why such problems as these should not be solved in the future by the co-operating labours of naturalists and geologists.

In the great onward and upward struggle for existence, higher types have supplanted lower ones; and, in accordance with this biological truth, we find that in the next era (known as the Tertiary or Cainozoic) the mammal held the field while the reptile took a subordinate place.