Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/23

 Another member of the Saurian or Lizard race is disporting himself in a little bay close by. The imagination of man never called up a shape so weird and fantastic as this, in which we see combined, a fish-like body, a long serpentine neck, and the tapering tail of a lizard. As he paddles through the water with his neck arched over his back in a graceful curve, he looks a very handsome fellow, in spite of the somewhat evil expression of his countenance; but he is anything but handsome, if we judge him by the adage which restricts the use of that epithet to handsome doers. Look at him now, how eagerly he pounces upon every living thing that comes within the range of his pliant neck, how cruelly he crushes the bones of his victims, and how greedily he swallows them! We never witnessed such unhandsome conduct in a monster before. Leaving him at his disgusting banquet, let us now penetrate into the interior of the old continent, where we shall encounter some terrestrial reptiles of a very formidable character.

We are in the heart of a strange wild country. At our feet runs a mighty river, whose tortuous course we can trace far away on the distant landscape. The scenery around us is grandly picturesque, being diversified by high mountains with harsh and rugged outlines, yawning chasms, swampy plains, and thick forests. Here a broad stream