Prehistoric marine reptiles, 1858

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Marine Monsters, 1858, by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, plate 23, to face page 33 of the New Edition, postumously published, of William Buckland's "Geology and Mineralogy", which is part of the Bridgewater Treatises series. Waterhouse Hawkins was commissioned to produce this new plate for the book by Francis Buckland, William's son. It shows reconstructions of these prehistoric reptiles as produced for the Crystal Palace Sydenham around 1854. The reptiles are identified in the plate. Notable is the lack of fin and straight (rather than correctly bilobe finned) tail of the icthyosaur (central). These mistakes only became apparent when fin skin impressions were recognized in German specimens. All these species occupied British Coasts in the Jurassic.

Paul D. Stewart / Science Source

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