Sea Reptiles　海洋爬行动物

There were in the sea in very ancient times—long before the flood—two very large and wonderful reptiles.Of them we present striking illustrations.One of them has been named the Ichthyosaurus,which means Fish Reptile.Its head somewhat resembled that of the crocodile,except that the orbit was much larger,and had the nostril placed close to it,as in the whale,and not near the end of the snout.It had four paddles and a powerful tail,and was very active in its movements and a rapid swimmer.

The other huge reptile was the Plesiosaurus,the meaning of which is“Near to a Reptile”.Its structure was very singular and its character very strange.In the words of Buckland:“To the head of a lizard,it united the teeth of the crocodile,a neck of enormous length,resembling the body of a serpent,a trunk and a tail of the size of an ordinary quadruped,the ribs of a chameleon,and the paddles of a whale”.

在还没发生大洪水以前很久的远古时代，海里有两个神奇的巨型爬行动物，我们把它们画了下来，这幅插图就是。这两个爬行动物中的一个叫鱼龙，就是像鱼一样的爬行动物。鱼龙的头有点像鳄鱼头，不过眼眶比鳄鱼的大。它的鼻孔不在吻部末端，而是靠近眼眶，和鲸鱼一样。它有四个桨鳍和一条有力的尾巴，行动灵活自如，是个游泳健将。

另一个巨型爬行动物蛇颈龙就是“接近爬行动物”的意思。蛇颈龙的身体结构独特、性情古怪。用英国著名地质学家巴克兰的话说就是：“蜥蜴的脑袋鳄鱼的牙，脖子奇长像蛇身；四足动物的鼻子和尾巴，变色龙的脊椎、鲸鱼的鳍。”