Extinct Monsters: A Popular Account of Some of the Larger Forms of Ancient Animal LifeHutchinson, H. N. (Henry Neville)
Science
Extinct Monsters: A Popular Account of Some of the Larger Forms of Ancient Animal Life
Hutchinson, H. N. (Henry Neville)
Paleontology
The best-known and largest of these creatures is represented in Fig.
1. It has received the name _Pterygotus_ (or wing-eared) from certain
fanciful resemblances pointed out by the quarrymen. It was first
discovered, along with others of its kind, by Hugh Miller, at Carmylie
in Forfarshire, in a certain part of the Old Red Sandstone (see Table
of Strata, Appendix I.) known as the Arbroath paving-stone. The
quarrymen, in the course of their work, came upon and dug out large
pieces of the fossilised remains of this creature. Its hard coat of
jointed armour bore on its surface curious wavy markings that
suggested to their minds the sculptured feathers on the wings of
cherubs--of all subjects of the chisel the most common. Hence they
christened these remains "Seraphim." They did not succeed in getting
complete specimens that could be pieced together; and the part to
which this fanciful name was given turned out to be part of the under
side below the mouth. It was composed of several large plates, two of
which are not unlike the wings of a cherub in shape. Hugh Miller says
in his classic work, _The Old Red Sandstone_--"the form altogether,
from its wing-like appearance, its feathery markings, and its angular
points, will suggest to the reader the origin of the name given it by
Forfarshire workmen."
A correct restoration, in proportion to the fragments found in the
Lower Old Red Sandstone, would give a creature measuring nearly six
feet in length, and more than a foot across. _Pterygotus anglicus_ may
therefore be justly considered a monster crustacean.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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