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Rulers Of The Ancient Seas

There rolling monsters armed in scaly pride, Flounce in the billows, and dash round the tide.

There huge Leviathan únwieldy moves, And through the waves a living island roves.

History shows us how in the past nation after nation has arisen, increased in size and strength, extended its bounds and dominion until it became the ruling power of the world, and then passed out of existence, often so completely that nothing has remained save a few mounds of dirt marking the graves of former cities.

And so has it been with the kingdoms of nature. Just as Greece, Carthage, and Rome were successively the rulers of the sea in the days that we call old, so, long before the advent of man, the seas were ruled by successive races of creatures whose bones now lie scattered over the beds of the ancient seas, even as the wrecks of galleys lie strewn over the bed of the Mediterranean. For a time the armor-clad fishes held undisputed sway; then their reign was ended by the coming of the sharks, who in their turn gave way to the fish-lizards, the Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs. These great marine reptiles are best known from Europe where they seem to have abounded in the ancient seas. They were long ago graphically described by Buckland though, so far as size goes, they hardly merit the adjective of gigantic, so liberally bestowed upon them. Nevertheless they were big for reptiles and some of them were real giants, fifty feet in length, which is pretty good even for a dinosaur.