Henry De la Beche and the plesiosaur's neck

Abstract

There was a close relationship, as neighbours, friends and colleagues, between the triumvirate of Henry Thomas De la Beche, William Daniel Conybeare and William Buckland, who were among the most important and influential members of the Geological Society of London during the decades immediately following its foundation in 1807. Their mutually supportive work on, and interest in, the geology and fossils of their local Dorset coast, meant that each had a great familiarity with the Lias (Lower Jurassic) and its fossil flora and fauna. Henry De la Beche was, however, also blessed with artistic flair, combined with a witty and satirical eye; this has been revealed in his renowned cartoons and caricatures.Much has been made of the originality (both scientific and artistic) of De la Beche's Duria Antiquior, a wonderful image of prehistoric life in the Liassic Seas of Dorset that was sketched during 1830. Re-examination of Duria reveals an attention to detail that is remarkable – though perfectly understandable in the light of his friends' and his own geological survey work in Dorset. The dominant central image, of a plesiosaur (Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus) being bitten across the neck by an ichthyosaur (Temnodontosaurus platyodon), has been attributed to a word picture created by William Conybeare during an exchange of letters with Henry De la Beche in 1824. In fact the evocative image may have much more to do with the nature of preservation of a remarkable skeleton, representing the first complete plesiosaur skeleton and discovered by Mary Anning in 1823, than has been recognised previously.