Charles Gould, the son of the ornithologist John Gould, wrote this book in the 19th century on the subject now called ‘cryptozoology,’ the study of (possibly imaginary) animals only known through anecdotal or folklore evidence.The core of the book is about dragons: Western, Chinese, and Japanese, although it also covers the Sea-serpent, the Unicorn, and the Chinese Phoenix. Gould hypothesized that the dragon was based on an unknown, very rare animal, a huge reptile with wings, which became extinct in historical times. He also concluded that persistent sea-serpent sightings were also due to an undiscovered surviving prehistoric marine animal. He drew on the then-emerging body of fossil evidence for prehistoric megafauna, from flying lizards to whale-sized aquatic dinosaurs.
Via Plep.
Posted by Amy as Fantastic at 4:04 AM EDT