Remarkable Creatures

Mary is the narrator of this chapter. Soon after she and Joe find the enormous crocodile, Joe announces that he no longer wants to hunt curies and has accepted an apprenticeship with the upholsterer. Molly and Elizabeth feel it is the right choice for him, but Mary is devastated. She continues hunting alone and regularly attends church to seek answers about her life. Soon, more fossil hunters descend onto the beaches after word of the crocodile spreads, and they learn of Mary’s skill in identifying specimens. She begins leading fossil hunts, and though the men treat her like a servant, she enjoys their acknowledgment of her skills. Mary matures into a teenager and begins noticing her attraction to men. Elizabeth helps her learn to dance, but as she watches balls from afar, Mary laments that she will never get to experience one.

One day, while hunting on the beach, Mary discovers the body of a woman washed up on the shore. She instantly feels connected to the woman whose only identification is a locket engraved with “MJ.” Mary arranges the body in a peaceful pose and runs for help. After people take the body to the church, Mary visits it daily, keeping a mournful vigil until Elizabeth demands that she stop. The body is identified as Lady Mary Jackson, and Mary falls apart, feeling that the dead lady’s fate will be her own. She thinks: “However beautiful or plain a person [is], God [will] take you in the end” (144). From then on, she looks at fossils differently, seeing that they were once living creatures.

Mary finds a second “crocodile” skeleton and cleans it in the workshop. William Buckland, an Oxford scholar who frequents Lyme Regis to view fossils, seeks out Mary to view the skeleton. Mr. Buckland is a gregarious man with many ideas and interests. While he watches Mary clean the skeleton, she asks him if he believes in a seven-day creation, as specified in the Bible, and if this mysterious creature was on Noah’s ark. He concludes that man’s interpretation of a day might differ from God’s and that a day might represent an era or “epoch” of indeterminable time in which God created all creatures before the great flood; Mary is not satisfied with this explanation. After viewing the specimen in the workshop, Mr. Buckland brings others to view it, including his friend Dr. Copeland, who treated Mary after the lightning strike. Mary asks Mr. Buckland to aid her in selling the second skeleton so that Lord Henley doesn’t get involved again. Mr. Buckland stays in Lyme Regis so he and Mary can continue hunting for another crocodile.

Mary notices that Elizabeth appears jealous of her growing friendship with Mr. Buckland, but she decides that Elizabeth is too old for him. Elizabeth begins venturing farther out on her own to hunt, leaving Mary and Mr. Buckland alone, which the townsfolk think is inappropriate. When Molly overhears villagers disparaging Mary’s character, she demands that Mary return home. Mr. Buckland hires Fanny Miller as their chaperone, but Fanny is miserable in this new role and sulks the entire time. Mr. Buckland tries to teach her about fossils and sedimentary layers, but she refuses to listen, and Mary explains Fanny’s objections to fossil hunting. When they find a skull, Mary and Mr. Buckland celebrate and hug one another, and when Mary sees Fanny’s horrified response, she knows she will spread gossip about them in town.

While hunting in the rain one day, a landslide traps Mary in the clay. Fanny breaks her leg in the landslide, and Mr. Buckland must leave Mary and carry Fanny into town to summon help. While trapped in the clay, Mary hears a familiar voice and realizes that Captain Cury is buried in the rubble nearby. She calls to him, but he doesn’t respond; she knows he has suffocated. As the tide creeps in and Mary struggles to breathe as the water edges higher around her, she considers her mortality and prays that God will save her. She admits, however, that “thinking of Him then didn’t make [her] less scared” (172). Then, she sees a crocodile skeleton and the eye is staring right at her. Just as she begins to lose consciousness, she sees someone digging her out.

Elizabeth narrates this chapter and explains how she rescued Mary from the landslide. She notes that her relationship with Mary was never the same afterward. Mary resumes hunting soon after the accident since she must help pay Fanny’s debt to Dr. Carpenter, the doctor who treated her broken leg. Despite Elizabeth’s urging Molly to get Mr. Buckland to pay, Molly pays Fanny’s medical bills since she feels the Annings are responsible for Fanny’s injuries. Fanny’s leg will never heal properly, leaving her with a permanent limp, and Molly believes that because of this, Fanny will never marry well.

Elizabeth notes that Mary has grown into a shapely woman who could attract attention from men. Still, her outings with Mr. Buckland taint her reputation, and after ruining Fanny’s chances of finding a good match, Mary’s prospects are slim. Seeing Mary’s attraction to Mr. Buckland reawakens Elizabeth’s desire to find a partner, and she thinks Mr. Buckland might notice her since they are equally matched in social standing. She invites him to dinner at Morley Cottage, but he becomes distracted hunting a fossil and never shows up. Elizabeth realizes Mr. Buckland’s scatterbrained personality would make him a poor husband.

A man named Charles Konig buys Mary’s crocodile from the museum and he gives it to the British Museum, which displays it as an “ichthyosaurus” (180), meaning a cross between a fish and a lizard. As people begin to study the specimen, Elizabeth reads the papers and notes that they leave out any religious discussion about the creature’s extinction. Mary feels left out of the research as she is not invited to participate in the inquiries of her “ichie,” as she calls it.

After a year of not finding another large specimen, Elizabeth suggests they expand their hunting to Seatown. As they move down the beach, Mary spots a man approaching them on horseback. Colonel Birch is a handsome man dressed in a military coat, and his presence rattles Elizabeth as she is instantly attracted to him. He explains that he wants Mary to help him find an ichthyosaurus, but Elizabeth immediately interjects that he must first ask for her mother and brother’s permission. Mary flirts with Colonel Birch as they walk along the beach examining fossils. He invites them to his hotel to see his collection of fossils and touches Mary’s hand, prompting Elizabeth to scold him for his impropriety. Later, Mary listens rapt as Colonel Birch explains Aristotle’s theory on The Great Chain of Being—though Elizabeth has already taught her about it—and explains where the ichthyosaurus might fit into the hierarchy. Mary still isn’t satisfied with his conclusion, seeing that the creature is wholly distinct from any other animal. Colonel Birch avoids her questions and turns his attention to Elizabeth, asking about her interest in fossils; she tries to impress him with her knowledge of fish species. He offers to accompany them to Seatown.

Colonel Birch is a retired lieutenant, and his interest in fossils doesn’t go beyond that of being a collector, much like Lord Henley. Elizabeth notices that he never finds fossils on his own but only watches their eyes closely, sees when they spot something, and then quickly claims it as his own. Mary appears to be attracted to him, and he even charms Molly, who doesn’t object to Mary spending long hours alone with Colonel Birch; Elizabeth assumes this is “a future investment” (192). Still, Elizabeth can’t resist his charms, either, especially since he doesn’t disdain her interest in fossils like most other gentlemen. Financially, however, the Annings remain on razor-thin margins, and Mary stops bringing home curies to sell in favor of helping Colonel Birch increase his collection. Elizabeth stops spending time with them as she finds Mary’s behavior ridiculous. However, she also can’t deny that she is jealous because Colonel Birch isn’t interested in her, especially considering they are better matched in age and social standing.

Elizabeth eventually confronts Mary and asks her if Colonel Birch is paying for her time. Mary claims that her relationship with him is no different than with Mr. Buckland or other men she’s assisted with fossil hunting. Elizabeth disagrees and reminds Mary that her family depends on her hunting curies to sell. She explains that Colonel Birch is exploiting her and ruining her reputation. Mary responds angrily, accusing Elizabeth of participating in gossip. Elizabeth happens to be with the pair when Mary discovers another ichthyosaur. However, Mary pretends to be dizzy and drops her hammer on the fossil, allowing Colonel Birch to claim the discovery as his own; Elizabeth looks on disgustedly. The Day brothers extract the impressive skeleton and Mary does all the cleaning and mounting work. Later, Colonel Birch approaches Elizabeth when Mary is elsewhere and tells her he is shipping the ichthyosaur to London. He will travel by coach so he can visit friends along the way. Though his hasty departure is rude, Elizabeth can’t deny her sadness about his leaving. Before he leaves, he tells her that “[her] eyes are very dark[.] […] Dark and honest” (198). Elizabeth thinks he is flirting with her and asks that he not follow her.

Elizabeth never tells Mary about her final conversation with Colonel Birch. After his departure, Mary loses her spark and spends many hours with Margaret since she, too, has lost a man. Colonel Birch never writes to Mary, but he does send a letter to Elizabeth asking her to find him a specific fish fossil. Elizabeth doesn’t respond and never tells Mary about the letter. One day, Molly Anning visits Morley Cottage and Elizabeth invites her to stay for tea, though Bessy balks at the idea of serving an Anning. Molly asks for Elizabeth’s help in encouraging Mary to resume hunting for curies. Molly says Mary is depressed and distracted with pining for Colonel Birch, and the family is desperate for income. Molly admits to falling for Colonel Birch’s charm, too, and not demanding that he pay them for Mary’s help. Elizabeth offers to take Mary out hunting to reignite her passion for finding curies. Molly writes a letter to Colonel Birch asking for payment and asks for Elizabeth’s help in getting the letter to London.

Later, the Philpot sisters discuss the issue as Elizabeth doesn’t support re-establishing the connection, realizing that it is fruitless since he has no intentions of marrying Mary even though he gave her a locket with his hair inside. Margaret disagrees and accuses Elizabeth of being jealous of Colonel Birch’s attraction to Mary. Elizabeth accuses her of being too fanciful, like the stories in the Jane Austen novels she reads. Margaret cries and reveals that Colonel Birch even kissed Mary; she laments the injustice of a man leading a woman on only to break her heart. Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to send the letter, but Colonel Birch doesn’t respond to Molly’s request.

While visiting London, Elizabeth and her sisters visit the Natural History Museum, where Mary’s first ichthyosaur is on display. As Elizabeth examines the skeleton, she hears Colonel Birch’s voice. He is accompanied by a widow named Mrs. Taylor, and he shows her the ichthyosaur and remarks on how his specimen is far superior. Elizabeth doesn’t intend to reveal herself until she hears him say: “Ladies are not equipped to look at such things so carefully as men” (215). Then, Elizabeth whips around to defend Mary’s hard work and intelligence. She wants to speak to him regarding the Annings, so Louise and Margaret distract Mrs. Taylor, though Margaret has gone pale with fright. Colonel Birch asks Elizabeth why she hasn’t responded to his letter, and she replies angrily that he never responded to Molly’s letter. She explains their dire financial situation due to his taking advantage of Mary’s skills. He admits that he has no money to pay them, and Elizabeth says that he can at least give Mary the ichthyosaur so she might sell it; this would prevent them from losing everything. Colonel Birch says he received an anonymous letter stating that he should marry Mary; Elizabeth didn’t send it, so she knows it was from Margaret. Elizabeth’s own forthrightness surprises her, but afterward, she is proud of herself for standing up for the Annings and herself. Margaret apologizes profusely for sending the letter, but her interference angers Elizabeth.

Still in London, Elizabeth learns from her brother that Colonel Birch is auctioning off his fossil collection at Bullock’s. Elizabeth asks her brother to accompany her to see the artifacts on display, and while there, she sees Mr. Buckland, whom Cuvier commissioned to purchase an ichthyosaurus skull. Colonel Birch spots Elizabeth, but she tells John she feels faint and escapes outside. On the auction day, Elizabeth sneaks out of the house and walks to Bullock’s alone. However, in London, it is unacceptable for women to walk alone, and Elizabeth is so overcome with anxiety that she hides in a cab. At the auction, Elizabeth watches as Bullock quickly sells every piece of Colonel Birch’s collection, including Mary’s ichthyosaur, which is purchased by the Royal College of Surgeons for 100 pounds. Colonel Birch sees Elizabeth in the crowd and takes the microphone to thank everyone for contributing, as all the funds will be donated to the Anning family in Lyme Regis. He praises Mary for her skill in finding many of the fossils and calls her “possibly the most remarkable young woman [he has] had the privilege to meet in the fossil world” (236). As Elizabeth rushes from the room, several people mistake her for Mary Anning. Once inside the cab, Elizabeth bursts into tears.