The_Resurrectionist_The_Lost_Work_of_Dr

KINGDOM Animalia
PHYLUM Vertebrata
CLASS Echidnæ
ORDER Praesidium
FAMILY Incendium
GENUS Chimæra
SPECIES Chimæra incendiarius
WHAT CHALLENGE LIES before whoever ponders this beast! Why would nature require
it to be shaped in such a fashion? Its form is confounding and distasteful. Nonetheless, all
mysteries ought to be solved; their secrets should be revealed.
Without having the great privilege and scientific benefit of studying the creature whilst it was alive
and moving before me, I am unable to understand how it managed the apparent dilemma of three
brains, three wills, and only one body to command. This is a great point of intrigue to me, and a
burden on my ever-increasingly curious studies.
I find it baffling that the tail of the creature has the structure of that belonging to a serpent, and yet
the chimæra has none of a serpent’s functionality; it could neither slither nor coil upon the ground. I
suspect that the tail is merely a system used for balance.
The musculature of the lion’s head seems to outweigh (by measure of weight, proportion, and
tension) the other two heads. I concluded that the central vertebral joint, the trithoracic vertebra, can
resist enough torsion to accommodate the animal moderately but not effectively.
The diet is another curiosity. All three heads, whose origins are from creatures of differing diets,
must surely share a common digestive tract and other similar requirements for basic functionality. I
imagine there must have been ample opportunity to benefit from such an arrangement; the goat could
graze whilst the lion rested, perhaps.
It is likely that a more modest, necessary, and adaptable animal evolved from the chimæra, though I
have no evidence to that end. It is my belief that the chimæra could not have survived a respectable
length of time in its environment.