146 STOHY OF THE REPTILES 



Later, other lizards lost their legs also, but thej did 

 not go in the snakeward direction in other respects. 



Lizards themselves are the basic oi-der, and thej 

 had many different representatives in the long-ago. 

 Along with the Tuatera and its order, and the croco- 

 diles of the old rocks, the lizards had some very 

 modern-shaped forms in ancient times ; but the most 

 interesting kinds were such as were peculiar to those 

 ages — the giants of those days. 



It is remarkable that in this group of great mon- 

 sters Nature ran nearly the entire scale of present 

 vertebrate shapes as though she were trying her hand 

 roughly, or as if the surroundings then were forcing 

 her soft and pliable materials into the type-foi*ms 

 of the future. Plere were fish-forms, serpent-forms, 

 the true or typical reptile-forms, the beast- or mam- 

 mal-forms and the bird-forms. This last took on 

 two manifestations — one in the fore limbs, the other 

 in the hind limbs. Roundly we may say these 

 monsters were sea-haunters, land-haunters, and air- 

 haunters. 



If we draw circles to represent kinships we shall 

 see that the reptiles really touch all the other groups 

 and may cut into them a little way (Fig. 04). 



AVe have already spoken of the Theromorphs^ 

 whose teeth at least were so much like those of mam- 

 mals. It does not follow that they were the ancestors 

 of our present carnivorous beasts, but the same con- 

 ditions produced these then which later made the 

 mammals. They were, however, among the earliest 

 reptiles, and had in them the possibilities of all 



