Chapter 4 

 REPTILES 



In 1887 Mr. George L. Cannon, the well known teacher of 

 Denver, obtained not far from that city part of a large skull, 

 with long, tapering, nearly straight horn cores. Recognizing 

 that he had something very unusual, he submitted it to Professor 

 O. C. Marsh, of Yale University, who could only imagine that 

 the specimen represented some extinct type of buffalo. He ac- 

 cordingly described it as Bison allicornis, or the high-horned 

 bison. Two years later, practically complete skulls of the same 

 animal were discovered in Wyoming, and it was seen that they 

 represented no bison, but a gigantic reptile of vastly greater 

 antiquity. This was accordingly named Triceratops, the name 

 referring to three horns, there being a smaller one on the nose. 

 As Gilmore (1922) remarks, we must not be too critical of Marsh 

 for his error, because at the time no one suspected that such 

 extraordinary creatures had ever existed. Collectively, these 

 gigantic animals are termed Dinosaurs, or "terrible reptiles." 

 They were exceedingly powerful, but stupid, with very small 

 brains. Some were carnivorous, others herbivorous. Whether 

 the evolving mammals took to eating their eggs, or they ran 

 short of food, or perished of disease, we do not know, but they 

 died out at the end of Mesozoic time. From this period up to 

 the present day the reptiles have been relatively insignificant as 

 compared with the dominant birds and mammals. Yet we have 

 a considerable number of species in Colorado, many of them well 

 adapted to live in dry situations. These are referred to two 

 great Orders, the Testudinata or tortoises and turtles, and the 

 Squamata, or snakes (Suborder Serpen tes) and lizards (Sub- 

 order Lacertilia).* Some authors raise the snakes and lizards 

 to the rank of separate orders, which would give us three in all. 



The terrestrial Box- tortoise (Terrapene ornata of Agassiz), 

 with high rounded carapace, is not rare east of the front range. 

 A closely related form, with three instead of four toes on the 

 hind feet (T. Carolina triunguis of Agassiz) is recorded by Ellis 



The Crocodilia or Crocodiles, now known from warmer regions, once existed in Colo- 

 rado. In the Morrison beds, near Morrison, a skull has been found and named Goniopholi* 

 felix (Marsh); while the same rocks near Canon City have furnished vertebrae and ribs, de- 

 scribed as Goniopholis lucasii (Cope). 



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