Great iSalamanders and their Associates 



gles to the body. It is difficult to imagine 

 any use for these extraordinary vertebrae, and 

 it is quite likely that they were of no use — 

 that they Avere simply overdevelopments of 

 structures that may originally have served some 

 purpose. That they formed the supports of a 

 sort of fin that was used as a sail, is, with all 

 respect to the memory of Professor Cope, quite 

 out of the question. Also associated with the 

 great amphibians in Triassic times were croco- 

 diles, quite different from any now living, called 

 from their sharp teeth Belodonts, or dart-toothed. 

 "While they diifer mdely from modern croco- 

 diles in many parts of the skeleton, the differ- 

 ence most apparent to the untechnical observer 

 is that the nostrils open on the middle of the 

 long snout and not on the end. Equipped 

 equally for offense or defense, their bodies 

 were not only protected above by an armor of 

 bony plates, but on the under side as well. 

 Armor on the under side of the body was quite 

 a common feature in the early crocodiles, but it 

 is now found only in the South American 

 caimans. These reptiles, indeed, are even 



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