Animals Before Man 



tributed and the continents probably united dur- 

 ing the Jurassic period, for it is very improb- 

 able that such strange animals should have origi- 

 nated independently in two parts of the world. 



Other species of dinosaurs there were, some 

 like Laosaurus, small, some like Camptosaurus, 

 of considerable bulk; but those just described 

 are either the most striking or the best known. 

 And here the story of the dinosaurs may rest 

 for the present. In the chapters on Fishes and 

 Amphibians species of two or more periods were 

 considered together, the better to round out 

 their history, and because they constituted the 

 characteristic life of the various epochs. But 

 while dinosaurs continued on through the Creta- 

 ceous, the forms were few and did not dominate 

 the period as in the Jurassic. On the other 

 hand, they helped swell the extraordinary va- 

 riety of Cretaceous life, and their presence is 

 necessary to complete the picture of the life of 

 that time. 



A few words may be said concerning the 

 foliage which formed a background for the 

 dinosaurs. Old types of vegetation still lin- 



172 



