READING RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS 135 



tective coloration as well, unless indeed a 

 creature preyed upon others, when it might be 

 advantageous to enable a predatory animal to 

 steal upon its prey. 



Color often exists (or is supposed to) as a 

 sexual characteristic, to render the male of a 

 species attractive to, or readily recognizable 

 by, the female, but in the case of large animals 

 mere size is quite enough to render them con- 

 spicuous, and possibly this may be one of the 

 factors in the dull coloration of large animals. 



So while a green and yellow Triceratops 

 would undoubtedly have been a conspicuous 

 feature in the Cretaceous landscape, from what 

 we know of existing animals it seems best to 

 curb our fancy and, so far as large Dinosaurs 

 are concerned, employ the colors of a Rem- 

 brandt rather than those of a sign painter. 



Aids, or at least hints, to the coloration of 

 extinct animals are to be found in the colora- 

 tion of the young of various living species, for 

 as the changes undergone by the embryo are 

 in a measure an epitome of the changes under- 

 gone by a species during its evolution, so the 

 brief color phases or markings of the young 



