RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS 49 



wrecks of galleys lie strewn over the bed of 

 the Mediterranean. For a time the armor- 

 clad fishes held undisputed sway ; then their 

 reign was ended by the coming of the sharks, 

 who in their turn gave way to the fish-lizards, 

 the Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs. These, how- 

 ever, were rather local in their rule ; but the 

 next gi'oup of reptiles to appear on the scene, 

 the great marine reptiles called JMosasaurs, 

 practically extended their empire around the 

 world, from New Zealand to North America. 



We properly call these reptiles great, for so 

 they were ; but there are degrees of greatness, 

 and there is a universal tendency to think of 

 the animals that have become extinct as much 

 greater than those of the present day, to mag- 

 nify the reptile that we never saw as well as 

 the fish that " got away," and it may be safely 

 said that the greatest of animals will shrink 

 before a two-foot rule. As a matter of fact, 

 no animals are known to have existed that 

 were larger than the whales ; and, while there 

 are now no reptiles that can compare in bulk 

 with the Dinosaurs, there were few Mosasaurs 

 that exceeded in size a first-class Crocodile. 



