THE DINOSAURS 101 



looking him squarely in the face, one notices 

 in front of each eye a thick guard of projecting 

 bone, and while this must have interfered with 

 vision directly ahead it must have also fur- 

 nished protection for the eye. So long as Tri- 

 ceratops faced an adversary he must have 

 been practically invulnerable, but as he was 

 the largest animal of his time, upward of 

 twenty-five feet in length, it is probable that 

 his combats were mainly with those of his own 

 kind and the subject of dispute some fair fe- 

 male upon whom two rival suitors had cast 

 covetous eyes. What a sight it would have 

 been to have seen two of these big brutes in 

 mortal combat as they charged upon each 

 other with all the impetus to be derived from 

 ten tons of infuriate flesh ! We may picture to 

 ourselves horn clashing upon horn, or glancing 

 from each bony shield until some skilful stroke 

 or unlucky slip placed one combatant at the 

 mercy of the other, and he went down before 

 the blows of his adversary *' as falls on JNIount 

 Alvernus a thunder-smitten oak." 



A pair of Triceratops horns in the National 

 Museum bears witness to such encounters, for 



