SOME AMERICAN MONSTERS. 161 
This strange group of creatures flourished in great numbers on 
the borders of an old lake of Miocene age. The Brontops was 
a heavy massive animal, larger than any of the Dinocerata, with a 
length of twelve feet, not including the tail, and a height of eight 
feet. The limbs are shorter than those of the elephant, which it 
nearly equalled in size. As in the tapir, there were four toes to the 
front limbs, and three to the hind limbs. Its skull was of a peculiar 
shape, shallow, and very large. ‘That of Brontops ingens is thirty- 
Fic. 45.—Skeleton of Broztops robustus. (After Marsh.) 
six inches long, and twenty inches between the tips of the two 
horns, or protuberances. ‘Fhe creature was probably provided 
with an elongated, flexible nose, like that of the tapir, but not 
longer, because the length of the neck shows that it could reach 
the ground without the aid of a trunk such as the elephant’s. It 
is doubtful if the two prominences on the front of the skull were 
provided with horns, for, if directed forwards, they would interfere 
with the animal when grazing. 
M 
