48ri THE RESTORATION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. 



was made bv Mr. Knight, as well as a painting showing Triceratops as 

 nearly as he might l)e supposed to look amid his natural surroundmgs, 

 perhaps six million or more years ago. 



We have a goodl}' number of bones, though by no means an entire 

 skeleton, and yet we wish to complete the skeleton and incidentally to 

 form .some idea of the creature's habits. Now, we can interpret the 

 past only by a knowledge of the present, and it is b}^ carefully' studying 

 the skeletons of the animals of to-day that we can learn to read the 

 meaning of the symbols of bone left by the animals of a million yester- 

 days. Thus we tind that certain characters distinguish the bone of a 

 mammal from that of a bird, a reptile, or a fish, and these in turn from 

 one another, and this constitutes the A, B, C of comparative anatomy. 

 And, in a like manner, the bones of the various divisions of these main 

 groups have to a greater or l(\ss extent their own distinguishing char 

 acteristics. so that by first comparing the bones of extinct animals with 

 those of creatures that are now living we are enabled to recognize their 

 nearest existing relative, and then by comparing them with one another 

 we learn the relations they bore in the ancient world, liut it must be 

 boine in mind that some of the early l)easts were so very ditierent from 

 those of to-day that until ])r('tty much their entire structure was known 

 there was nothing with wliich to compare odd bones. Had but a single 

 incomplete specimen of Tiiceratops come to light we should be very 

 nuu-li in the dark concei'ning him. and although remains of some thirty 

 individuals have been discovered, these have been so imperfect that we 

 are very far from liaving all the information we need. A great part 

 of the head, with its formidable looking horns, is present, and although 

 the nose is gone we know from other specimens that it, too, was armed 

 with a knob or horn, and that the skull ended in a beak something like 

 that of a snapping turtle, though formed by a separate and extra bone. 

 Similarly the end of the lower jaw is lacking, ])ut we may be pretty 

 certain that it ended in a beak to match that of the skull. The large 

 leg bones of our specimen are mostly represented, for these being 

 among the more solid parts of the skeleton are more frequently pre- 

 served than any others, and though some are from one side and some 

 from another this matters not. If the hind legs were disproportion- 

 ateh' long it would indicate that our animal often or habitually Avalked 

 erect, but as there is only difference enough between the fore and hind 

 limbs to enaV)le Triceratops to browse comfortabh' from the ground, we 

 would naturally place him on all fours, even were the skull not so large 

 as to make the creature too top-heav}^ for any other mode of locomo- 

 tion. Were the limbs very small in comparison with the other bones, 

 it would obviousl}' mean that their owner passed his life in the water, 

 for a skeleton is the solution of a problem in mechanics — given a cer- 

 tain amount of weight to support, and there must be limbs of a given 

 size if this weight is to be carried on drv land. If the animal is buoj' ed 



