102 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



one is broken midway between tip and base; 

 and that it was broken during life is evident 

 from the fact that the stump is healed and 

 rounded over, while the size of the horns shows 

 that their owner reached a ripe old age. 



For, unlike man and the higher vertebrates, 

 reptiles and fishes do not have a maximum 

 standard of size which is soon reached and 

 rarely exceeded, but continue to grow 

 throughout life, so that the size of a turtle, a 

 crocodile, or a Dinosaur tells something of the 

 duration of its life. 



Before quitting Triceratops let us glance for 

 a moment at its skeleton. Now among other 

 things a skeleton is the solution of a problem 

 in mechanics, and in Triceratops the head so 

 dominates the rest of the structure that one 

 might almost imagine the skull was made first 

 and the body adjusted to it. The great head 

 seems made not only for offence and defence ; 

 the spreading frill serves for the attachment 

 of muscles to sustain the weight of the skull, 

 while the work of the muscles is made easier 

 by the fact that the frill reaches so far back 

 of the junction of head with neck as to largely 



