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 group of reptiles to appear on the scene, 
the great marine reptiles called Mosasaurs, 
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. 
