READING RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS 135 
tective coloration as well, unless indeed a 
creature preyed upon others, when it might be 
_advantageous to enable a predatory animal to 
_ steal upon its prey. 
Color often exists (or is supposed to) as a 
- sexual characteristic, to render the male of a 
species attractive to, or readily recognizable 
_by, the female, but in the case of large animals 
mere size is quite enough to render them con- 
spicuous, and possibly this may be one of the 
factors in the dull coloration of large animals. 
So while a green and yellow Triceratops 
would undoubtedly have been a conspicuous 
_ feature in the Cretaceous landscape, from what 
_we know of existing animals it seems best to 
curb our fancy and, so far as large Dinosaurs 
are concerned, employ the colors of a Rem- 
brandt rather than those of a sign painter. 
Aids, or at least hints, to the coloration of 
extinct animals are to be found in the colora- 
tion of the young of various living species, for 
as the changes undergone by the embryo are 
in a measure an epitome of the changes under- 
gone by a species during its evolution, so the 
brief color phases or markings of the young 
