74 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



been taken by a higher type the mammal. As reptiles, they 

 were eminently a success ; but, then, they were only reptiles, and 

 therefore were at last left behind in the struggle for existence, 

 until finally they died out, at the end of the Cretaceous period, 

 when certain important geographical and other changes took 

 place, helping to cause the extinction of many other strange forms 

 of life, as we shall see later on. 



They had a wide geographical range; for their remains have 

 been discovered in Arctic regions, in Europe, India, Ceram, 

 North America, the east coast of Africa, Australia, New Zealand, 

 and Chili. 



In American deposits they are represented by certain toothless 

 forms, to which the names Sauranodon (" toothless lizard ") and 

 Baptanodon have been given. These have been discovered by 

 Professor Marsh, in the Jurassic strata of the Eocky Mountains. 

 They were eight or nine feet long, and in every other respect 

 resembled Ichthyosaurs. As we have endeavoured to indicate 

 in our illustration, the fish-lizards flourished in seas wherein 

 animal, and doubtless vegetable life was very abundant. Any 

 one who has collected fossils from the Lias of England will 

 have found how full it is of beautiful organic remains, such 

 as corals, mollusca, encrinites, sea-urchins, and other echinoids, 

 fishes, etc. 



The climate of this period in Europe was mild and genial, or 

 even semi-tropical. Coral reefs and coral islands varied the 

 landscape. There is just one more point of interest that ought 

 not to be omitted ; it refers to the manner in which these reptiles 

 of the Lias age met their deaths, and were thus buried up in 

 their rocky tombs. Sir Charles Lyell and other writers point out 

 that the individuals found in those strata must have met with a 

 sudden death and quick burial ; for if their uncovered bodies 



