io6 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



deal of confusion and trouble in the end; and, moreover, would be 

 far more truly scientific. For what right has any one, however 

 great his knowledge or his ability, to dictate to Nature, and to 

 say this or that is impossible that no reptile, for instance, 

 could possibly have flown ; or that such and such teeth were 

 impossible for a reptile ? 



We now know that there was a time when certain reptiles 

 did fly (although many people with some pretensions to know- 

 ledge doubted the evidence). And so with regard to reptilian 

 teeth ; fossil evidence shows that some old reptiles had teeth 

 more like those of modern mammals ! Facts such as these 

 should teach caution, and every student of palaeontology will 

 do well to remember the saying of Agassiz : " The possibilities 

 of existence run so deeply into the extravagant that there is 

 scarcely any conception too extraordinary for Nature to realise." 



The chief characters of the Anomodonts may be briefly stated 

 as follows : In this order the body is lizard-like, and the limbs 

 are adapted for walking. The skull is comparatively short, and 

 the nasal openings are large. The teeth are generally placed in 

 distinct sockets (thecodont). The bodies of the vertebrae are 

 hollow at both ends (amphiccelous), and in some cases are only 

 partly converted into bone a character which is common to the 

 Labyrinthodonts. The whole structure of the foot is distinctly 

 on the mammalian plan. Eecent researches show that these 

 animals are descended from Labyrinthodonts, and more especially 

 the family of which Archegosaurus is a member (see p. 96). 

 Certain important characters show (strange as it may seem) 

 affinity with mammals ; and it is probable that they are related 

 to the lowest group of them, as represented at the present day 

 by that remarkable creature the Spiny Ant-eater of Australia 

 (Echidna), and the wonderful Duck-mole (Ornithorhyuchus), 



