H6 EXTINCT MONSTERS 



Another piece of evidence is the known fact that Dinosaurs were 

 abundant in the succeeding Jurassic period. Judging from the 

 size of some of the footprints, it would appear that not a few of 

 the Triassic forms attained large dimensions. And, if the strata 

 had been more favourable, we should have had more of them pre- 

 served. Belodon, described in the author's Creatures of Other 

 Days as a crocodile, has been proved by recent discoveries in 

 America to be a Dinosaur of Triassic age. 



We pass on to consider the very interesting and huge forms 

 included by the late Professor Marsh (of Yale College), in 

 his suborder Sauropoda, or lizard-footed Dinosaurs. Various 

 parts of the skeletons, such as vertebrae, leg-bones, etc., of these 

 cumbrous beasts have long been known in this country ; but 

 Professor Marsh was the first person to discover a complete 

 skeleton. 



We shall, therefore, now turn our attention to the bony frame- 

 work of the huge Brontosaurus (Fig. 50), a vegetable-feeding lizard. 

 But it will be necessary to completely lay aside all our previous 

 notions taken from lizards of the present day, with their short 

 legs and snake-like scaly bodies, before we can come to any fair 

 conclusion with regard to this monstrous beast. 



It was nearly sixty feet long, and probably when alive weighed 

 more than thirty-eight tons! that it was a stupid, slow-moving 

 reptile, may be inferred from its very small brain and slender 

 spinal cord. By taking casts of the brain-cavities in the skulls of 

 extinct animals, anatomists can obtain a very good idea of the 

 nature and capacity of their brains ; and in this way important 

 evidence is obtained, and such as helps to throw light upon their 

 habits and general intelligence. No bony plates or spines have 

 been discovered with the remains of this monster ; so that we are 

 driven to conclude that it was wholly without armour : and, 



