DRAGONS OF OLD TIME 151 



water, and could use its powerful tail in swimming, we may 

 perhaps find a way out of the difficulty by supposing that, when 

 alarmed by dangerous flesh-eating foes, it took to the water, and 

 found discretion to be the better part of valour. Although 

 apparently stupid, the Brontosaur probably possessed a good deal 

 of cunning, and we can fancy it stretching its long neck above 

 reeds, ferns, and cycads to get a view of the approaching 

 enemy. 



The remains of this interesting Dinosaur (Brontosaurus), which 

 in several ways differs from other members of the " lizard-footed " 

 group, were found in Upper Jurassic beds, near Canon City, 

 Colorado. A second smaller species was also discovered near 

 Morrison, Colorado. All the remains lay in the Atlantosaurus 

 beds. These strata the tomb in which Nature has buried up 

 so many of her dragons of old time can be traced for several 

 hundred miles on the flanks of the Eocky Mountains, and are 

 always to be known by the bones they contain. They lie above 

 the Triassic strata and just below the Sandstone of the Dakota 

 group. Some have regarded them as of Cretaceous age; but, 

 judging from their fossils, there can be but little doubt that they 

 were deposited during the Jurassic period probably in an old 

 estuary. They consist of shale and sandstone. 



Besides the numerous Dinosaurs, Professor Marsh's colleagues 

 have found abundant remains of crocodiles, tortoises, and fishes, 

 with one Pterodactyl, a flying reptile (see Chap. XI.), and several 

 small marsupials. The wonderful collection of American Jurassic 

 Dinosaurs in the Museum of Yale College includes the remains 

 of several hundred individuals, many of them in excellent pre- 

 servation, and has afforded to Professor Marsh the material for 

 his classification already alluded to. 



For a good many years past the State of Wyoming has been 



