THE BRONTOSAUR AND ITS COUSINS 6i 



largely the palm-like trees called "cycads" — spread 

 luxuriantly, as the cold retreated from level to level. 

 Large yellow flowers, the first touch of colour (except 

 dark green) the earth had yet known, responded to 

 the bright sun. These I will reserve for a later chap- 

 ter, and the reader must go to larger books for the 

 names and pictures of the new plants. It is enough 

 here to say that in the new Golden Age the vegetation 

 wove once more a thick mantle over the earth, and 

 food became again enormously abundant. 



The height of the land explained the cold. The 

 lowness of it now explains the warmth. It was as if, 

 in our great struggle of land and water, the land, 

 which seemed to triumph in the Permian Revolution, 

 was again worsted for a time. This may remind you 

 of the French Revolution, and it is a very good 

 parallel to remember. The sluggish old types of 

 monarchs were dethroned at the Permian Revolution, 

 with great bloodshed, and progressive new rulers of 

 the earth were introduced (the bird and the mammal). 

 But there was a great reaction, and the sluggish old 

 monarchs cam^e back. The reptiles are now to lord 

 the earth for a few million years. The bird and 

 mammal will slink into such obscurity that we need 

 not notice them. To complete the parallel, we shall 

 see that this reaction will be shattered by a new 

 revolution (which we may compare to the revolution- 

 ary movement of 1830-2), then there will be a moder- 

 ate reaction, and finally another great revolution 



