THE AGE OF REPTILES 



or Palaeozoic rocks came to an end and the Mesozoic 

 or Middle Period began. 



The Middle period of strata and of the life which those 

 strata have preserved has usually been separated from the 

 older rocks because, owing to the great period of arid 

 desert conditions, the character of life changed a great 

 deal; but fuller knowledge shows that the links were 

 still there, and that ceaseless adaptation of animals to 

 their surroundings was ceaselessly going on. We need not 

 follow closely all the changes and relationships, and only 

 much greater knowledge than geologists yet possess will 

 enable them to trace all the alterations of the land and sea. 

 But we may trace the alterations in the appearance of the 

 continents in broad outline. Nearly the whole extent of 

 the British Isles was now above the sea, and was enjoying 

 a climate perhaps as cold as present-day Iceland. To the 

 south and east of Scotland was a great shallow inland lake, 

 while north of Great Britain a huge plain stretched across 

 Europe. To the south of the lake was a belt of land, 

 and farther south still the sea had invaded Italy and 

 reached to Southern Germany, and in this sea was being 

 laid down the limestone which in later eras was to be 

 elevated into the mountains of the Apennines, the Alps, 

 and the Pyrenees. North Africa was under water, but 

 farther south the uplifted lands were joining hands with 

 India. Sea swept part of Asia, but North America was 

 larger and broader than it is now, her western coast 

 stretching farther out into the ocean. 



In this period, which is called the Triassic (the name 

 given to it by the German geologist Bronn because of the 



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