THE CHALK PERIOD 



enough to allow the continued progress of the land 

 reptiles, though even here the sea reptiles seem to have 

 done best. The great Dinosaurs still kept in the fore- 

 front, but they were not quite so pre-eminent as hereto- 

 fore. The flesh-eating forms were less abundant, though 

 among them an enormous kangaroo-like reptile, fifteen 

 feet long, made its appearance; The Dryptosaurus must 

 have been speedy, very powerful, and its habits must 

 have made it appear like an ogre in seven-league boots to 

 its smaller inoffensive neighbours. The Spoonbill Dino- 

 saurs (Hadrosaurus) were very curious creatures, who also 

 faintly resembled a kangaroo, but had enormous lower 

 parts and crocodile-like tails. 



But the most singular development appeared in the 

 Ceratops family of the vegetarian reptiles, particularly in 

 the genus called Triceratops. These were very large 

 quadrupeds with enormous skulls which stretched back 

 over the neck and shoulders in an enormous cape or hood 

 of bone. Added to this was a sharp parrot-like beak, a 

 stout horn on the nose, a pair of large pointed horns on 

 the top of the head, and a row of projections round the 

 edge of the cape. The Triceratops wanted all the protec- 

 tion it could get, for it had no intelligence worth men- 

 tioning. Professor Marsh remarks that they had the 

 largest heads and the smallest brains of the reptile 

 race. 



The heavy armour of the head of the Triceratops 

 must have been developed for purposes of attack and 

 defence, but we do not know whether it was for fighting 

 their own species or for protection against the carnivorous 



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