i8o 



WATER REPTILES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT 



the breeding of their young. Their chief water adaptations are 

 seen in the elongate face and flattened swimming tail. Their legs 

 remained essentially terrestrial, and could have been of but little 

 use in the water for propulsion; the feet even were doubtfully 

 webbed, or if so, not more than arc those of the alligator. 

 Singularly, like the proganosaurs, their ribs were heavy and 

 stout, also suggesting bottom-crawling habits, like those of the 



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Fig. 88. — Restoration of Champsosaiirus 



living Galapagos lizards. The skull was lightly built, and the face 

 was long and slender, like that of the gavials and proganosaurs; 

 but, like those of the former and unlike those of the latter, the 

 nostrils were situated at the extreme tip. The hind legs were 

 firmly attached to the body by the sacrum; and no sclerotic bones 

 of the eyes have been discovered. The neck was neither unusually 

 long nor unusually short. The body was probably covered with 

 hornv scales. 



