CHAPTER XXIV. 



CONTINUED BY COPE — THE (ilANTS OF THE SEAS — TAKING OCT FOSSILS IN A GALE — 

 INTERESTING DISCOVERIES — THE GEOLOGY OF THE PLAINS. 



THE giants of the Pythonomorphs of Kansas 

 have been called Liodon proriger (Co^^e) and 

 Liodon dyspehr (Cope). The first must have been 

 abundant, and its length could not have been far 

 from sixty feet, certainly not less. Its physiognomy 

 was rendered peculiar by a long projecting muzzle, 

 reminding one of that of the blunt-nosed sturgeon of 

 our coast, but the resemblance was destroyed by the 

 correspondingly massive end of the branches of the 

 lower jaw. Though clumsy in appearance, such an 

 arrangement must have been etfective as a ram, and 

 dangerous to his enemies in case of collision. The 

 writer once found the wreck of an individual of this 

 species strewn around a sunny knoll beside a bluif, 

 and his conic snout, pointing to the heavens, formed 

 a fitting monument, as at once his favorite weapon, 

 and the mark distinguishing all his race. 



Very different was the Liodon dyspeJor, a still 

 larger animal than the last, with a formidable arma- 

 ture. It was indeed the longest of known reptiles, 

 and probably equal to the great tinner whale of 

 modern oceans. The circumstances attending the 



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