EARTH DRAGONS. 179 



attachment, some two feet, and probably formed an 

 immovable but fin-like crest along the back. In 

 Naosaurus these spines acquire a still more 

 eccentric character developing some half dozen 

 cross-pieces, like the yards of a ship's mast. 

 What part these could have played is a mystery ! 



We must turn now to a very different group 

 of Reptiles, long celebrated both on account of 

 their bizarre shape, as well as for the colossal 

 size which many of them attained. It has been 

 suggested indeed that the numerous legends of 

 dragons handed down to us from remote times 

 are founded upon remains of these creatures, 

 which may have been unearthed by unsophis- 

 ticated people with a love for the marvellous. 

 Mythical these stories undoubtedly are, in so far 

 as they affect to record the conflicts which have 

 taken place between men and beasts of this kind, 

 inasmuch as the advent of man took place some 

 millions of years after the last of these monsters 

 had ceased to exist, nevertheless the author of 

 the first fable may have been inspired by the 

 discovery of the remains of some unusually well- 

 preserved fossil. But whether or no, they are 

 the dragons indicated in the title chosen for this 

 chapter. To the serious student they are known 

 as Dinosaurs terrible Eeptiles an appropriate 

 name enough ! 



As touching their origin, we may remark that 

 they arose during the Triassic period, as Dr 

 Smith Woodward reminds us, as a race of land 

 reptiles, " at first so generalised that it is dinicult- 

 to separate them from the Hhyncocephalia (p. 

 11) and Crocodilia, but afterwards constituting 



