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THE STORY OF REPTILE LIFE. 



rival males when fighting for the females of their 

 choice, as is the case among the horned ruminants 

 of the present day, or whether they were used 

 defensively against their giant carnivorous 

 relatives, we, of course, shall never know. Be 

 this as it may, their presence seems to argue 

 considerable activity on the part of the wearers 

 thereof. A fight between a couple of infuriated 



FIG. 15. Outline restoration of an extinct gigantic Land-dragon 

 (Stegosaurus). Note the remarkable double row of plates running 

 down the back, and the huge spines on the tail. After a drawing 

 by C. E. Knight. 



beasts of this description would have been an 

 exciting scene to witness ! 



Still more remarkable animals in many respects 

 were the Stegosaurs, from the Upper Jurassic 

 of Colorado. The largest of these was about 

 twenty feet long. The head, unlike that of 

 Triceratops, was remarkably small, whilst the 

 brain seems to have been smaller, in proportion 

 to the size of the animal, than in any other land 

 animal. The armature consisted of a double row 

 of enormous bony plates running along the back, 

 from the neck to the base of the tail, in the form 



