176 



THE CHAIN OF LIFE. 



of them must have been herbivorous, and probably slow in 

 movement and quiet in nature. Others were carnivorous and 

 of terrible energy, while furnished with the most destructive 

 weapons (Figs. 152, 153). Many had the power of erecting 

 themselves on their hind -feet and walking as bipeds ; and to 

 adapt them to this end their hinder limbs were very large and 

 strong, and they had long pillar-like tails, while their fore- 

 feet were comparatively small, and used perhaps mainly for 

 prehension (Figs. 151, 154). 



The size of some of these creatures was stupendous. The 



Fig. 152.— Jaws of Megalosaurus.—Mt&r Phillips. One-tenth natural size. 



Badrosaunis of New]QTseyf an Herbivorous species (Fig. 151), 

 when erected on its hind limbs and tail, must have stood more 

 than twenty feet in height. Megalosaurus and Igtmnodon, of the 

 English Jurassic and Wealden, must have been of still more 

 gigantic size. The former was a carnivorous animal, its head 

 (Fig. 152) four or five feet in length, armed with teeth, sabre- 

 shaped, sharp and crenate on the edges (Fig. 153), its hind 

 limbs of enormous power, so that if our imagination does not 

 fail US in the attempt to realise such a wonder, we may even 



