68o 



Dritte Sitzung der sechsten Sektion. 



saurs, but on the contrary is often found isolated or in Company 

 with the bipedal unarmored herbivores Camptosaurus, the nearest 

 equivalent of the European Iguanodon, and the fleet Dryosaurus, 

 and of carnivores, the agile Coelurus and the bloodthirsty Allo- 

 saurus, the latter being doubtless its greatest enemy. 



- ; I imagine much of the bizarre character of the armor of Stego- 

 saurus was due to the over specialization accompanying racial old 

 age but it was nevertheless in many respects admirably adapted 

 to meet on a more or less equal footing the huge well armed car- 

 nivore just mentioned. It would seem as though Stegosaurus in- 



Fig. 4. Right side of model clothed with the skin. 



stead of presenting his front to the enemy turned the rear, pos- 

 sibly crouching low in front as the crocodile does and with vigo- 

 rous sweeps of the terrific tail impaled the exposed ventral portion 

 of the bipedal carnivore upon the caudal spines and sharp-edged 

 plates. 



The long hind limbs imply a rather rapid progression while 

 the powerful fore limbs were not only for locomotion purposes 

 but for rapidly pivoting the body to prevent either frontal or 

 flank attack. An encounter between Allosaurus and Stegosaurus 

 would have rivaled the most sanguinary gladiatorial combat ever 

 seen in Rome. 



Of the evolutionary history of Stegosaurus we know but little. 

 It seems, however, to have been a migrant from Europe, having 



