CRETACEOUS PERIOD 99 



and Magogs resembled the bipedal dinosaurs of the last 

 Period. The males were peculiar in having the thumb 

 modified into a spur or spike, rigidly fixed at right angles to 

 the palm of the hand. The thumb, in fact, had become a 

 weapon, capable of inflicting severe wounds. It represented, 

 no doubt, a retaliatory movement. Herbivorous dinosaurs 

 had long been obliged to seek safety from carnivorous foes 

 in flight, or by passive resistance under cover of heavy 

 armour. Some of them at least were now capable of other 

 tactics. 



Big herbivorous dinosaurs, related to iguanodonts, were 

 living in North America {Claosaurus). These animals, how- 

 ever, were practically thumbless. Their tails were remarkably 

 thick and powerful. This stout appendage made with the 

 hind-limbs a sort of three-legged stool ; and the animals 

 could feed off their favourite trees, comfortably seated. They 

 were able to obtain much better food than hard cycads and 

 conifers, as will be noted presently. 



Carnivorous dinosaurs were well represented in the early 

 Cretaceous by descendants of horn-snouted Megalosaurus of 

 Jurassic fame. Later in the Period several allied forms were 

 in existence. Some of these were remarkably light and agile, 

 and must have caused the bulky vegetarians considerable 

 discomfort (Lcslaps). 



On the North American continent reptile-life, in later 

 Cretaceous times, was signalized by the appearance of some 

 wonderful herbivorous dinosaurs. And, as after events 

 proved, this was a last and supreme effort of the " terrible 

 lizards " to keep a foothold on earth. 



The most notable of these heroic brutes has been named 

 Triceratops — " the three-horned." This quadrupedal creature 

 had an enormous head, but very little in it in the form of 

 brains. The bone of the skull did not stop at the ordinary 

 limit, but — as a counterpoise to the frontal heaviness — was 

 continued over the neck in a manner suggestive of an 

 Ehzabethan collar. There was, however, nothing else 

 Ehzabethan about this quaint monster. Two sharp, 

 good-sized horns stuck out from his forehead, and a 

 small horn surmounted the snout. He was therefore well 



