THE DINOSAURS 93 



animals, singular even for Dinosaurs. They had 

 diminutive heads, small fore legs, long tails armed on 

 either side near the tip, with two pairs of large spines, 

 while from these spines to the neck ran series of large, 

 but thin, and sharp-edged plates standing on edge, so 

 that their backs looked like the bottom of a boat 

 provided with a number of little centreboards. These 

 plates were arranged in two rows down the back, but 

 what is most extraordinary is that they were not dis- 

 posed in pairs, but alternately, a method not known to 

 occur in any other animal. 



The largest of these plates were two feet in height and 

 length, and not more than an inch thick, except at the 

 base, where they were enlarged and roughened to give a 

 firm hold to the thick skin in which they were imbedded. 

 Be it remembered, too, that these plates and spines 

 were doubtless covered with horn, so that they were 

 even longer in life than as we now see them. The tail 

 spines varied in length, according to the species, from 

 eight or nine inches to nearly three feet, and some of 

 them have a diameter of six inches at the base. They 

 were swung by a tail eight to ten feet long, and as a 

 visitor was heard to remark, one wouldn't like to be 

 about such an animal in fly time. 



The discoveries of the past twenty years have brought 

 to light many new dinosaurs, as well as material that 

 has enabled us to complete our knowledge of others 

 that were imperfectly known. 



Chief among these is Tyrannosaurus, mightiest of all 

 animals that have walked the face of the earth, reaching 

 to a length of 47 feet, standing 18 to 20 feet high, its 

 powerful legs ending in long, sharp claws and its massive 

 jaws bristling with curved, doubled-edged teeth, three 

 to six inches in length. The creature well deserves the 

 name Tyrannosaurus rex (King of the Tyrant Reptiles) 



