io6 WATER REPTILES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT 



an expert swimmer appears, to the present writer, improbable. 

 The powerful front legs may be indicative of digging habits; the 

 animal may have used them as an aid to its powerful jaws and 

 tusks in uprooting marsh and water plants. However, Lystro- 

 saurus, whatever may have been its habits, was a curious reptile. 

 It was about three feet in length, massive in all its structure, and 

 doubtless of slow, and sluggish gait. 



