38 The Edmonton Beds 



A low country but little above sea level, great 

 flats near the sea covered with high swamp grass, 

 rushes and moss, through which meander slug- 

 gish streams, lagoons, and bayous, often widen- 

 ing out into lakes of considerable size, all receiv- 

 ing the high and low tides of the near by ocean. 

 On the rising land the giant redwoods cast their 

 shadows across the silent streams. They grow 

 in fairy circles with the parent tree in the center 

 often, or in case she has dropped out, a hollow 

 circle is formed. Palms, sycamores, figs, mag- 

 nolias and many other trees that now adorn our 

 forests thrived along the Cretaceous everglades. 

 Such an environment was the home of the ancient 

 dinosaurs. They were the rulers of land and wat- 

 er. There were many soft-shelled turtles in the 

 streams, as well as countless gar pike and stur- 

 geon. The scene was a vast panorama of beauty. 

 The sheen of the water, the salt-meadows of liv- 

 ing green, the dark forests moaning in the back 

 ground, and over all, the sun revolving on its 

 western course. Perhaps our imagination has 

 carried us back to a bayou of the Edmonton 

 Cretaceous. Yes! See yonder the foam ripple 

 off the huge back and tail of a swimming reptile, 

 a duck-billed dinosaur or trachodont! He is 

 rapidly approaching a specially seductive patch 

 of horse tail rushes just across the bayou from us. 

 ^he enormous head, over three feet in length, 

 swings gracefully on a long delicate curved neck, 

 his front limbs, six feet long, and hind ones eight. 



