The Cretaceous Seas 161 



ram. His head is five feet long. See his four 

 powerful paddles begin to move ! his eel-like tail 

 is longer than head and trunk combined. Watch 

 its graceful and rapid undulations." "My," 

 cried Maud, "it is larger than the storied sea 

 serpents of sailors and seaside resorts. It must 

 be fifty feet long." "Fully that," I answered. 

 "I wonder what has started him off in such a 

 hurry? "What does that streak of foam mean 

 yonder?" asked my companion. It is another 

 saurian coming to battle, dear," I answered. 

 The scene was indeed exciting. We clapped our 

 hands and shouted encouragement to our 

 'saurian as he lashed the water, and beat it 

 into a foam, that floated behind in a long curling 

 wake. Or patches were caught up by the passing 

 breeze and wafted away as lightly as the bubbles 

 children love to blow. We had ascended the 

 point as we rounded it, and so are high enough 

 to watch the battle royal. As they come together 

 like colliding express trains, our reptile plunges 

 his bony ram into the quivering flesh of his 

 opponent, piercing heart and lungs. Withdraw- 

 ing his ram, he lingers near while the dying 

 mosasaur redens the salty brine with his life- 

 blood. A few convulsive struggles, and he lies 

 a helpless mass on the surface, while his victor 

 hies away to other conquests. "I never knew 

 these Tylosaurs grew to such huge dimensions," 

 said Maud, "You know the one in the American 

 Museum is only about thirty feet long, and that 



