586 THE UNIVERSE. 



epoch that the name of the Eeptilian Age may be most 

 appropriately given, so com2:)letely did these creatures 

 then predominate on the globe; it Avas the age of the Icthy- 

 osauri, t1ie Plesiosauri, and the Mosasauri — a throng of 

 frightful lizards, comj^ared to which our own are mere pig- 

 mies, and which spread terror through the antediluvian seas. 



At this period we see innumerable molluscs, the shells 

 of which have Ijeen carefully preserved by the rocks. 

 Some belong to genera which are no longer met with in 

 our present seas; all to species which are absolutely 

 unknown at the present day. 



Already at the time we speak of, the previous extreme 

 heat of the earth had declined. The sky had grown 

 clearer and the atmosphere become less heavy; still there 

 was a decidedly high temperature, which, combined with 

 great humidity, favoured the luxuriant vegetation which 

 developed itself vigorously under the influence of the 

 luminous brightness of the sun. 



The more ancient of the secondary rocks have interested 

 geologists on account of the innumeraljle remains of shells 

 which they contain, and owing to which they have been 

 named conchylian.^ 



At the time when these strata were being deposited 

 lived (Uie of the most extraordinary reptiles that we know 

 (if It was a kind of monster toad, so enormous as to 

 equal an ox in size, and the teeth of v.diich, resembling 

 the windings of a maze, have procured it the name of 

 Laltyrinthodon. The strata of this ancient epoch have con- 

 trilaited to teach us some even of the anatomical details 

 of this animal, having preserved the impressions of its 



1 This era most proljably means here the coarse, shelly limestone of the forest 

 marble, and the great oolite ; possibly also including the muschelkalk of German 

 geolorists. — Tr. 



