THE ORIGIN OF MAN 67 



nevertheless we have seen the rise, slow culmina- 

 tion, and dramatic fall of one of the greatest na- 

 tions of antiquity. 



In the Jurassic, insects began to feed on the 

 plants, but as yet few visited the inconspicuous 

 flowers for their small amounts of honey. There 

 were as yet no butterflies, but the caddis-flies, 

 scorpion-flies and beetles were abundant. Other 

 kinds of insects known from this time are cicadas, 

 grasshoppers, locusts, cockroaches, ants and ter- 

 mites. The reptiles in this period attained a 

 higher and more diversified development than in 

 the Triassic. True lizards appeared with this 

 period and turtles were very abundant. One of 

 the most remarkable groups of Jurassic carnivor- 

 ous reptiles was that of the flying dragons or 

 pterosaurs (from the Greek words meaning 

 wing-lizard) . They appeared late in the Triassic 

 and were characteristic and important in the 

 Jurassic. They ranged in size from that of a 

 crow to three feet across the wings. The fore 



