90 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
Like the reptiles of to-day, modern amphibians have no fixed 
type of external form. Some suggest a likeness to turtles and 
tortoises ; others suggest in shape the true snakes ; another 
group, represented by newts and salamanders, suggests a resem- 
blance to the lizards ; and lastly, those which keep their gills 
through life suggest certain finless fishes, such as the conger- 
eels and the lampreys. It was just the same in the old days, 
when amphibians flourished more abundantly than now ; they 
struck out in many directions — some taking on a long snakelike 
form (see Plate VII. and Pig. 23), others being short and with 
larger limbs, while in the matter of size there were great 
differences. 
As far as present knowledge goes, it seems to indicate that the 
reptilian class in early days was less advanced than in the later 
phases of the Secondary era {i.e. during the Jurassic and 
Cretaceous periods) ; and so we can understand that amphibians 
to some extent played the part of reptiles in those remote ages 
of the coal-forests and the Xew Red Sandstone. Their very 
diversity shows that they were in a flourishing condition, and 
probably had a pretty wide field to themselves, without too many 
enemies. A certain amount of competition with other creatures, 
no doubt, they had to submit to ; but with fishes they could 
hold their own. Later on came a much more severe form of 
competition from highly developed reptiles, such as Dinosaurs, 
and that was too much for them (according to Darwinian 
teaching). As the reptile class rose, amphibians, of course, came 
off second best, and the geological record tells us that, ever since, 
they have remained in the background of the theatre of life. 
It will be well, before proceeding to describe some of the 
better-known types of Labyrinthodonts, to say a word about the 
general characters by which they may be distinguished. Of 
