146 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
Another piece of evidence is the known fact that Dinosaurs were 
abundant in the succeeding Jurassic period. Judging from the 
size of some of the footprints, it would appear that not a few of 
the Triassic forms attained large dimensions. And, if the strata 
had been more favourable, we should have had more of them pre- 
served. Belodon, described in the author’s CreaHres of Other 
Days as a crocodile, has been proved by recent discoveries in 
America to be a Dinosaur of Triassic age. 
We pass on to consider the very interesting and huge forms 
included by the late Professor Marsh (of Yale College), in 
his suborder Sauropoda, or lizard-footed Dinosaurs. Various 
parts of the skeletons, such as vertebrae, leg-bones, etc., of these 
cumbrous beasts have long been known in this country ; but 
Professor Marsh was the first person to discover a complete 
skeleton. 
We shall, therefore, now turn our attention to the bony frame- 
work of the huge Brontosaurus (Fig. 50), a vegetable-feeding lizard. 
But it will be necessary to completely lay aside all our previous 
notions taken from lizards of the present day, with their short 
legs and snake-like scaly bodies, before we can come to any fair 
conclusion with regard to this monstrous beast. 
It was nearly sixty feet long, and probably when alive weighed 
more than thirty-eight tons ! that it was a stupid, slow-moving 
reptile, may be inferred from its very small brain and slender 
spinal cord. By taking casts of the brain-cavities in the skulls of 
extinct animals, anatomists can obtain a very good idea of the 
nature and capacity of their brains ; and in this way important 
evidence is obtained, and such as helps to throw light upon their 
habits and general intelligence. No bony plates or spines have 
been discovered with the remains of this mojister ; so that we are 
driven to conclude that it was wholly without armour : and, 
