Jan., 1891. 
DRAGONS OF THE PRIME. 
9 
But though there is so small a difference between the 
most bird-like reptile and the most reptile-like bird, yet the 
most bird-like reptile that we know of—the Dinosaur, Comp- 
sognathus —is certainly not the ancestor of Archaeopteryx and 
flying birds, for instead of being older than Archaeopteryx, it is 
its contemporary. If, as seems very probable, some of the 
Dinosaurs were the ancestors of birds, it must have been 
those forms which lived in the Triassic times, long before the 
age of Archaeopteryx. These earlier Dinosaurs, though not so 
like birds as some of the later forms, yet resemble Archaeo¬ 
pteryx in this, that they had biconcave vertebrae. No doubt 
they gave rise to forms in which the bird-like characters of 
the limbs were more developed ; then, from these forms arose 
two lines of animals, one of which developed feathers and 
became birds, while in the other no feathers appeared, and 
they remained only bird -like reptiles to the end of their days, 
representing, more or less closely, some of the various stages 
in the evolution of birds. 
Such, then, are some of the chief points of interest in the 
structure of the Dinosaurs. Very curious must have been 
the appearance they presented as they stalked or hopped 
about the land on their strong hind legs, using their long 
tails to help them, as do the kangaroos. 
Some of these two-legged reptiles were covered with great 
plates of bone, each bearing a spine a foot or two in 
length. If creatures of such a size required such armour, 
it could only have been in defence against the attacks of their 
carnivorous relatives, such as Megalosaurus. While Ceteosciurus 
wandered about the low marshy swamps of the Oxfordshire 
Sea, Megalosaurus preferred the land, and must have been the 
terror of all animals less huge and ferocious than himself. 
This Dinosaur was 20ft. high ; his jaws were armed with 
teeth two inches in length, curved backwards, and along 
their inner, concave edges notched like saws, so that they 
both held firmly the prey which he seized, and were very 
effective cutting instruments, as the jaws moved up and 
down ; fingers and toes ended in great claws: with the 
former he grasped and tore to pieces any creature that came 
his way. While the land was his usual habitat, yet on occasion 
he waded in the shallow rivers or seas, and, perhaps, even 
swam about in the water by means of his powerful tail. There 
he might have been seen, now devouring the liugh ammonites 
and cutties, now engaged in dreadful combat with the long¬ 
necked Plesiosaurus. And, there we will leave him and other 
“ dragons of the prime,” 
