TRIASSIC PERIOD 
Queer pear-shaped brutes they are, with big hind limbs 
Of bony strength ; and in which Nature seems 250 
To have laboured most ; and making these immense 
Have done her work at other parts' expense. 
For fore-limbs short, chest narrow, pigmy skull 
Contribute little to the " terrible." 
Still these grotesques have got their part to play, 255 
And wide will range they ere they pass away : 
And they from Theromophas' yielding hands 
Will seize the sceptre, and command the lands. 
From their promiscuous ranks perchance had come 
The crocodiles, that now in numbers roam 260 
About the salt lagoons, and shallow seas, 
And find their way far up the estuaries. 
Varied they are in form : some small, with skulls 
Pointed and short : some large, like garials, 
With long and slender jaws. And some there are 265 
Unlike the rest in bony armature. 
Not much developed though these creatures be, 
Beget they will a great posterity. 
For Nature has not made them for the hour, 
But in their flexile frames has lodged a power 270 
To grapple with the times ; and lead the way 
To divers kindred forms of after day. 
And here are other reptiles that possess 
A wondrous measure of resourcefulness : 
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