NEBULA TO MAN 
Not that in flesh all dinosaurs are taking 
Their sustenance. Some brutes less dread are breaking 
Branches from trees : and these supply their wants 
And ferny growths and leafy cycad plants. 
Sunning themselves on river banks and isles, 180 
Or in the floods, long-snouted crocodiles 
Abound and multiply. And oft in these 
Will dinosaurs encounter ruthless enemies. 
Reptilian forms that far their way have made 
By sea and water, now the air invade. 185 
And from their ranks some creatures new appear 
That, armed with wings, rise bat-like in the air. 
Although the reptiles of the earlier day 
Developed hind-limbs in a wondrous way, 
And brought forth hopping dinosaurs immense, 1 90 
With hind-limbs formed at other parts' expense ; 
And crocodiles possessed long after this 
In fore and hind-limbs marked unequalness ; 
Still in the ranks must forms have moved along 
That by long use had made their fore-limbs strong. 195 
And in such fore-limb members must have been 
The sires of these winged lizards on the scene. 
Not birds are these : they rather take their way 
As bats and flying lemurs of to-day ; 
With folds of skin from off their bodies drawn, 200 
And like a mantle, by their limbs out-borne. 
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