The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-08-28

Tho prontosauruS, according to the rt>t"i"-
ton herewith reproduced. doesh loon e'pe'
Formidable except for his size.
The dinosaur that seems best able to pay MS
WOW and keen on going is the AllsauruS hes got
teeth and claws and looks as If he might ino'e
rapidly. ,,o,
However the fact that the African dinosaur
does not seem to be exactly like any Oh MS pa
historic relatives proves nothing. 1t may DE 'lat
the fellow Captain Stevens is after has eVoiuteu
like the rest of the world and is prepared 10 pre-
sent something entirely new in dinosaurs. why
should no NOT have developed? He's had at ieast
six million years in which to improve hllhseii'
.eThe Outlines of History H. G. Wells ne"
hook considers these early monsters quite Iuiy ;
He says in one place: -,
"The earliest known reptiles were beasts Win
preat bellies and not very powerful legs very IKE
tbair kindred amphibia wallowing as the croco-
a,ys wa,,ows TO this day. but in the Mesozoic they
soon began to stand up and go stoutiy on al iouis
and several great sections Of them began 10 oar
ance themselves tail and hind legs rather rs
the kangaroOs do now. Another DIVISION WAS 'A'e
crocodile branch, and another developed toward
the tortoise and the turtles. The Pleslosaurs anu
the Ichthyosaurs were two groups "hlch ieit no
living representatives. PlesiOsaurus measured SUI
feet from snout to tail tip-of when ha1 was neck.
THE Mosasaurs were third group of great por-
poIselike marine lizards. But the largest anu
most diversified group of these MesoZoic reptiles
like the Dinosaurs, many of which attained enor-
mons nroportions In bigness these greater Dino
saurs have never been exceeded, although the sea
can still show in the whales creatures as great
Some Of these, and the largest among them, were
herbiyorous animals they browsed on rushy vege-
tation and among the ferns and bushes or they
stood up and grasped trees with their forelegs
while they devoured the foliage
among the browsers, for example, were the
v-hfc D1AQa
length and the Atlantosaurus The Gigantosau-
rms disinterred by German expedition In 1912
from rocks IN East Africa, was still more colossal
If measured well over 100 feet! These greater
monsters had legs and they are usually figured as
standing up on them; but it is very doubtful II
they could have supported their weight in this
way out of water. Buoyed up by water or mud
they may have got along.
"Another noteworthy type have figured is the
Tr;ceratops There were also great number OF
flesh eaters who preyed upon these herbivores.
OF these Tyrannosaurus seems almost the last
word in 'frghtfuness' among living things. Some
snacies Of this genus measured 40 feet from snout
70 tail Apparently 1t carried this vast body kan
CARGO fashion, on its tail ard hind legs. Probably
II reared itself up. Some authorities even sup
nose that it eapt through the air. If so, 1t pos
sessed muscles of quite miraculous quality.
Much more probably 1t waded, half submerged in
pursuit Of the herbivorous river saurians."
And along with these terrible beasts were bat
like creatures. "These bat-lizards were the ptero-
dactyls. But birdlike though they were. they were
not BIRDS nor the ancestors Of birds. The struc-
ture of their wings was that Of hand with one
long finger and a web; the wing Of bird is like
an arm with feathers projecting from its hind
edge And these pterodactyls had no feathers"
All Of these creatures have disappeared from
the face Of the earth Wells says They ended
abruptly. They were extinguished though by
the waving of a magic wand, perhaps In order to
make place for man and Wells says that the end
ing of the reptiles is beyond all question the most
striking revolution In the whole history Of the
earth before the coming Of mankind.
"It is probably connected with the close Of q
vast period Of equable warm conditions and the
onset of new, austerer age, In which the winters
were btterer and the summers brief, but hot"