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A Short History of the World

Chapter 6 THE AGE OF REPTILES

Word Count: 1179    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

nd the like, in which fossils are comparatively few. The temperature of the world fluctuated widely, and there were long periods of glacial cold. Over great areas the former profusi

mal and plant forms established, We find in the record the remains of vertebrated animals that laid eggs which, instead of hatching out tadpoles which needed to live for a time in water, carried on their development before

any tropical conifers, though as yet there were no flowering plants and no grasses. There was a great number of ferns. And there was now also an increased variety of insects. There were beetles, though bees and butterflies had y

OSAURUS, A MESO

Lower Lias in

Hist.

diffused warm conditions. The period lasted altogether, it is now supposed, upwards of two hundred million years. It is called the Mesozoic period, to distinguish it from the altogether vaster Pal?ozoic and Azoic periods (together fourteen hundred millions) that preced

snakes, the turtles and tortoises (the Chelonia), the alligators and crocodiles, and the lizards. Without exception they are creatures requiring warmth all the year round; they cannot stand exposure to cold, and it is probable that all the reptilian beings of the Mesozoic suf

EROD

Hist.

ow spreading over the lower levels of the world, reeds, brakes of fern and the like; and browsing upon this abundance came a multitude of herbivorous reptiles, which increased in size as the Mesozoic period rose to its climax. Some of these beasts exceeded in size any other land animals that have ever lived; they were as large as whales. The D

UR, THE DIPLODOCUS, OVER EIGH

Hist.

ike development of the fore limbs, pursued insects and one another, first leapt and parachuted and presently flew amidst the fronds and branches of the forest

ales. The Ichthyosaurs seem to have been quite seagoing creatures, but the Plesiosaurs were a type of animal that has no cognate form to-day. The body was stout and big with paddles, adapted either for swimming or crawling through marshes, or along the bottom of shallow

no such advance but a great proliferation of new forms of life. An enormous variety of squid-like creatures with chambered shells, for the most part coiled, had appeared in the shallow seas, the Ammonites. They had had predecessors in the Pal?ozoic seas, but now was their age of glory. To-day they have left

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1 Chapter 1 THE WORLD IN SPACE2 Chapter 2 THE WORLD IN TIME3 Chapter 3 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE4 Chapter 4 THE AGE OF FISHES5 Chapter 5 THE AGE OF THE COAL SWAMPS6 Chapter 6 THE AGE OF REPTILES7 Chapter 7 THE FIRST BIRDS AND THE FIRST MAMMALS8 Chapter 8 THE AGE OF MAMMALS9 Chapter 9 MONKEYS, APES AND SUB-MEN10 Chapter 10 THE NEANDERTHALER AND THE RHODESIAN MAN11 Chapter 11 THE FIRST TRUE MEN12 Chapter 12 PRIMITIVE THOUGHT13 Chapter 13 THE BEGINNINGS OF CULTIVATION14 Chapter 14 PRIMITIVE NEOLITHIC CIVILIZATIONS15 Chapter 15 SUMERIA, EARLY EGYPT AND WRITING16 Chapter 16 PRIMITIVE NOMADIC PEOPLES17 Chapter 17 THE FIRST SEAGOING PEOPLES18 Chapter 18 EGYPT, BABYLON AND ASSYRIA19 Chapter 19 THE PRIMITIVE ARYANS20 Chapter 20 THE LAST BABYLONIAN EMPIRE AND THE EMPIRE OF DARIUS I21 Chapter 21 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE JEWS22 Chapter 22 PRIESTS AND PROPHETS IN JUDEA23 Chapter 23 THE GREEKS24 Chapter 24 THE WARS OF THE GREEKS AND PERSIANS25 Chapter 25 THE SPLENDOUR OF GREECE26 Chapter 26 THE EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT27 Chapter 27 THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT ALEXANDRIA28 Chapter 28 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA29 Chapter 29 KING ASOKA30 Chapter 30 CONFUCIUS AND LAO TSE31 Chapter 31 ROME COMES INTO HISTORY32 Chapter 32 ROME AND CARTHAGE33 Chapter 33 THE GROWTH OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE34 Chapter 34 BETWEEN ROME AND CHINA35 Chapter 35 THE COMMON MAN'S LIFE UNDER THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE36 Chapter 36 RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE37 Chapter 37 THE TEACHING OF JESUS38 Chapter 38 THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINAL CHRISTIANITY39 Chapter 39 THE BARBARIANS BREAK THE EMPIRE INTO EAST AND WEST40 Chapter 40 THE HUNS AND THE END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE41 Chapter 41 THE BYZANTINE AND SASSANID EMPIRES42 Chapter 42 THE DYNASTIES OF SUY AND TANG IN CHINA43 Chapter 43 MUHAMMAD AND ISLAM44 Chapter 44 THE GREAT DAYS OF THE ARABS45 Chapter 45 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATIN CHRISTENDOM46 Chapter 46 THE CRUSADES AND THE AGE OF PAPAL DOMINION47 Chapter 47 RECALCITRANT PRINCES AND THE GREAT SCHISM48 Chapter 48 THE MONGOL CONQUESTS49 Chapter 49 THE INTELLECTUAL REVIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS50 Chapter 50 THE REFORMATION OF THE LATIN CHURCH51 Chapter 51 THE EMPEROR CHARLES V52 Chapter 52 THE AGE OF POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS; OF GRAND MONARCHY AND PARLIAMENTS AND REPUBLICANISM IN EUROPE53 Chapter 53 THE NEW EMPIRES OF THE EUROPEANS IN ASIA AND OVERSEAS54 Chapter 54 THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE55 Chapter 55 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN FRANCE56 Chapter 56 THE UNEASY PEACE IN EUROPE THAT FOLLOWED THE FALL OF NAPOLEON57 Chapter 57 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIAL KNOWLEDGE58 Chapter 58 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION59 Chapter 59 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN POLITICAL AND SOCIAL IDEAS60 Chapter 60 THE EXPANSION OF THE UNITED STATES61 Chapter 61 THE RISE OF GERMANY TO PREDOMINANCE IN EUROPE62 Chapter 62 THE NEW OVERSEAS EMPIRES OF STEAMSHIP AND RAILWAY63 Chapter 63 EUROPEAN AGGRESSION IN ASIA AND THE RISE OF JAPAN64 Chapter 64 THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 191465 Chapter 65 THE AGE OF ARMAMENT IN EUROPE, AND THE GREAT WAR OF 1914-1866 Chapter 66 THE REVOLUTION AND FAMINE IN RUSSIA67 Chapter 67 THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD68 Chapter 68 No.6869 Chapter 69 No.6970 Chapter 70 No.7071 Chapter 71 No.71