All over the world, and even in our own little England, which was then part of a great continent, cold-blooded reptiles of all sizes, from lizards a few inches long to monsters measuring fifty or sixty feet from head to tail, swarmed upon the land, in the water, and in the air. There were among them a few kinds something like our tortoises, lizards, and crocodiles; but the greater number were forms which have quite died out since birds and beasts have spread over the earth, and a wonderful and powerful set they were. Some were vegetable-feeders, which browsed upon the trees or fed upon the water-weeds, as our elephants and giraffes, our hippopotamuses and sea-cows do now. Others were ferocious animal-eaters, and their large pointed teeth made havoc among their reptile companions, as lions and tigers do among beasts. Some swam in the water devouring the fish, while others, like birds or bats, soared in the air. In the open ocean were the sea-lizards, some called Fish-Lizards,[66] like huge porpoises thirty feet long, but really cold-blooded reptiles, with paddles for legs, and long flattened tails for swimming. Woe to the heavily-enamel-scaled fish when these monsters came along, their pointed teeth hanging in their widely-gaping mouths as they raised their huge heads, with large open eyes, out of the water! Then among these were others with long swan-like necks and small heads,[67] which would strike at the fish below them in the water, while other slender, long-bodied monsters,[68] measuring more than seventy feet from tip to tail, flapped along the sea-shore with their four large paddles, or swam out to sea like veritable sea-serpents, devouring all that came in their way. These were all water-reptiles, while there were also many smaller land-lizards playing about upon the shore, and among the trees and bushes. But the strangest of all were perhaps the “Flying reptiles”[69] of all sizes, from one as small as a sparrow to one which measured twenty-five feet from tip to tip of its wings. These reptiles did not fly like birds, for they had no feathers, but only a broad membrane, stretching from the fifth finger of their front claw to their body, and with this they must have flown much as bats do now, while some of them were armed not only with claws, but also with hooked beaks and sharp teeth, with which they could tear their prey. And meanwhile upon the land were wandering huge creatures, larger than any animal now living, which were true reptiles with teeth in their mouths, yet they walked on their hind legs like birds, probably only touching the ground with their short front feet from time to time, as kangaroos do. They had strong feet with claws, the marks of which they have left in the ground over which they wandered, supporting themselves by their powerful tails as they went.