. Water reptiles of the past and present . ion to the newly hatched reptiles. It would seem probablethat the female mosasaurs went up the rivers for a shorter or longerdistance to lay their eggs or give birth to their young, and that theyoung reptiles remained in such relatively protected places until SQUAMATA 165 of a sufficient size to cope with the fierce enemies of the open know practically nothing of the inhabitants of the lakes andrivers during all the time in which the mosasaurs existed; and thisperhaps is the real reason why we have never yet found a specimenof a young mosasaur
. Water reptiles of the past and present . ion to the newly hatched reptiles. It would seem probablethat the female mosasaurs went up the rivers for a shorter or longerdistance to lay their eggs or give birth to their young, and that theyoung reptiles remained in such relatively protected places until SQUAMATA 165 of a sufficient size to cope with the fierce enemies of the open know practically nothing of the inhabitants of the lakes andrivers during all the time in which the mosasaurs existed; and thisperhaps is the real reason why we have never yet found a specimenof a young mosasaur. We have seen that many skeletons of ichthyosaurs are foundentire, and but little disturbed in position, suggesting, if not proving,that the animals as a rule lived and died far out in the deep seas,away from the disturbing effects of currents of water on theirdecaying bodies. Among the thousands collected, the greatmajority of the specimens of mosasaurs consist of a few bonesor a part of the skeleton only. Moreover, nearly all specimens. m:$nn>i-i Fig. 79.—Head of Tylosaurus show the disturbing effects of currents of water; and the bonesare usually associated with those of turtles, birds, and flying reptiles,which probably did not often venture far from the shores; all ofwhich goes to prove that the mosasaurs in general lived in the com-paratively shallow waters of the seas, and not far from the some were excellent divers, descending probably manyfathoms deep in the water, is certain, because of the extraordinaryprotective structures of the eyes and ears. But the various kinds of mosasaurs differed not a little in theirhabits. Some, like Mosasaurus and Clidastes, were doubtlesschiefly surface swimmers, as is evidenced by their better ossifiedbones, firmer articulation, and the presence of the additional 166 WATER REPTILES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT zygosphenal articulations of the vertebrae, wanting in other forms,as also by the structure of their paddles. They
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