File:Image from page 243 of "Water reptiles of the past and present" (1914) (14769938351).jpg

Identifier: waterreptilesofp1914will Title: Water reptiles of the past and present Year: 1914 (1910s) Authors: Williston, Samuel Wendell, 1851-1918 Subjects: Aquatic reptiles Publisher: Chicago, Ill., The University of Chicago Press Contributing Library: Boston Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book

Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image: '

Text Appearing After Image: Fig. 122.—Desmatochelys lowii: skull from above and below of the most extraordinary turtles that is known even yet. By anerror somewhat natural for those times, when the theory of evolu-tion was just beginning to attain acceptance by naturalists, he CHELONIA 233 thought that the specimen, notwithstanding its monstrous size,represented a very primitive kind of turtle, and gave to it the nameProtostega gigas, meaning gigantic first roof! The late ProfessorGeorge Baur, to whom paleontology owes so much, showed that,far from being a primitive turtle, Protostega was really one ofthe most specialized types of the order. Professor Copes accountof the discovery of the specimen is of so much interest that itmay be quoted here: In the very young tortoise or turtle the ribs are separate, asin other animals. As they grow older they begin to expand at theupper side of the upper end, and with increased age the expansionextends throughout the length. The ribs first come in contactwhere the process

Note About Images