The Stegosaur is one of the most singular and most familiar
representatives of the group in the Jurassic. It ran to a length
of thirty feet, and had a row of bony plates, from two to three
feet in height, standing up vertically along the ridge of its
back, while its tail was armed with formidable spikes. The
Scleidosaur, an earlier and smaller (twelve-foot) specimen, also
had spines and bony plates to protect it. The Polacanthus and
Ankylosaur developed a most effective armour-plating over the
rear. As we regard their powerful armour, we seem to see the
fierce-toothed Theropods springing from the rear upon the
poor-mouthed vegetarians. The carnivores selected the
vegetarians, and fitted them to survive. Before the end of the
Mesozoic, in fact, the Ornithopods became aggressive as well as
armoured. The Triceratops had not only an enormous skull with a
great ridged collar round the neck, but a sharp beak, a stout
horn on the nose, and two large and sharp horns on the top of the
head. We will see something later of the development of horns.
The skulls of members of the Ceratops family sometimes measured
eight feet from the snout to the ridge of the collar.
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