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Lucas + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Animals of the Past + +Author: Frederic A. Lucas + +Release Date: November 14, 2011 [EBook #38013] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANIMALS OF THE PAST *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p class="h1">ANIMALS OF THE PAST</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_005.jpg" width="400" height="541" alt="" /> +Phororhacos, a Patagonian Giant of the Miocene. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i> +</div> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h4"><i>Science for Everybody</i></p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<h1 class="booktitle">ANIMALS OF THE PAST</h1> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h3">BY<br /> +FREDERIC A. LUCAS</p> + +<p class="h5"><i>Curator of the Division of Comparative Anatomy,<br /> +United States National Museum</i></p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h5">FULLY ILLUSTRATED</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h5">NEW YORK<br /> +McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO.<br /> +1901</p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h6"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1900, by S. S. McClure Co.<br /> +1901, by McClure, Phillips & Co.</span></p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<p class="h6"><span class="smcap">Published November, 1901.</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<p class="spacer"> </p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="bold"> +<p><br />INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY</p> + +<p class="out">Use of scientific names,<a href="#Page_xvi">xvi</a>; estimates of age of earth,<a href="#Page_xvii">xvii</a>; +restorations by Mr. Knight,<a href="#Page_xviii">xviii</a>; Works of Reference,<a href="#Page_xix">xix</a>.</p> + +<p>I. FOSSILS, AND HOW THEY ARE FORMED</p> + +<p class="out">Definition of fossils,<a href="#Page_1">1</a>; fossils may be indications of animals or +plants, 2; casts and impressions,<a href="#Page_3">3</a>; why fossils are not more +abundant,<a href="#Page_4">4</a>; conditions under which fossils are formed,<a href="#Page_5">5</a>; +enemies of bones,<a href="#Page_6">6</a>; Dinosaurs engulfed in quicksand,<a href="#Page_8">8</a>; +formation of fossils,<a href="#Page_9">9</a>; petrified bodies frauds,<a href="#Page_10">10</a>; natural +casts,<a href="#Page_10">10</a>; leaves,<a href="#Page_13">13</a>; incrustations,<a href="#Page_14">14</a>; destruction of fossils, +15; references,<a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</p> + +<p>II. THE EARLIEST KNOWN VERTEBRATES</p> + +<p class="out">Methods of interrogating Nature,<a href="#Page_18">18</a>; thickness of sedimentary +rocks,<a href="#Page_20">20</a>; earliest traces of life,<a href="#Page_21">21</a>; early vertebrates +difficult of preservation,<a href="#Page_22">22</a>; armored fishes,<a href="#Page_23">23</a>; abundance +of early fishes,<a href="#Page_25">25</a>; destruction of fish,<a href="#Page_26">26</a>; carboniferous +sharks,<a href="#Page_29">29</a>; known mostly from teeth and spines,<a href="#Page_30">30</a>; references, +32.</p> + +<p>III. IMPRESSIONS OF THE PAST</p> + +<p class="out">Records of extinct animals,<a href="#Page_33">33</a>; earliest traces of animal life, +34; formation of tracks,<a href="#Page_35">35</a>; tracks in all strata,<a href="#Page_36">36</a>; discovery +of tracks,<a href="#Page_37">37</a>; tracks of Dinosaurs,<a href="#Page_39">39</a>; species named +from tracks,<a href="#Page_41">41</a>; footprints aid in determining attitude of animals, +43; tracks at Carson City,<a href="#Page_45">45</a>; references,<a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></p> + +<p>IV. RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS</p> + +<p class="out">The Mosasaurs,<a href="#Page_49">49</a>; history of the first known Mosasaur,<a href="#Page_50">50</a>; +jaws of reptiles,<a href="#Page_53">53</a>; extinction of Mosasaurs,<a href="#Page_55">55</a>; the sea-serpent, +56; Zeuglodon,<a href="#Page_58">58</a>; its habits,<a href="#Page_59">59</a>; Koch's Hydrarchus, +61; bones collected by Mr. Schuchert,<a href="#Page_63">63</a>; abundance +of sharks,<a href="#Page_64">64</a>; the great Carcharodon,<a href="#Page_65">65</a>; arrangement of +sharks' teeth,<a href="#Page_67">67</a>; references,<a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</p> + +<p>V. BIRDS OF OLD</p> + +<p class="out">Earliest birds,<a href="#Page_70">70</a>; wings,<a href="#Page_71">71</a>; study of young animals,<a href="#Page_73">73</a>; +the curious Hoactzin,<a href="#Page_74">74</a>; first intimation of birds,<a href="#Page_76">76</a>; Archæopteryx, +77; birds with teeth,<a href="#Page_78">78</a>; cretaceous birds,<a href="#Page_79">79</a>; Hesperornis, +80; loss of power of flight,<a href="#Page_81">81</a>; covering of Hesperornis, +82; attitude of Hesperornis,<a href="#Page_83">83</a>; curious position of +legs,<a href="#Page_84">84</a>; toothed birds disappointing,<a href="#Page_85">85</a>; early development +of birds,<a href="#Page_86">86</a>; eggs of early birds,<a href="#Page_87">87</a>; references,<a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</p> + +<p>VI. THE DINOSAURS</p> + +<p class="out">Discovery of Dinosaur remains,<a href="#Page_90">90</a>; nearest relatives of Dinosaurs, +91; relation of birds to reptiles,<a href="#Page_92">92</a>; brain of Dinosaurs, +93; parallel between Dinosaurs and Marsupials,<a href="#Page_95">95</a>; +the great Brontosaurus,<a href="#Page_96">96</a>; food of Dinosaurs,<a href="#Page_97">97</a>; habits of +Diplodocus,<a href="#Page_99">99</a>; the strange Australian Moloch,<a href="#Page_100">100</a>; combats +of Triceratops,<a href="#Page_101">101</a>; skeleton of Triceratops,<a href="#Page_102">102</a>; Thespesius +and his kin,<a href="#Page_104">104</a>; the carnivorous Ceratosaurus,<a href="#Page_106">106</a>; +Stegosaurus, the plated lizard,<a href="#Page_106">106</a>; preferences,<a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</p> + +<p>VII. READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS</p> + +<p class="out">Fossils regarded as sports of nature,<a href="#Page_111">111</a>; qualifications of a +successful collector,<a href="#Page_112">112</a>; chances of collecting,<a href="#Page_114">114</a>; excavation +of fossils,<a href="#Page_115">115</a>; strengthening fossils for shipment,<a href="#Page_117">117</a>; +great size of some specimens,<a href="#Page_118">118</a>; the preparation of fossils, +119; mistakes of anatomists,<a href="#Page_120">120</a>; reconstruction of +Triceratops,<a href="#Page_121">121</a>; distinguishing characters of bones,<a href="#Page_122">122</a>; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span> +the skeleton a problem in mechanics,<a href="#Page_124">124</a>; clothing the bones +with flesh,<a href="#Page_127">127</a>; the covering of animals,<a href="#Page_127">127</a>; outside ornamentation, +129; probabilities in the covering of animals,<a href="#Page_130">130</a>; +impressions of extinct animals,<a href="#Page_131">131</a>; mistaken inferences +from bones of Mammoth,<a href="#Page_133">133</a>; coloring of large land animals, +134; color markings of young animals,<a href="#Page_136">136</a>; references,<a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</p> + +<p>VIII. FEATHERED GIANTS</p> + +<p class="out">Legend of the Moa,<a href="#Page_139">139</a>; our knowledge of the Moas,<a href="#Page_141">141</a>; +some Moas wingless,<a href="#Page_142">142</a>; deposits of Moa bones,<a href="#Page_143">143</a>; legend +of the Roc,<a href="#Page_144">144</a>; discovery of Æpyornis,<a href="#Page_145">145</a>; large-sounding +names,<a href="#Page_146">146</a>; eggs of great birds,<a href="#Page_147">147</a>; the Patagonian +Phororhacos,<a href="#Page_149">149</a>; the huge Brontornis,<a href="#Page_150">150</a>; development +of giant birds,<a href="#Page_153">153</a>; distribution of flightless birds,<a href="#Page_154">154</a>; +relation between flightlessness and size,<a href="#Page_156">156</a>; references,<a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</p> + +<p>IX. THE ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE</p> + +<p class="out">North America in the Eocene age,<a href="#Page_160">160</a>; appearance of early +horses,<a href="#Page_163">163</a>; early domestication of the horse,<a href="#Page_165">165</a>; the toes +of horses,<a href="#Page_166">166</a>; Miocene horses small,<a href="#Page_167">167</a>; evidence of genealogy +of the horse,<a href="#Page_170">170</a>; meaning of abnormalities,<a href="#Page_170">170</a>; +changes in the climate and animals of the West,<a href="#Page_174">174</a>; references, +176.</p> + +<p>X. THE MAMMOTH</p> + +<p class="out">The story of the killing of the Mammoth,<a href="#Page_177">177</a>; derivation of +the word "mammoth,"<a href="#Page_178">178</a>; mistaken ideas as to size of the +Mammoth,<a href="#Page_179">179</a>; size of Mammoth and modern elephants, +180; finding of an entire Mammoth,<a href="#Page_182">182</a>; birthplace of the +Mammoth,<a href="#Page_184">184</a>; beliefs concerning its bones,<a href="#Page_185">185</a>; the range +of the animal,<a href="#Page_186">186</a>; theories concerning the extinction of the +Mammoth,<a href="#Page_188">188</a>; Man and Mammoth,<a href="#Page_189">189</a>; origin of the +Alaskan Live Mammoth Story,<a href="#Page_190">190</a>; traits of the Innuits, +192; an entire Mammoth recently found,<a href="#Page_194">194</a>; references, +195.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></p> + +<p>XI. THE MASTODON</p> + +<p class="out">Differences between Mastodon and Mammoth,<a href="#Page_198">198</a>; affinities +of the Mastodon,<a href="#Page_200">200</a>; vestigial structures,<a href="#Page_201">201</a>; distribution +of American Mastodon,<a href="#Page_203">203</a>; first noticed in North America, +204; thought to be carnivorous,<a href="#Page_206">206</a>; Koch's Missourium, +208; former abundance of Mastodons,<a href="#Page_209">209</a>; appearance of +the animal,<a href="#Page_210">210</a>; its size,<a href="#Page_211">211</a>; was man contemporary with +Mastodon?<a href="#Page_213">213</a>; the Lenape stone,<a href="#Page_215">215</a>; legend of the big +buffalo,<a href="#Page_216">216</a>; references,<a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</p> + +<p>XII. WHY DO ANIMALS BECOME EXTINCT?</p> + +<p class="out">Extinction sometimes evolution,<a href="#Page_221">221</a>; over-specialization as a +cause for extinction,<a href="#Page_222">222</a>; extinction sometimes unaccountable, +223; man's capability for harm small in the past,<a href="#Page_224">224</a>; +old theories of great convulsions,<a href="#Page_226">226</a>; changes in nature slow, +227; the case of Lingula,<a href="#Page_228">228</a>; local extermination,<a href="#Page_229">229</a>; the +Moas and the Great Auk,<a href="#Page_232">232</a>; the case of large animals, +233; inter-dependence of living beings,<a href="#Page_234">234</a>; coyotes and +fruit,<a href="#Page_236">236</a>; Shaler on the Miocene flora of Europe,<a href="#Page_236">236</a>; man's +desire for knowledge,<a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</p> + +<p class="out"><span class="smcap">Index</span>,<a href="#Page_243">243</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<h2>NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<p>The original drawings, made especially for this book, +are by Charles R. Knight and James M. Gleeson, +under the direction of Mr. Knight. The fact that the +originals of these drawings have been presented to and +accepted by the United States National Museum is +evidence of their scientific value. Mr. Knight has +been commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution, the +United States National Museum, and the New York +Museum of Natural History, to do their most important +pictures of extinct animals. He is the one +modern artist who can picture prehistoric animals +with artistic charm of presentation as well as with full +scientific accuracy. In this instance, the author has +personally superintended the artist's work, so that it is +as correct in every respect as present knowledge makes +possible. Of the minor illustrations, some are by Mr. +Bruce Horsfall, an artist attached to the staff of the +New York Museum of Natural History, and all have +been drawn with the help of and under the author's +supervision.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> + +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td class="tdr"> </td> + <td class="tdl">Phororhacos, a Patagonian Giant of the Miocene <br /><i>From a Drawing by Charles R. Knight</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdrfirst">Fig.</td> + <td class="tdl"> </td> + <td class="tdrfirst">Page</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">1.</td> + <td class="tdl">Diplomystus, an Ancient Member of the Shad Family <br /><i>From the fish-bed at Green River, Wyoming. From a specimen in the United States National Museum.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">2.</td> + <td class="tdl">Bryozoa, from the Shore of the Devonian Sea that Covered Eastern New York <br /><i>From a specimen in Yale University Museum, prepared by Dr. Beecher.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">3.</td> + <td class="tdl">Skeleton of a Radiolarian Very Greatly Enlarged</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">4.</td> + <td class="tdl">Cephalaspis and Loricaria, an Ancient and a Modern Armored Fish</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">5.</td> + <td class="tdl">Pterichthys, the Wing Fish</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">6.</td> + <td class="tdl">Where a Dinosaur Sat Down</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">7.</td> + <td class="tdl">Footprints of Dinosaurs on the Brownstone of the Connecticut Valley <br /><i>From a slab in the museum of Amherst College.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">8.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Track of a Three-toed Dinosaur</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">9.</td> + <td class="tdl">A Great Sea Lizard, <br /><i>Tylosaurus Dyspelor From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">10.</td> + <td class="tdl">Jaw of a Mosasaur, Showing the Joint that Increased the Swallowing Capacity of that Reptile</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">11.</td> + <td class="tdl">Koch's Hydrarchus. Composed of Portions of the Skeletons of Several Zeuglodons</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">12.</td> + <td class="tdl">A Tooth of Zeuglodon, One of the "Yoke Teeth," from which it derives the name</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">13.</td> + <td class="tdl">Archæopteryx, the Earliest Known Bird <br /><i>From the specimen in the Berlin Museum.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">14.</td> + <td class="tdl">Nature's Four Methods of Making a Wing: Bat, Pteryodactyl, Archæopteryx, and Modern Bird</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">15.</td> + <td class="tdl">Young Hoactzins</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">16.</td> + <td class="tdl">Hesperornis, the Great Toothed Diver <br /><i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">17.</td> + <td class="tdl">Archæopteryx <br /><i>As Restored by Mr. Pycraft.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">18.</td> + <td class="tdl">Thespesius, a Common Herbivorous Dinosaur of the Cretaceous <br /><i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">19.</td> + <td class="tdl">A Hind Leg of the Great Brontosaurus, the Largest of the Dinosaurs</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">20.</td> + <td class="tdl">A Single Vertebra of Brontosaurus</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">21.</td> + <td class="tdl">Moloch, a Modern Lizard that Surpasses the Stegosaurs in all but Size <br /><i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">22.</td> + <td class="tdl">Skeleton of Triceratops</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">23.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Horned Ceratosaurus, a Carnivorous Dinosaur <br /><i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">24.</td> + <td class="tdl">Stegosaurus, an Armored Dinosaur of the Jurassic <br /><i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">25.</td> + <td class="tdl">Skull of Ceratosaurus <br /><i>From a specimen in the United States National Museum.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">26.</td> + <td class="tdl">Triceratops, He of the Three-horned Face <br /><i>From a statuette by Charles R. Knight.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">27.</td> + <td class="tdl">A Hint of Buried Treasures</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">28.</td> + <td class="tdl">Relics of the Moa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">29.</td> + <td class="tdl">Eggs of Feathered Giants, Æpyornis, Ostrich, Moa, Compared with a Hen's Egg</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">30.</td> + <td class="tdl">Skull of Phororhacos Compared with that of the Race-horse Lexington</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">31.</td> + <td class="tdl">Leg of a Horse Compared with that of the Giant Moa</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">32.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Three Giants, Phororhacos, Moa, Ostrich</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">33.</td> + <td class="tdl">Skeleton of the Modern Horse and of His Eocene Ancestor</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">34.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Development of the Horse</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">35.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Mammoth <br /><i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">36.</td> + <td class="tdl">Skeleton of the Mammoth in the Royal Museum of St. Petersburg</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">37.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Mammoth <br /><i>As engraved by a Primitive Artist on a Piece of Mammoth-Tusk.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">38.</td> + <td class="tdl">Tooth of Mastodon and of Mammoth</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_199">199</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">39.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Missourium of Koch <br /><i>From a Tracing of the Figure Illustrating Koch's Description.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">40.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Mastodon <br /><i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tdr">41.</td> + <td class="tdl">The Lenape Stone, Reduced</td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td> + </tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<h2><a id="INTRODUCTORY_AND_EXPLANATORY"></a><i>INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY</i></h2> + +<p><i>At the present time the interest in the ancient +life of this earth is greater than ever before, and +very considerable sums of money are being expended +to dispatch carefully planned expeditions +to various parts of the world systematically to +gather the fossil remains of the animals of the +past. That this interest is not merely confined +to a few scientific men, but is shared by the general +public, is shown by the numerous articles, +including many telegrams, in the columns of the +daily papers. The object of this book is to tell +some of the interesting facts concerning a few of +the better known or more remarkable of these +extinct inhabitants of the ancient world; also, +if possible, to ease the strain on these venerable +animals, caused by stretching them so often beyond +their due proportions.</i></p> + +<p><i>The book is admittedly somewhat on the lines<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</a></span> +of Mr. Hutchinson's "Extinct Monsters" and +"Creatures of Other Days," but it is hoped that +it may be considered with books as with boats, +a good plan to build after a good model. The +information scattered through these pages has +been derived from varied sources; some has of +necessity been taken from standard books, a +part has been gathered in the course of museum +work and official correspondence; for much, the +author is indebted to his personal friends, and +for a part, he is under obligations to friends he +has never met, who have kindly responded to his +inquiries. The endeavor has been conscientiously +made to exclude all misinformation; it is, nevertheless, +entirely probable that some mistakes may +have crept in, and due apology for these is hereby +made beforehand.</i></p> + +<p><i>The author expects to be taken to task for +the use of scientific names, and the reader may +perhaps sympathize with the old lady who said +that the discovery of all these strange animals +did not surprise her so much as the fact that +anyone should know their names when they were +found. The real trouble is that there are no +common names for these animals. Then, too,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</a></span> +people who call for easier names do not stop to +reflect that, in many cases, the scientific names are +no harder than others, simply less familiar, and, +when domesticated, they cease to be hard: witness +mammoth, elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, boa constrictor, +all of which are scientific names. And +if, for example, we were to call the Hyracotherium +a Hyrax beast it would not be a name, +but a description, and not a bit more intelligible.</i></p> + +<p><i>Again, it is impossible to indicate the period +at which these creatures lived without using the +scientific term for it—Jurassic, Eocene, Pliocene, +as the case may be—because there is no +other way of doing it.</i></p> + +<p><i>Some readers will doubtless feel disappointed +because they are not told how many years ago +these animals lived. The question is often asked—How +long ago did this or that animal live? But +when the least estimate puts the age of the earth +at only 10,000,000 years, while the longest makes +it 6,000,000,000, it does seem as if it were hardly +worth while to name any figures. Even when +we get well toward the present period we find +the time that has elapsed since the beginning of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</a></span> +the Jurassic, when the Dinosaurs held carnival, +variously put at from 15,000,000 to 6,000,000 +years; while from the beginning of the Eocene, +when the mammals began to gain the supremacy, +until now, the figures vary from 3,000,000 +to 5,000,000 years. So the question of age will +be left for the reader to settle to his or her satisfaction.</i></p> + +<p><i>The restorations of extinct animals may be +considered as giving as accurate representations +of these creatures as it is possible to make; they +were either drawn by Mr. Knight, whose name +is guarantee that they are of the highest quality, +or by Mr. Gleeson, with the aid of Mr. Knight's +criticism. That they are infallibly correct is out +of the question; for, as Dr. Woodward writes +in the preface to "Extinct Monsters," "restorations +are ever liable to emendation, and the present +... will certainly prove no exception +to the rule." As a striking instance of this, it +was found necessary at the last moment to +change the figure of Hesperornis, the original +life-like portrait proving to be incorrect in +attitude, a fact that would have long escaped +detection but for the Pan-American Exposition.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xix">[xix]</a></span> +The connection between the two is explained on +page 76. However, the reader may rest assured +that these restorations are infinitely more +nearly correct than many figures of living +animals that have appeared within the last +twenty-five years, and are even now doing +duty.</i></p> + +<p><i>The endeavor has been made to indicate, at the +end of each chapter, the museums in which the +best examples of the animals described may be +seen, and also some book or article in which further +information may be obtained. As this book +is intended for the general reader, references to +purely technical articles have, so far as possible, +been avoided, and none in foreign languages +mentioned.</i></p> + +<p><i>For important works of reference on the +subject of paleontology, the reader may consult +"A Manual of Paleontology," by Alleyne Nicholson +and R. Lydekker, a work in two volumes +dealing with invertebrates, vertebrates, and +plants, or "A Text-Book of Paleontology," by +Karl von Zittel, English edition, only the first +volume of which has so far been published. An +admirable book on the vertebrates is "Outlines<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xx">[xx]</a></span> +of Vertebrate Paleontology," by Arthur Smith +Woodward. It is to be understood that these +are not at all "popular" in their scope, but +intended for students who are already well +advanced in the study of zoölogy.</i></p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p class="h2">ANIMALS OF THE PAST</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2><a id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<p class="h3">FOSSILS, AND HOW THEY ARE FORMED</p> + +<div class="inset16"> +<p>"<i>How of a thousand snakes each one<br /> +Was changed into a coil of stone.</i>"</p> +</div> + +<p>Fossils are the remains, or even the indications, +of animals and plants that have, through +natural agencies, been buried in the earth and +preserved for long periods of time. This may +seem a rather meagre definition, but it is a difficult +matter to frame one that will be at once +brief, exact, and comprehensive; fossils are not +necessarily the remains of extinct animals or +plants, neither are they, of necessity, objects +that have become petrified or turned into stone.</p> + +<p>Bones of the Great Auk and Rytina, which +are quite extinct, would hardly be considered +as fossils; while the bones of many species of +animals, still living, would properly come in +that category, having long ago been buried by +natural causes and often been changed into<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +stone. And yet it is not essential for a specimen +to have had its animal matter replaced by +some mineral in order that it may be classed as +a fossil, for the Siberian Mammoths, found entombed +in ice, are very properly spoken of as +fossils, although the flesh of at least one of these +animals was so fresh that it was eaten. Likewise +the mammoth tusks brought to market +are termed fossil-ivory, although differing but +little from the tusks of modern elephants.</p> + +<p>Many fossils indeed merit their popular appellation +of petrifactions, because they have +been changed into stone by the slow removal +of the animal or vegetable matter present and +its replacement by some mineral, usually silica +or some form of lime. But it is necessary to +include 'indications of plants or animals' in +the above definition because some of the best +fossils may be merely impressions of plants or +animals and no portion of the objects themselves, +and yet, as we shall see, some of our +most important information has been gathered +from these same imprints.</p> + +<p>Nearly all our knowledge of the plants that +flourished in the past is based on the impressions<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +of their leaves left on the soft mud or +smooth sand that later on hardened into enduring +stone. Such, too, are the trails of creeping +and crawling things, casts of the burrows of +worms and the many footprints of the reptiles, +great and small, that crept along the shore or +stalked beside the waters of the ancient seas. +The creatures themselves have passed away, +their massive bones even are lost, but the prints +of their feet are as plain to-day as when they +were first made.</p> + +<p>Many a crustacean, too, is known solely or +mostly by the cast of its shell, the hard parts +having completely vanished, and the existence +of birds in some formations is revealed merely +by the casts of their eggs; and these natural +casts must be included in the category of +fossils.</p> + +<p>Impressions of vertebrates may, indeed, be +almost as good as actual skeletons, as in the +case of some fishes, where the fine mud in +which they were buried has become changed +to a rock, rivalling porcelain in texture; the +bones have either dissolved away or shattered +into dust at the splitting of the rock, but the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +imprint of each little fin-ray and every threadlike +bone is as clearly defined as it would have +been in a freshly prepared skeleton. So fine, +indeed, may have been the mud, and so quiet +for the time being the waters of the ancient +sea or lake, that not only have prints of bones +and leaves been found, but those of feathers +and of the skin of some reptiles, and even of +such soft and delicate objects as jelly fishes. +But for these we should have little positive +knowledge of the outward appearance of the +creatures of the past, and to them we are occasionally +indebted for the solution of some +moot point in their anatomy.</p> + +<p>The reader may possibly wonder why it is +that fossils are not more abundant; why, of the +vast majority of animals that have dwelt upon +the earth since it became fit for the habitation +of living beings, not a trace remains. This, +too, when some objects—the tusks of the Mammoth, +for example—have been sufficiently well +preserved to form staple articles of commerce +at the present time, so that the carved handle +of my lady's parasol may have formed part of +some animal that flourished at the very dawn +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +of the human race, and been gazed upon by +her grandfather a thousand times removed. +The answer to this query is that, unless the conditions +were such as to preserve at least the +hard parts of any creature from immediate decay, +there was small probability of its becoming +fossilized. These conditions are that the +objects must be protected from the air, and, +practically, the only way that this happens in +nature is by having them covered with water, +or at least buried in wet ground.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_030.jpg" width="400" height="188" alt="" /> +Fig. 1.—Diplomystus, an Ancient Member of the Shad Family. From the Fishbed +at Green River, Wyoming. +<br /> +<i>From a specimen in the United States National Museum.</i> +</div> + +<p>If an animal dies on dry land, where its bones +lie exposed to the summer's sun and rain and +the winter's frost and snow, it does not take +these destructive agencies long to reduce the +bones to powder; in the rare event of a climate +devoid of rain, mere changes of temperature, +by producing expansion and contraction, +will sooner or later cause a bone to crack and +crumble.</p> + +<p>Usually, too, the work of the elements is +aided by that of animals and plants. Every +one has seen a dog make way with a pretty +good-sized bone, and the Hyena has still greater +capabilities in that line; and ever since vertebrate +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +life began there have been carnivorous +animals of some kind to play the rôle of bone-destroyers. +Even were there no carnivores, +there were probably then, as now, rats and +mice a-plenty, and few suspect the havoc small +rodents may play with a bone for the grease it +contains, or merely for the sake of exercising +their teeth. Now and then we come upon a +fossil bone, long since turned into stone, on +which are the marks of the little cutting teeth +of field mice, put there long, long ago, and yet +looking as fresh as if made only last week. +These little beasts, however, are indirect rather +than direct agents in the destruction of bones +by gnawing off the outer layers, and thus permitting +the more ready entrance of air and +water. Plants, as a rule, begin their work after +an object has become partly or entirely buried +in the soil, when the tiny rootlets find their +way into fissures, and, expanding as they grow, +act like so many little wedges to force it +asunder.</p> + +<p>Thus on dry land there is small opportunity +for a bone to become a fossil; but, if a creature +so perishes that its body is swept into the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +ocean or one of its estuaries, settles to the +muddy bottom of a lake or is caught on the +sandy shoals of some river, the chances are +good that its bones will be preserved. They +are poorest in the ocean, for unless the body +drifts far out and settles down in quiet waters, +the waves pound the bones to pieces with stones +or scour them away with sand, while marine +worms may pierce them with burrows, or +echinoderms cut holes for their habitations; +there are more enemies to a bone than one +might imagine.</p> + +<p>Suppose, however, that some animal has +sunk in the depths of a quiet lake, where the +wash of the waves upon the shore wears the +sand or rock into mud so fine that it floats out +into still water and settles there as gently as +dew upon the grass. Little by little the bones +are covered by a deposit that fills every groove +and pore, preserving the mark of every ridge +and furrow; and while this may take long, it +is merely a matter of time and favorable circumstance +to bury the bones as deeply as one +might wish. Scarce a reader of these lines but +at some time has cast anchor in some quiet<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +pond and pulled it up, thickly covered with +sticky mud, whose existence would hardly be +suspected from the sparkling waters and pebbly +shores. If, instead of a lake, our animal had +gone to the bottom of some estuary into which +poured a river turbid with mud, the process of +entombment would have been still more rapid, +while, had the creature been engulfed in quicksand, +it would have been the quickest method +of all; and just such accidents did take place +in the early days of the earth as well as now. +At least two examples of the great Dinosaur +Thespesius have been found with the bones all +in place, the thigh bones still in their sockets +and the ossified tendons running along the +backbone as they did in life. This would +hardly have happened had not the body been +surrounded and supported so that every part +was held in place and not crushed, and it is +difficult to see any better agency for this than +burial in quicksand.</p> + +<p>If such an event as we have been supposing +took place in a part of the globe where the +land was gradually sinking—and the crust of +the earth is ever rising and falling—the mud<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +and sand would keep on accumulating until +an enormously thick layer was formed. The +lime or silica contained in the water would +tend to cement the particles of mud and grains +of sand into a solid mass, while the process +would be aided by the pressure of the overlying +sediment, the heat created by this pressure, +and that derived from the earth beneath. +During this process the animal matter of bones +or other objects would disappear and its place +be taken by lime or silica, and thus would be +formed a layer of rock containing fossils. The +exact manner in which this replacement is +effected and in which the chemical and mechanical +changes occur is very far from being +definitely known—especially as the process of +"fossilization" must at times have been very +complicated.</p> + +<p>In the case of fossil wood greater changes +have taken place than in the fossilization of +bone, for there is not merely an infiltration +of the specimen but a complete replacement of +the original vegetable by mineral matter, the +interior of the cells being first filled with silica +and their walls replaced later on. So completely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +and minutely may this change occur +that under the microscope the very cellular +structure of the wood is visible, and as this +varies according to the species, it is possible, +by microscopical examination, to determine +the relationship of trees in cases where nothing +but fragments of the trunk remain.</p> + +<p>The process of fossilization is at best a slow +one, and soft substances such as flesh, or even +horn, decay too rapidly for it to take place, so +that all accounts of petrified bodies, human or +otherwise, are either based on deliberate frauds +or are the result of a very erroneous misinterpretation +of facts. That the impression or +cast of a body <i>might</i> be formed in nature, +somewhat as casts have been made of those +who perished at Pompeii, is true; but, so far, no +authentic case of the kind has come to light, +and the reader is quite justified in disbelieving +any report of "a petrified man."</p> + +<p>Natural casts of such hard bodies as shells +are common, formed by the dissolving away of +the original shell after it had become enclosed +in mud, or even after this had changed to +stone, and the filling up of this space by the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>filtering in of water charged with lime or silica, +which is there deposited, often in crystalline +form. In this way, too, are formed casts +of eggs of reptiles and birds, so perfect that it +is possible to form a pretty accurate opinion +as to the group to which they belong.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_038.jpg" width="400" height="212" alt="" /> +Fig. 2.—Bryozoa from the Shore of the Devonian Sea that Covered Eastern +New York. +<br /> +<i>From a specimen in Yale University Museum, prepared by Dr. Beecher.</i> +</div> + +<p>Sometimes it happens that shells or other +small objects imbedded in limestone have been +dissolved and replaced by silica, and in such +cases it is possible to eat away the enveloping +rock with acid and leave the silicified casts. +By this method specimens of shells, corals, +and bryozoans are obtained of almost lace-like +delicacy, and as perfect as if only yesterday +gathered at the sea-shore. Casts of the interior +of shells, showing many details of structure, +are common, and anyone who has seen clams +dug will understand how they are formed +by the entrance of mud into the empty shell.</p> + +<p>Casts of the kernels of nuts are formed in +much the same way, and Professor E. H. Barbour +has thus described the probable manner +in which this was done. When the nuts were +dropped into the water of the ancient lake the +kernel rotted away, but the shell, being tough<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +and hard, would probably last for years under +favorable circumstances. Throughout the +marls and clays of the Bad Lands (of South +Dakota) there is a large amount of potash. +This is dissolved by water, and then acts upon +quartz, carrying it away in solution. This +would find its way by infiltration into the interior +of the nut. At the same time with this +process, carrying lime carbonate in solution +was going on, so that doubtless the stone kernels, +consisting of pretty nearly equal parts of +lime and silica, were deposited within the nuts. +These kernels, of course, became hard and +flinty in time, and capable of resisting almost +any amount of weathering. Not so the organic +shell; this eventually would decay away, +and so leave the filling or kernel of chalcedony +and lime.<a id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Right here is the weak spot in Professor Barbour's explanation, +and an illustration of our lack of knowledge. For +it is difficult to see why the more enduring husk should not have +become mineralized equally with the cavity within.</i></p></div> + +<p>"Fossil leaves" are nothing but fine casts, +made in natural moulds, and all have seen +the first stages in their formation as they +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>watched the leaves sailing to the ground to be +covered by mud or sand at the next rain, or +dropping into the water, where sooner or later +they sink, as we may see them at the bottom +of any quiet woodland spring.</p> + +<p>Impressions of leaves are among the early +examples of color-printing, for they are frequently +of a darker, or even different, tint from +that of the surrounding rock, this being caused +by the carbonization of vegetable matter or to +its action on iron that may have been present +in the soil or water. Besides complete mineralization, +or petrifaction, there are numerous +cases of incomplete or semi-fossilization, where +modern objects, still retaining their phosphate +of lime and some animal matter even, are +found buried in rock. This takes place when +water containing carbonate of lime, silica, or +sometimes iron, flows over beds of sand, cementing +the grains into solid but not dense +rock, and at the same time penetrating and +uniting with it such things as chance to be buried. +In this way was formed the "fossil man" +of Guadeloupe, West Indies, a skeleton of a +modern Carib lying in recent concretionary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +limestone, together with shells of existing species +and fragments of pottery. In a similar way, +too, human remains in parts of Florida have, +through the infiltration of water charged with +iron, become partially converted into limonite +iron ore; and yet we know that these bones +have been buried within quite recent times.</p> + +<p>Sometimes we hear of springs or waters that +"turn things into stone," but these tales are +quite incorrect. Waters there are, like the +celebrated hot springs of Auvergne, France, +containing so much carbonate of lime in solution +that it is readily deposited on objects +placed therein, coating them more or less +thickly, according to the length of time they +are allowed to remain. This, however, is merely +an encrustation, not extending into the objects. +In a similar way the precipitation of +solid material from waters of this description +forms the porous rock known as tufa, and this +often encloses moss, twigs, and other substances +that are in no way to be classed with fossils.</p> + +<p>But some streams, flowing over limestone +rocks, take up considerable carbonate of lime, +and this may be deposited in water-soaked logs,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +replacing more or less of the woody tissue and +thus really partially changing the wood into +stone.</p> + +<p>The very rocks themselves may consist largely +of fossils; chalk, for example, is mainly made +up of the disintegrated shells of simple marine +animals called foraminifers, and the beautiful +flint-like "skeletons" of other small creatures +termed radiolarians, minute as they are, have +contributed extensively to the formation of +some strata.</p> + +<p>Even after an object has become fossilized, +it is far from certain that it will remain in good +condition until found, while the chance of its +being found at all is exceedingly small. When +we remember that it is only here and there +that nature has made the contents of the rocks +accessible by turning the strata on edge, heaving +them into cliffs or furrowing them with +valleys and canyons, we realize what a vast +number of pages of the fossil record must +remain not only unread, but unseen. The +wonder is, not that we know so little of +the history of the past, but that we have +learned so much, for not only is nature careless<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +in keeping the records—preserving them +mostly in scattered fragments—but after they +have been laid away and sealed up in the rocks +they are subject to many accidents. Some +specimens get badly flattened by the weight +of subsequently deposited strata, others are +cracked and twisted by the movements of the +rocks during periods of upheaval or subsidence, +and when at last they are brought to the surface, +the same sun and rain, snow and frost, +from which they once escaped, are ready to +renew the attack and crumble even the hard +stone to fragments. Such, very briefly, are +some of the methods by which fossils may be +formed, such are some of the accidents by +which they may be destroyed; but this description +must be taken as a mere outline and as +applying mainly to vertebrates, or backboned +animals, since it is with them that we shall have +to deal. It may, however, show why it is that +fossils are not more plentiful, why we have +mere hints of the existence of many animals, +and why myriads of creatures may have flourished +and passed away without so much as +leaving a trace of their presence behind.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>A very valuable and interesting article by Dr. Charles +A. White, entitled "The Relation of Biology to Geological +Investigation," will be found in the Report of the +United States National Museum for 1892. This comprises +a series of essays on the nature and scientific uses +of fossil remains, their origin, relative chronological +value and other questions pertaining to them. The United +States National Museum has published a pamphlet, part +K, Bulletin 39, containing directions for collecting and +preparing fossils, by Charles Schuchert; and another, +part B, Bulletin 39, collecting recent and fossil plants, +by F. H. Knowlton.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_046.jpg" width="400" height="409" alt="" /> +Fig. 3.—Skeleton of a Radiolarian Very Greatly Enlarged. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<p class="h3">THE EARLIEST KNOWN VERTEBRATES</p> + +<div class="inset16"> +<p> +"<i>We are the ancients of the earth<br /> +And in the morning of the times.</i>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>There is a universal, and perfectly natural, desire +for information, which in ourselves we term +thirst for knowledge and in others call curiosity, +that makes mankind desire to know how everything +began and causes much speculation as to +how it all will end. This may take the form +of a wish to know how a millionaire made his +first ten cents, or it may lead to the questions—What +is the oldest animal? or, What is the +first known member of the great group of backboned +animals at whose head man has placed +himself? and, What did this, our primeval and +many-times-removed ancestor, look like? The +question is one that has ever been full of interest +for naturalists, and Nature has been interrogated +in various ways in the hope that she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +might be persuaded to yield a satisfactory answer. +The most direct way has been that of +tracing back the history of animal life by means +of fossil remains, but beyond a certain point +this method cannot go, since, for reasons stated +in various places in these pages, the soft +bodies of primitive animals are not preserved. +To supplement this work, the embryologist has +studied the early stages of animals, as their development +throws a side-light on their past +history. And, finally, there is the study of the +varied forms of invertebrates, some of which +have proved to be like vertebrates in part of +their structure, while others have been revealed +as vertebrates in disguise. So far these various +methods have yielded various answers, or the +replies, like those of the Delphic Oracle, have +been variously interpreted so that vertebrates +are considered by some to have descended from +the worms, while others have found their beginnings +in some animal allied to the King Crab.</p> + +<p>Every student of genealogy knows only too +well how difficult a matter it is to trace a family +pedigree back a few centuries, how soon the +family names become changed, the line of descent<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +obscure, and how soon gaps appear whose +filling in requires much patient research. How +much more difficult must it be, then, to trace +the pedigree of a race that extends, not over +centuries, but thousands of centuries; how wide +must be some of the gaps, how very different +may the founders of the family be from their +descendants! The words old and ancient that +we use so often in speaking of fossils appeal to +us somewhat vaguely, for we speak of the ancient +civilizations of Greece and Rome, and call +a family old that can show a pedigree running +back four or five hundred years, when such as +these are but affairs of yesterday compared +with even recent fossils.</p> + +<p>Perhaps we may better appreciate the meaning +of these words by recalling that, since the +dawn of vertebrate life, sufficient of the earth's +surface has been worn away and washed into +the sea to form, were the strata piled directly +one upon the other, fifteen or twenty miles of +rock. This, of course, is the sum total of sedimentary +rocks, for such a thickness as this is not +to be found at any one locality; because, during +the various ups and downs that this world of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +ours has met with, those portions that chanced +to be out of water would receive no deposit of +mud or sand, and hence bear no corresponding +stratum of rock. The reader may think that +there is a great deal of difference between fifteen +and twenty miles, but this liberal margin +is due to the difficulty of measuring the thickness +of the rocks, and in Europe the sum of +the measurable strata is much greater than in +North America.</p> + +<p>The earliest traces of animal life are found +deeper still, beneath something like eighteen +to twenty-five miles of rock, while below this +level are the strata in which dwelt the earliest +living things, organisms so small and simple +that no trace of their existence has been left, +and we infer that they were there because any +given group starts in a modest way with small +and simple individuals.</p> + +<p>At the bottom, then, of twenty miles of rocks +the seeker for the progenitor of the great family +of backboned animals finds the scant remains +of fish-like animals that the cautious +naturalist, who is much given to "hedging," +terms, not vertebrates, but prevertebrates or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +the forerunners of backboned animals. The +earliest of these consist of small bony plates, +and traces of a cartilaginous backbone from +the Lower Silurian of Colorado, believed to +represent relatives of Chimæra and species related +to those better-known forms Holoptychius +and Osteolepis, which occur in higher +strata. There are certainly indications of vertebrate +life, but the remains are so imperfect +that little more can be said regarding them, +and this is also true of the small conical teeth +which occur in the Lower Silurian of St. Petersburg, +and are thought to be the teeth of +some animal like the lamprey.</p> + +<p>A little higher up in the rocks, though not +in the scale of life, in the Lower Old Red Sandstone +of England, are found more numerous +and better preserved specimens of another little +fish-like creature, rarely if ever exceeding +two inches in length, and also related (probably) +to the hag-fishes and lampreys that live +to-day.</p> + +<p>These early vertebrates are not only small, +but they were cartilaginous, so that it was essential +for their preservation that they should<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +be buried in soft mud as soon as possible after +death. Even if this took place they were later +on submitted to the pressure of some miles of +overlying rock until, in some cases, their remains +have been pressed out thinner than a +sheet of paper, and so thoroughly incorporated +into the surrounding stone that it is no easy +matter to trace their shadowy outlines. With +such drawbacks as these to contend with, it can +scarcely be wondered at that, while some naturalists +believe these little creatures to be related +to the lamprey, others consider that they belong +to a perfectly distinct group of animals, and +others still think it possible that they may be +the larval or early stages of larger and better-developed +forms.</p> + +<p>Still higher up we come upon the abundant +remains of numerous small fish-like animals, +more or less completely clad in bony armor, +indicating that they lived in troublous times +when there was literally a fight for existence +and only such as were well armed or well +protected could hope to survive. A parallel +case exists to-day in some of the rivers of South +America, where the little cat-fishes would pos<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>sibly +be eaten out of existence but for the fact +that they are covered—some of them very +completely—with plate-armor that enables +them to defy their enemies, or renders them +such poor eating as not to be worth the taking. +The arrangement of the plates or scales in the +living Loricaria is very suggestive of the series +of bony rings covering the body of the ancient +Cephalaspis, only the latter, so far as we know, +had no side-fins; but the creatures are in no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +wise related, and the similarity is in appearance +only.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_053.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="" /> +Fig. 4.—Cephalaspis and Loricaria, an Ancient and a +Modern Armored Fish. +</div> + +<p>Pterichthys, the wing fish, was another small, +quaint, armor-clad creature, whose fossilized remains +were taken for those of a crab, and once +described as belonging to a beetle. Certainly +the buckler of this fish, which is the part most +often preserved, with its jointed, bony arms, +looks to the untrained eye far more like some +strange crustacean than a fish, and even naturalists +have pictured the animal as crawling +over the bare sands by means of those same +arms. These fishes and their allies were once +the dominant type of life, and must have +abounded in favored localities, for in places are +great deposits of their protective shields jumbled +together in a confused mass, and, save +that they have hardened into stone, lying just +as they were washed up on the ancient beach +ages ago. How abundant they were may be +gathered from the fact that it is believed their +bodies helped consolidate portions of the strata +of the English Old Red Sandstone. Says Mr. +Hutchinson, speaking of the Caithness Flagstones, +"They owe their peculiar tenacity and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +durability to the dead fishes that rotted in their +midst while yet they were only soft mud. +For just as a plaster cast boiled in oil becomes +thereby denser and more durable, so the oily +and other matter coming from decomposing +fish operated on the surrounding sand or mud +so as to make it more compact."</p> + +<p>It may not be easy to explain how it came +to pass that fishes dwelling in salt water, as +these undoubtedly did, were thus deposited in +great numbers, but we may now and then see +how deposits of fresh-water fishes may have +been formed. When rivers flowing through a +stretch of level country are swollen during the +spring floods, they overflow their banks, often +carrying along large numbers of fishes. As the +water subsides these may be caught in shallow +pools that soon dry up, leaving the fishes to +perish, and every year the Illinois game association +rescues from the "back waters" quantities +of bass that would otherwise be lost. +Mr. F. S. Webster has recorded an instance +that came under his observation in Texas, +where thousands of gar pikes, trapped in a lake +formed by an overflow of the Rio Grande, had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +been, by the drying up of this lake, penned into +a pool about seventy-five feet long by twenty-five +feet wide. The fish were literally packed +together like sardines, layer upon layer, and a +shot fired into the pool would set the entire +mass in motion, the larger gars as they dashed +about casting the smaller fry into the air, a +score at a time. Mr. Webster estimates that +there must have been not less than 700 or 800 +fish in the pool, from a foot and a half up to +seven feet in length, every one of which perished +a little later. In addition to the fish in +the pond, hundreds of those that had died previously +lay about in every direction, and one +can readily imagine what a fish-bed this would +have made had the occurrence taken place in +the past.</p> + +<p>From the better-preserved specimens that do +now and then turn up, we are able to obtain a +very exact idea of the construction of the bony +cuirass by which Pterichthys and its American +cousin were protected, and to make a pretty +accurate reconstruction of the entire animal. +These primitive fishes had mouths, for eating is +a necessity; but these mouths were not associated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +with true jaws, for the two do not, as might +be supposed, necessarily go together. Neither +did these animals possess hard backbones, and, +while Pterichthys and its relatives had arms or +fins, the hard parts of these were not on the +inside but on the outside, so that the limb was +more like the leg of a crab than the fin of a +fish; and this is among the reasons why some +naturalists have been led to conclude that vertebrates +may have developed from crustaceans. +Pteraspis, another of these little armored prevertebrates, +had a less complicated covering, +and looked very much like a small fish with its +fore parts caught in an elongate clam-shell.</p> + +<p>The fishes that we have so far been considering—orphans +of the past they might be termed, +as they have no living relatives—were little fellows; +but their immediate successors, preserved +in the Devonian strata, particularly of North +America, were the giants of those days, termed, +from their size and presumably fierce appearance, +Titantichthys and Dinichthys, and are related +to a fish, <i>Ceratodus</i>, still living in Australia.</p> + +<p>We know practically nothing of the external +appearance of these fishes, great and fierce<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +though they may have been, with powerful +jaws and armored heads, for they had no bony +skeleton—as if they devoted their energies to +preying upon their neighbors rather than to internal +improvements. They attained a length +of ten to eighteen feet, with a gape, in the large +species called Titanichthys, of four feet, and +such a fish might well be capable of devouring +anything known to have lived at that early +date.</p> + +<p>Succeeding these, in Carboniferous times, +came a host of shark-like creatures known +mainly from their teeth and spines, for their +skeletons were of cartilage, and belonging to +types that have mostly perished, giving place +to others better adapted to the changed conditions +wrought by time. Almost the only living +relative of these early fishes is a little shark, +known as the Port Jackson Shark, living in +Australian waters. Like the old sharks, this +one has a spine in front of his back fins, and, like +them, he fortunately has a mouthful of diversely +shaped teeth; fortunately, because through their +aid we are enabled to form some idea of the +manner in which some of the teeth found scattered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +through the rocks were arranged. For +the teeth were not planted in sockets, as they +are in higher animals, but simply rested on the +jaws, from which they readily became detached +when decomposition set in after death. To +complicate matters, the teeth in different parts +of the jaws were often so unlike one another +that when found separately they would hardly +be suspected of having belonged to the same +animal. Besides teeth these fishes, for purposes +of offence and defence, were usually armed +with spines, sometimes of considerable size and +strength, and often elaborately grooved and +sculptured. As the soft parts perished the +teeth and spines were left to be scattered by +waves and currents, a tooth here, another there, +and a spine somewhere else; so it has often +happened that, being found separately, two or +three quite different names have been given to +one and the same animal. Now and then some +specimen comes to light that escaped the +thousand and one accidents to which such +things were exposed, and that not only shows +the teeth and spines but the faint imprint of +the body and fins as well. And from such rare<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +examples we learn just what teeth and spines +go with one another, and sometimes find that +one fish has received names enough for an entire +school.</p> + +<p>These ancient sharks were not the large and +powerful fishes that we have to-day—these +came upon the scene later—but mostly fishes +of small size, and, as indicated by their spines, +fitted quite as much for defence as offence. +Their rise was rapid, and in their turn they +became the masters of the world, spreading +in great numbers through the waters that covered +the face of the earth; but their supremacy +was of short duration, for they declined in +numbers even during the Carboniferous Period, +and later dwindled almost to extinction. And +while sharks again increased, they never reached +their former abundance, and the species that +arose were swift, predatory forms, better fitted +for the struggle for existence.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>The early fishes make but little show in a museum, +both on account of their small size and the conditions +under which they have been preserved. The Museum of +Comparative Zoölogy has a large collection of these +ancient vertebrates, and there is a considerable number of +fine teeth and spines of Carboniferous sharks in the +United States National Museum.</i></p> + +<p><i>Hugh Miller's "The Old Red Sandstone" contains +some charming descriptions of his discoveries of Pterichthys +and related forms, and this book will ever remain a +classic.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_061.jpg" width="400" height="149" alt="" /> +Fig. 5.—Pterichthys, the Wing Fish. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<p class="h3">IMPRESSIONS OF THE PAST</p> + +<div class="inset18"> +<p> +"<i>The weird palimpsest, old and vast,<br /> +Wherein thou hid'st the spectral past.</i>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The Rev. H. N. Hutchinson commences one +of his interesting books with Emerson's saying, +"that Everything in nature is engaged in +writing its own history;" and, as this remark +cannot be improved on, it may well stand at +the head of a chapter dealing with the footprints +that the creatures of yore left on the +sands of the sea-shore, the mud of a long-vanished +lake bottom, or the shrunken bed of some +water-course. Not only have creatures that +walked left a record of their progress, but the +worms that burrowed in the sand, the shell-fish +that trailed over the mud when the tide was +low, the stranded crab as he scuttled back to +the sea—each and all left some mark to tell +of their former presence. Even the rain that fell<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +and the very wind that blew sometimes recorded +the direction whence they came, and +we may read in the rocks, also, accounts of +freshets sweeping down with turbid waters, and +of long periods of drouth, when the land was +parched and lakes and rivers shrank beneath +the burning sun.</p> + +<p>All these things have been told and retold; +but, as there are many who have not read +Mr. Hutchinson's books and to whom Buckland +is quite unknown, it may be excusable +to add something to what has already been +said in the first chapter of these impressions +of the past.</p> + +<p>The very earliest suggestion we have of the +presence of animal life upon this globe is in +the form of certain long dark streaks below +the Cambrian of England, considered to be +traces of the burrows of worms that were filled +with fine mud, and while this interpretation +may be wrong there is, on the other hand, no +reason why it may not be correct. Plant and +animal life must have had very lowly beginnings, +and it is not at all probable that we +shall find any trace of the simple and minute<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +forms with which they started,<a id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> though we +should not be surprised at finding hints of the +presence of living creatures below the strata +in which their remains are actually known to +occur.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Within the last few years what are believed to be indications +of bacteria have been described from carboniferous rocks. +Naturally such announcements must be accepted with great +caution, for while there is no reason why this may not be true, +it is much more probable that definite evidence of the effects of +bacteria on plants should be found than that these simple, single-celled +organisms should themselves have been detected.</i></p></div> + +<p>Worm burrows, to be sure, are hardly footprints, +but tracks are found in Cambrian rocks +just above the strata in which the supposed +burrows occur, and from that time onward +there are tracks a-plenty, for they have been +made, wherever the conditions were favorable, +ever since animals began to walk. All that +was needed was a medium in which impressions +could be made and so filled that there +was imperfect adhesion between mould and +matrix. Thus we find them formed not only +by the sea-shore, in sands alternately dry and +covered, but by the river-side, in shallow water, +or even on land where tracks might be left in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>soft or moist earth into which wind-driven +dust or sand might lodge, or sand or mud be +swept by the mimic flood caused by a thunder +shower.</p> + +<p>So there are tracks in strata of every age; +at first those of invertebrates: after the worm +burrows the curious complicated trails of animals +believed to be akin to the king crab; +broad, ribbed, ribbon-like paths ascribed to +trilobites; then faint scratches of insects, and +the shallow, palmed prints of salamanders, and +the occasional slender sprawl of a lizard; then +footprints, big and little, of the horde of Dinosaurs +and, finally, miles above the Cambrian, +marks of mammals. Sometimes, like the +tracks of salamanders and reptiles in the carboniferous +rocks of Pennsylvania and Kansas, +these are all we have to tell of the existence +of air-breathing animals. Again, as with the +iguanodon, the foot to fit the track may be +found in the same layer of rock, but this is not +often the case.</p> + +<p>Although footprints in the rocks must often +have been seen, they seem to have attracted little +or no notice from scientific men until about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +1830 to 1835, when they were almost simultaneously +described both in Europe and America; +even then, it was some time before they +were generally conceded to be actually the +tracks of animals, but, like worm burrows and +trails, were looked upon as the impressions of +sea-weeds.</p> + +<p>The now famous tracks in the "brown +stone" of the Connecticut Valley seem to have +first been seen by Pliny Moody in 1802, when +he ploughed up a specimen on his farm, showing +small imprints, which later on were popularly +called the tracks of Noah's raven. The +discovery passed without remark until in 1835 +the footprints came under the observation of +Dr. James Deane, who, in turn, called Professor +Hitchcock's attention to them. The latter at +once began a systematic study of these impressions, +publishing his first account in 1836 +and continuing his researches for many years, +in the course of which he brought together the +fine collection in Amherst College. At that +time Dinosaurs were practically unknown, and +it is not to be wondered at that these three-toed +tracks, great and small, were almost universally<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +believed to be those of birds. So it is +greatly to the credit of Dr. Deane, who also +studied these footprints, that he was led to +suspect that they might have been made by +other animals. This suspicion was partly +caused by the occasional association of four +and five-toed prints with the three-toed impressions, +and partly by the rare occurrence of +imprints showing the texture of the sole of the +foot, which was quite different from that of +any known bird.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_067.jpg" width="400" height="186" alt="" /> +Fig. 6.—Where a Dinosaur Sat Down. +</div> + +<p>In the light of our present knowledge we +are able to read many things in these tracks +that were formerly more or less obscure, and +to see in them a complete verification of Dr. +Deane's suspicion that they were not made by +birds. We see clearly that the long tracks<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +called <i>Anomœpus</i>, with their accompanying +short fore feet, mark where some Dinosaur +squatted down to rest or progressed slowly on +all-fours, as does the kangaroo when feeding +quietly;<a id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and we interpret the curious heart-shaped +depression sometimes seen back of the +feet, not as the mark of a stubby tail, but as +made by the ends of the slender pubes, bones +that help form the hip-joints. Then, too, the +mark of the inner, or short first, toe, is often +very evident, although it was a long time before +the bones of this toe were actually found, +and many of the Dinosaurs now known to +have four toes were supposed to have but +three.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> <i>It is to be noted that a leaping kangaroo touches the +ground neither with his heel nor his tail, but that between +jumps he rests momentarily on his toes only; hence impressions +made by any creature that jumped like a kangaroo would +be very short.</i></p></div> + +<p>It seems strange, and it is strange, that +while so many hundreds of tracks should have +been found in the limited area exposed to view, +so few bones have been found—our knowledge +of the veritable animals that made the tracks +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>being a blank. A few examples have, it is +true, been found, but these are only a tithe of +those known to have existed; while of the great +animals that strode along the shore, leaving +tracks fifteen inches long and a yard apart +pressed deeply into the hard sand, not a bone +remains. The probability is that the strata +containing their bones lie out to sea, whither +their bodies were carried by tides and currents, +and that we may never see more than the few +fragments that were scattered along the seaside.</p> + +<p>That part of the Valley of the Connecticut +wherein the footprints are found seems to have +been a long, narrow estuary running southward +from Turner's Falls, Mass., where the +tracks are most abundant and most clear. +The topography was such that this estuary +was subject to sudden and great fluctuations of +the water-level, large tracts of shore being now +left dry to bake in the sun, and again covered +by turbid water which deposited on the bottom +a layer of mud. Over and over again this +happened, forming layer upon layer of what is +now stone, sometimes the lapse of time between +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +the deposits being so short that the +tracks of the big Dinosaurs extend through +several sheets of stone; while again there was a +period of drouth when the shore became so dry +and firm as to retain but a single shallow impression.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_070.jpg" width="400" height="263" alt="" /> +Fig. 7.—Footprints of Dinosaurs on the Brownstone of the Connecticut Valley. +<br /> +<i>From a slab in the museum of Amherst College.</i> +</div> + +<p>Something of the wealth of animal life that +roamed about this estuary may be gathered +from the number of different footprints recorded +on the sands, and these are so many and +so varied that Professor Hitchcock in two extensive +reports enumerated over 150 species, +representing various groups of animals. One +little point must, however, be borne in mind, +that mere size is no sure indication of differences +in dealing with reptiles, for these long-lived +creatures grow almost continuously +throughout life, so that one animal even may +have left his footprints over and over in assorted +sizes from one end of the valley to the +other.</p> + +<p>The slab shown in Fig. 7 is a remarkably +fine example of these Connecticut River footprints; +it shows in relief forty-eight tracks of +the animal called Brontozoum sillimanium and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +six of a lesser species. It was quarried near +Middletown, in 1778, and for sixty years did +duty as a flagstone, fortunately with the face +downwards. When taken up for repairs the +tracks were discovered, and later on the slab, +which measures three by five feet, was transferred +to the museum of Amherst College.</p> + +<p>There is an interesting parallel between the +history of footprints in England and America, +for they were noticed at about the same time, +1830, in both countries; in each case the tracks +were in rocks of Triassic age, and, in both instances, +the animals that made them have +never been found. In England, however, the +tracks first found were those ascribed to tortoises, +though a little later Dinosaur footprints +were discovered in the same locality. Oddly +enough these numerous tracks all run one +way, from west to east, as if the animals were +migrating, or were pursuing some well-known +and customary route to their feeding grounds.</p> + +<p>For some reason Triassic rocks are particularly +rich in footprints; for from strata of this +same age in the Rhine Valley come those curious +examples so like the mark of a stubby<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +hand that Dr. Kaup christened the beast supposed +to have made them <i>Cheirotherium</i>, beast +with a hand, suggesting that they had been +made by some gigantic opossum. As the +tracks measure five by eight inches, it would +have been rather a large specimen, but the +mammals had not then arisen, and it is generally +believed that the impressions were made +by huge (for their kind) salamander-like creatures, +known as labyrinthodonts, whose remains +are found in the same strata.</p> + +<p>Footprints may aid greatly in determining +the attitude assumed by extinct animals, and +in this way they have been of great service in +furnishing proof that many of the Dinosaurs +walked erect. The impressions on the sands +of the old Connecticut estuary may be said to +show this very plainly, but in England and +Belgium is evidence still more conclusive, in +the shape of tracks ascribed to the Iguanodon. +These were made on soft soil into which the +feet sank much more deeply than in the Connecticut +sands, and the casts made in the natural +moulds show the impression of toes very +clearly. If the animals had walked flat-footed,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +as we do, the prints of the toes would have +been followed by a long heel mark, but such +is not the case; there are the sharply defined +marks of the toes and nothing more, showing +plainly that the Iguanodons walked, like birds, +on the toes alone. More than this, had these +Dinosaurs dragged their tails there would have +been a continuous furrow between the footprints; +but nothing of this sort is to be found; +on the contrary, a fine series of tracks, uncovered +at Hastings, England, made by several +individuals and running for seventy-five feet, +shows footprints only. Hence it may be fairly +concluded that these great creatures carried +their tails clear of the ground, as shown in the +picture of <i>Thespesius</i>, the weight of the tail +counterbalancing that of the body. Where +crocodilians or some of the short-limbed Dinosaurs +have crept along there is, as we should +expect, a continuous furrow between the imprints +of the feet. This is what footprints tell +us when their message is read aright; when +improperly translated they only add to the +enormous bulk of our ignorance.</p> + +<p>Some years ago we were treated to accounts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +of wonderful footprints in the rock of the +prison-yard at Carson City, Nev., which, according +to the papers, not only showed that +men existed at a much earlier period than the +scientific supposed, but that they were men +of giant stature. This was clearly demonstrated +by the footprints, for they were such as +<i>might</i> have been made by huge moccasined +feet, and this was all that was necessary for +the conclusion that they <i>were</i> made by just +such feet. For it is a curious fact that the +majority of mankind seem to prefer any explanation +other than the most simple and natural, +particularly in the case of fossils, and are +always looking for a primitive race of gigantic +men.</p> + +<p>Bones of the Mastodon and Mammoth have +again and again been eagerly accepted as those +of giants; a salamander was brought forward +as evidence of the deluge (<i>homo diluvii testis</i>); +ammonites and their allies pose as fossil snakes, +and the "petrified man" flourishes perennially. +However, in this case the prints were recognized +by naturalists as having most probably +been made by some great ground sloth, such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +as the Mylodon or Morotherium, these animals, +though belonging to a group whose headquarters +were in Patagonia, having extended +their range as far north as Oregon. That the +tracks seemed to have been made by a biped, +rather than a quadruped, was due to the fact +that the prints of the hind feet fell upon and +obliterated the marks of the fore. Still, a little +observation showed that here and there prints +of the fore feet were to be seen, and on one +spot were indications of a struggle between +two of the big beasts. The mud, or rather +the stone that had been mud, bears the imprints +of opposing feet, one set deeper at the +toes, the other at the heels, as if one animal +had pushed and the other resisted. In the +rock, too, are broad depressions bearing the +marks of coarse hair, where one creature had +apparently sat on its haunches in order to use +its fore limbs to the best advantage. Other +footprints there are in this prison-yard; the +great round "spoor" of the mammoth, the +hoofs of a deer, and the paws of a wolf(?), indicating +that hereabout was some pool where all +these creatures came to drink. More than this,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +we learn that when these prints were made, or +shortly after, a strong wind blew from the +southeast, for on that face of the ridges bounding +the margin of each big footprint, we find +sand that lodged against the squeezed-up mud +and stuck there to serve as a perpetual record +of the direction of the wind.</p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>Almost every museum has some specimen of the Connecticut +Valley footprints, but the largest and finest collections +are in the museums of Amherst College, Mass., +and Yale University, although, owing to lack of room, +only a few of the Yale specimens are on exhibition. +The collection at Amherst comprises most of the types +described by Professor E. Hitchcock in his "Ichnology of +New England," a work in two fully illustrated quarto +volumes. Other footprints are described and figured by +Dr. J. Deane in "Ichnographs from the Sandstone of +the Connecticut River."</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_078.jpg" width="400" height="123" alt="" /> +Fig. 8.—The Track of a Three-toed Dinosaur. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<p class="h3">RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>A time there was when the universe was darkness and +water, wherein certain animals of frightful and compound +mien were generated. There were serpents, and other creatures +with the mixed shapes of one another....</i>"—<i>The Archaic +Genesis.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p>History shows us how in the past nation after +nation has arisen, increased in size and strength, +extended its bounds and dominion until it became +the ruling power of the world, and then +passed out of existence, often so completely +that nothing has remained save a few mounds +of dirt marking the graves of former cities. +And so has it been with the kingdoms of +nature. Just as Greece, Carthage, and Rome +were successively the rulers of the sea in the +days that we call old, so, long before the advent +of man, the seas were ruled by successive races +of creatures whose bones now lie scattered +over the beds of the ancient seas, even as the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +wrecks of galleys lie strewn over the bed of +the Mediterranean. For a time the armor-clad +fishes held undisputed sway; then their +reign was ended by the coming of the sharks, +who in their turn gave way to the fish-lizards, +the Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs. These, however, +were rather local in their rule; but the +next group of reptiles to appear on the scene, +the great marine reptiles called Mosasaurs, +practically extended their empire around the +world, from New Zealand to North America.</p> + +<p>We properly call these reptiles great, for so +they were; but there are degrees of greatness, +and there is a universal tendency to think of +the animals that have become extinct as much +greater than those of the present day, to magnify +the reptile that we never saw as well as +the fish that "got away," and it may be safely +said that the greatest of animals will shrink +before a two-foot rule. As a matter of fact, +no animals are known to have existed that +were larger than the whales; and, while there +are now no reptiles that can compare in bulk +with the Dinosaurs, there were few Mosasaurs +that exceeded in size a first-class Crocodile.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +An occasional Mosasaur reaches a length of +forty feet, but such are rare indeed, and one +even twenty-five feet long is a large specimen,<a id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +while the great Mugger, or Man-eating Crocodile, +grows, if permitted, to a length of twenty-five +or even thirty feet, and need not be +ashamed to match his bulk and jaws against +those of most Mosasaurs.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>It is surprising to find Professor Cope placing the length +of the Mosasaurs at 70, 80, or 100 feet, as there is not the +slightest basis for even the lowest of these figures. Professor +Williston, the best authority on the subject, states, in his volume +on the "Cretaceous Reptiles of Kansas," that there is not in existence +any specimen of a Mosasaur indicating a greater length +than 45 feet.</i></p></div> + +<p>The first of these sea-reptiles to be discovered +has passed into history, and now +reposes in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, +after changing hands two or three times, +the original owner being dispossessed of his +treasure by the subtleties of law, while the +next holder was deprived of the specimen +by main force. Thus the story is told by +M. Faujas St. Fond, as rendered into English, +in Mantell's "Petrifactions and their Teachings": +"Some workmen, in blasting the rock +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>in one of the caverns of the interior of the +mountain, perceived, to their astonishment, the +jaws of a large animal attached to the roof of +the chasm. The discovery was immediately +made known to M. Hoffman, who repaired to +the spot, and for weeks presided over the arduous +task of separating the mass of stone containing +these remains from the surrounding +rock. His labors were rewarded by the successful +extrication of the specimen, which he +conveyed in triumph to his house. This extraordinary +discovery, however, soon became +the subject of general conversation, and excited +so much interest that the canon of the cathedral +which stands on the mountain resolved to claim +the fossil, in right of being lord of the manor, +and succeeded, after a long and harassing lawsuit, +in obtaining the precious relic. It remained +for years in his possession, and Hoffman +died without regaining his treasure. At +length the French Revolution broke out, and +the armies of the Republic advanced to the +gates of Maestricht. The town was bombarded; +but, at the suggestion of the committee +of savans who accompanied the French<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +troops to select their share of the plunder, the +artillery was not suffered to play on that part +of the city in which the celebrated fossil was +known to be preserved. In the meantime, the +canon of St. Peter's, shrewdly suspecting the +reason why such peculiar favor was shown to +his residence, removed the specimen and concealed +it in a vault; but, when the city was +taken, the French authorities compelled him +to give up his ill-gotten prize, which was +immediately transmitted to the Jardin des +Plantes, at Paris, where it still forms one of +the most interesting objects in that magnificent +collection." And there it remains to +this day.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_084.jpg" width="400" height="559" alt="" /> +Fig. 9.—A Great Sea Lizard, <i>Tylosaurus Dyspelor</i>. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i> +</div> + +<p>The seas that rolled over western Kansas +were the headquarters of the Mosasaurs, and +hundreds—aye, thousands—of specimens +have been taken from the chalk bluffs of that +region, some of them in such a fine state of +preservation that we are not only well acquainted +with their internal structure, but with +their outward appearance as well. They were +essentially swimming lizards—great, overgrown, +and distant relatives of the Monitors +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +of Africa and Asia, especially adapted to a +roving, predatory life by their powerful tails +and paddle-shaped feet. Their cup-and-ball +vertebræ indicate great flexibility of the body, +their sharp teeth denote ability to capture slippery +prey, and the structure of the lower jaw +shows that they probably ate in a hurry and +swallowed their food entire, or bolted it in +great chunks. The jaws of all reptiles are +made up of a number of pieces, but these are +usually so spliced together that each half of the +jaw is one inflexible, or nearly inflexible, mass +of bone. In snakes, which swallow their prey +entire, the difficulty of swallowing animals +greater in diameter than themselves is surmounted +by having the two halves of the lower +jaw loosely joined at the free ends, so that +these may spread wide apart and thus increase +the gape of the mouth. This is also helped by +the manner in which the jaw is joined to the +head. The pelican solves the problem by the +length of his mandibles, this allowing so much +spring that when open they bow apart to +form a nice little landing net. In the Mosasaurs, +as in the cormorants, among birds, there +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +is a sort of joint in each half of the lower jaw +which permits it to bow outward when opened, +and this, aided by the articulation of the jaw +with the cranium, adds greatly to the swallowing +capacity. Thus in nature the same end is +attained by very different methods. To borrow +a suggestion from Professor Cope, if the +reader will extend his arms at full length, the +palms touching, and then bend his elbows outward +he will get a very good idea of the action +of a Mosasaur's jaw. The western sea +was a lively place in the day of the great +Mosasaurs, for with them swam the king of +turtles, Archelon, as Mr. Wieland has fitly +named him, a creature a dozen feet or more in +length, with a head a full yard long, while in +the shallows prowled great fishes with massive +jaws and teeth like spikes.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_087.jpg" width="400" height="83" alt="" /> +Fig. 10.—Jaw of a Mosasaur, Showing the Joint that +Increased the Swallowing Capacity of that Reptile. +</div> + +<p>There, too, was the great, toothed diver,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +Hesperornis (see page 83), while over the +waters flew pterodactyls, with a spread of +wing of twenty feet, largest of all flying +creatures; and, not improbably—nay, very +probably—fish-eaters, too; and when each and +all of these were seeking their dinners, there +were troublous times for the small fry in that +old Kansan sea.</p> + +<p>And then there came a change; to the +south, to the west, to the north, the land was +imperceptibly but surely rising, perhaps only +an inch or two in a century, but still rising, +until "The Ocean in which flourished this +abundant and vigorous life was at last completely +inclosed on the west by elevations of +sea-bottom, so that it only communicated with +the Atlantic and Pacific at the Gulf of Mexico +and the Arctic Sea."</p> + +<p>The continued elevation of both eastern and +western shores contracted its area, and when +ridges of the sea-bottom reached the surface, +forming long, low bars, parts of the water-area +were included, and connection with salt-water +prevented. Thus were the living beings imprisoned +and subjected to many new risks to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +life. The stronger could more readily capture +the weaker, while the fishes would gradually +perish through the constant freshening of the +water. With the death of any considerable +class, the balance of food-supply would be lost, +and many large species would disappear from +the scene. The most omnivorous and enduring +would longest resist the approach of starvation, +but would finally yield to inexorable fate—the +last one caught by the shifting bottom among +shallow pools, from which his exhausted energies +could not extricate him.<a id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Cope: "The Vertebrata of the Cretaceous Formations of +the West," p. 50, being the "Report of the United States Geological +Survey of the Territories," Vol. II.</i></p></div> + +<p>Like the "Fossil man" the sea-serpent +flourishes perennially in the newspapers and, +despite the fact that he is now mainly regarded +as a joke, there have been many attempts to +habilitate this mythical monster and place him +on a foundation of firm fact. The most earnest +of these was that of M. Oudemans, who +expressed his belief in the existence of some +rare and huge seal-like creature whose occasional +appearance in southern waters gave rise +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>to the best authenticated reports of the sea-serpent. +Among other possibilities it has been +suggested that some animal believed to be extinct +had really lived over to the present day. +Now there are a few waifs, spared from the +wrecks of ancient faunas, stranded on the +shores of the present, such as the Australian +Ceratodus and the Gar Pikes of North America, +and these and all other creatures that could +be mustered in were used as proofs to sustain +this theory. If, it was said, these animals +have been spared, why not others? If a fish +of such ancient lineage as the Gar Pike is so +common as to be a nuisance, why may there +not be a few Plesiosaurs or a Mosasaur somewhere +in the depths of the ocean? The argument +was a good one, the more that we may +"suppose" almost anything, but it must be +said that no trace of any of these creatures has +so far been found outside of the strata in which +they have long been known to occur, and all +the probabilities are opposed to this theory. +Still, if some of these creatures <i>had</i> been spared, +they might well have passed for sea-serpents, +even though Zeuglodon, the one most like a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +serpent in form, was the one most remotely related +to snakes.</p> + +<p>Zeuglodon, the yoke-tooth, so named from +the shape of its great cutting teeth, was indeed +a strange animal, and if we wonder at +the Greenland Whale, whose head is one-third +its total length, we may equally wonder at +Zeuglodon, with four feet of head, ten feet of +body, and forty feet of tail. No one, seeing +the bones of the trunk and tail for the first +time, would suspect that they belonged to the +same animal, for while the vertebræ of the +body are of moderate size, those of the tail +are, for the bulk of creature, the longest +known, measuring from fifteen to eighteen +inches in length, and weighing in a fossil condition +fifty to sixty pounds. In life, the animal +was from fifty to seventy feet in length, +and not more than six or eight feet through +the deepest part of the body, while the tail +was much less; the head was small and +pointed, the jaws well armed with grasping +and cutting teeth, and just back of the head +was a pair of short paddles, not unlike those +of a fur seal. It is curious to speculate on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +the habits of a creature in which the tail so +obviously wagged the dog and whose articulations +all point to great freedom of movement +up and down. This may mean that it was an +active diver, descending to great depths to +prey upon squid, as the Sperm-Whale does +to-day, while it seems quite certain that it +must have reared at least a third of its great +length out of water to take a comprehensive +view of its surroundings. And if size is any +indication of power, the great tail, which obviously +ended in flukes like those of a whale, +must have been capable of propelling the beast +at a speed of twenty or thirty miles an hour. +Something of the kind must have been needed +in order that the small head might provide food +enough for the great tail, and it has been suggested +that inability to do this was the reason +why Zeuglodon became extinct. On the other +hand, it has been ingeniously argued that the +huge tail served to store up fat when food was +plenty, which was drawn upon when food became +scarce. The fur seals do something similar +to this, for the males come on shore in +May rolling in blubber, and depart in September<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +lean and hungry after a three months' +fast.</p> + +<p>Zeuglodons must have been very numerous +in the old Gulf of Mexico, for bones are found +abundantly through portions of our Southern +States; it was also an inhabitant of the old +seas of southern Europe, but, as we shall see, +it gave place to the great fossil shark, and this +in turn passed out of existence. Still, common +though its bones may be, stories of their use +for making stone walls—and these stories are +still in circulation—resolve themselves on +close scrutiny into the occasional use of a big +vertebra to support the corner of a corn-crib.</p> + +<p>The scientific name of Zeuglodon is <i>Basilosaurus +cetoides</i>, the whale-like king lizard—the +first of these names, <i>Basilosaurus</i>, having been +given to it by the original describer, Dr. Harlan, +who supposed the animal to have been a +reptile. Now it is a primary rule of nomenclature +that the first name given to an animal +must stick and may not be changed, even by +the act of a zoölogical congress, so Zeuglodon +must, so far as its name is concerned, masquerade +as a reptile for the rest of its paleontological<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +life. This, however, really matters +very little, because scientific names are simply +verbal handles by which we may grasp animals +to describe them, and Dr. Le Conte, to show +how little there may be in a name, called a +beetle Gyascutus. Owen's name of Zeuglodon, +although not tenable as a scientific name, is +too good to be wasted, and being readily remembered +and easily pronounced may be used +as a popular name.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_095.jpg" width="400" height="235" alt="" /> +Fig. 11.—Koch's Hydrarchus, Composed of Portions of the Skeleton of Several Zeuglodons. +</div> + +<p>One might think that a creature sixty or +seventy feet long was amply long enough, but +Dr. Albert Koch thought otherwise, and did +with Zeuglodon as, later on, he did with the +Mastodon, combining the vertebræ of several +individuals until he had a monster 114 feet +long! This he exhibited in Europe under the +name of Hydrarchus, or water king, finally +disposing of the composite creature to the +Museum of Dresden, where it was promptly +reduced to its proper dimensions. The natural +make-up of Zeuglodon is sufficiently composite +without any aid from man, for the head +and paddles are not unlike those of a seal, the +ribs are like those of a manatee, and the shoulder +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +blades are precisely like those of a whale, +while the vertebræ are different from those +of any other animal, even its own cousin and +lesser contemporary Dorudon. There were +also tiny hind legs tucked away beneath skin, +but these, as well as many other parts of the +animal's structure were unknown, until Mr. +Charles Schuchert collected a series of specimens +for the National Museum, from which it +was possible to restore the entire skeleton. +Owing to a rather curious circumstance the +first attempt at a restoration was at fault; +among the bones originally obtained by Mr. +Schuchert there were none from the last half +of the tail, an old gully having cut off the +hinder portion of the backbone and destroyed +the vertebræ. Not far away, however, was a +big lump of stone containing several vertebræ +of just the right size, and these were used as +models to complete the papier-maché skeleton +shown at Atlanta, in 1894. But a year after +Mr. Schuchert collected a series of vertebræ, +beginning with the tip of the tail, and these +showed conclusively that the first lot of tail +vertebræ belonged to a creature still undescribed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +and one probably more like a whale +than Zeuglodon himself, whose exact relationships +are a little uncertain, as may be imagined +from what was said of its structure. Mixed +with the bones of Zeuglodon was the shell of +a turtle, nearly three feet long, and part of the +backbone of a great water-snake that must +have been twenty-five feet long, both previously +quite unknown. One more curious +thing about Zeuglodon bones remains to be +told, and then we are done with him; ordinarily +a fossil bone will break indifferently in any +direction, but the bones of Zeuglodon are built, +like an onion, of concentric layers, and these +have a great tendency to peel off during the +preparation of a specimen.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>And now, as the wheels of time and change +rolled slowly on, sharks again came uppermost, +and the warmer Eocene and Miocene oceans +appear to have fairly teemed with these sea +wolves. There were small sharks with slender +teeth for catching little fishes, there were +larger sharks with saw-like teeth for cutting +slices out of larger fishes, and there were sharks<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +that might almost have swallowed the biggest +fish of to-day whole, sharks of a size the waters +had never before contained, and fortunately do +not contain now. We know these monsters +mostly by their teeth, for their skeletons were +cartilaginous, and this absence of their remains +is probably the reason why these creatures are +passed by while the adjectives huge, immense, +enormous are lavished on the Mosasaurs and +Plesiosaurs—animals that the great-toothed +shark, <i>Carcharodon megalodon</i>, might well +have eaten at a meal. For the gaping jaws +of one of these sharks, with its hundreds of +gleaming teeth must, at a moderate estimate, +have measured not less than six feet across.</p> + +<p>The great White Shark, the man-eater, so +often found in story books, so rarely met with +in real life, attains a length of thirty feet, and +a man just makes him a good, satisfactory +lunch. Now a tooth of this shark is an inch +and a quarter long, while a tooth of the huge +<i>Megalodon</i> is commonly three, often four, and +not infrequently five inches long. Applying +the rule of three to such a tooth as this would +give a shark 120 feet long, bigger than most<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +whales, to whom a man would be but a +mouthful, just enough to whet his sharkship's +appetite. Even granting that the rule of three +unduly magnifies the dimensions of the brute, +and making an ample reduction, there would +still remain a fish between seventy-five and +one hundred feet long, quite large enough to +satisfy the most ambitious of <i>tuna</i> fishers, and +to have made bathing in the Miocene ocean +unpopular. Contemporary with the great-toothed +shark was another and closely related +species that originated with him in Eocene +times, and these two may possibly have had +something to do with the extinction of Zeuglodon. +This species is distinguished by having +on either side of the base of the great triangular +cutting teeth a little projection or +cusp, like the "ear" on a jar, so that this species +has been named <i>auriculatus</i>, or eared. +The edges of the teeth are also more saw-like +than in those of its greater relative, and as the +species must have attained a length of fifty or +sixty feet it may, with its better armature, +have been quite as formidable. And, as perhaps +the readers of these pages may know, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +supply of teeth never ran short. Back of each +tooth, one behind another arranged in serried +ranks, lay a reserve of six or seven smaller, but +growing teeth, and whenever a tooth of the +front row was lost, the tooth immediately +behind it took its place, and like a well-trained +soldier kept the front line unbroken. Thus +the teeth of sharks are continually developing +at the back, and all the teeth are steadily +pushing forward, a very simple mechanical +arrangement causing the teeth to lie flat until +they reach the front of the jaw and come +into use.</p> + +<p>Once fairly started in life, these huge sharks +spread themselves throughout the warm seas +of the world, for there was none might stand +before them and say nay. They swarmed +along our southern coast, from Maryland to +Texas; they swarmed everywhere that the water +was sufficiently warm, for their teeth occur in +Tertiary strata in many parts of the world, and +the deep-sea dredges of the Challenger and +Albatross have brought up their teeth by scores. +And then—they perished, perished as utterly +as did the hosts of Sennacherib. Why? We do<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +not know. Did they devour everything large +enough to be eaten throughout their habitat, +and then fall to eating one another? Again, +we do not know. But perish they did, while +the smaller white shark, which came into being +at the same time, still lives, as if to emphasize +the fact that it is best not to overdo things, +and that in the long run the victory is not +<i>always</i> to the largest.</p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>The finest Mosasaur skeleton ever discovered, an +almost complete skeleton of Tylosaurus dyspelor, 29 feet +in length, may be seen at the head of the staircase leading +to the Hall of Paleontology, in the American Museum +of Natural History, New York. Another good specimen +may be seen in the Yale University Museum, which probably +has the largest collection of Mosasaurs in existence. +Another fine collection is in the Museum of the State +University of Kansas, at Lawrence.</i></p> + +<p><i>The best Zeuglodon, the first to show the vestigial hind +legs and to make clear other portions of the structure, is +in the United States National Museum.</i></p> + +<p><i>The great sharks are known in this country by their +teeth only, and, as these are common in the phosphate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +beds, specimens may be seen in almost any collection. In +the United States National Museum, the jaws of a twelve-foot +blue shark are shown for comparison. The largest +tooth in that collection is 5-3/4 inches high and 5 inches +across the base. It takes five teeth of the blue shark to +fill the same number of inches.</i></p> + +<p><i>The Mosasaurs are described in detail by Professor S. +W. Williston, in Vol. IV. of the "University Geological +Survey of Kansas." There is a technical—and, consequently, +uninteresting—account of Zeuglodon in Vol. +XXIII. of the "Proceedings of the United States National +Museum," page 327.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter200"> +<img src="images/i_102.jpg" width="200" height="340" alt="" /> +Fig. 12.—A Tooth of Zeuglodon, one of the "Yoke +Teeth," from which it derives the name. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<p class="h3">BIRDS OF OLD</p> + +<div class="inset22"> +<p> +"<i>With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,<br /> +And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.</i>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>When we come to discuss the topic of the earliest +bird—not the one in the proverb—our +choice of subjects is indeed limited, being restricted +to the famous and oft-described Archæopteryx +from the quarries of Solenhofen, which +at present forms the starting-point in the history +of the feathered race. Bird-like, or at +least feathered, creatures, must have existed +before this, as it is improbable that feathers +and flight were acquired at one bound, and +this lends probability to the view that at least +some of the tracks in the Connecticut Valley +are really the footprints of birds. Not birds as +we now know them, but still creatures wearing +feathers, these being the distinctive badge and +livery of the order. For we may well speak +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +of the feathered race, the exclusive prerogative +of the bird being not flight but feathers; no +bird is without them, no other creature wears +them, so that birds may be exactly defined in +two words, feathered animals. Reptiles, and +even mammals, may go quite naked or cover +themselves with a defensive armor of bony +plates or horny scales; but under the blaze of +the tropical sun or in the chill waters of arctic +seas birds wear feathers only, although in the +penguins the feathers have become so changed +that their identity is almost lost.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_104.jpg" width="400" height="495" alt="" /> +Fig. 13.—Archæopteryx, the Earliest Known Bird. +<br /> +<i>From the specimen in the Berlin Museum.</i> +</div> + +<p>So far as flight goes, there is one entire order +of mammals, whose members, the bats, are +quite as much at home in the air as the birds +themselves, and in bygone days the empire of +the air belonged to the pterodactyls; even frogs +and fishes have tried to fly, and some of the +latter have nearly succeeded in the attempt. +As for wings, it may be said that they are +made on very different patterns in such animals +as the pterodactyl, bat, and bird, and that +while the end to be achieved is the same, it is +reached by very different methods. The wing +membrane of a bat is spread between his out-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>stretched +fingers, the thumb alone being left +free, while in the pterodactyl the thumb is +wanting and the membrane supported only by +what in us is the little finger, a term that is a +decided misnomer in the case of the pterodactyl. +In birds the fingers have lost their individuality, +and are modified for the attachment +or support of the wing feathers, but in +Archæopteryx the hand had not reached this +stage, for the fingers were partly free and +tipped with claws.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_107.jpg" width="400" height="559" alt="" /> +Fig. 14.—Nature's Four Methods of Making a Wing. +Bat, Pterodactyl, Archæopteryx, and Modern Bird. +</div> + +<p>We get some side lights on the structure of +primitive birds by studying the young and the +earlier stages of living species, for in a very +general way it may be said that the development +of the individual is a sort of rough sketch +or hasty outline of the development of the class +of which it is a member; thus the transitory +stages through which the chick passes before +hatching give us some idea of the structure of +the adult birds or bird-like creatures of long +ago. Now, in embryonic birds the wing ends +in a sort of paw and the fingers are separate, +quite different from what they become a little +later on, and not unlike their condition in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +Archæopteryx, and even more like what is +found in the wing of an ostrich.</p> + +<p>Then, too, there are a few birds still left, +such as the ostrich, that have not kept pace +with the others, and are a trifle more like +reptiles than the vast majority of their relatives, +and these help a little in explaining the +structure of early birds. Among these is a +queer bird with a queer name, Hoactzin, found +in South America, which when young uses its +little wings much like legs, just as we may +suppose was done by birds of old, to climb +about the branches. Mr. Quelch, who has +studied these curious birds in their native wilds +of British Guiana, tells us that soon after hatching, +the nestlings begin to crawl about by means +of their legs and wings, the well-developed +claws on the thumb and finger being constantly +in use for hooking to surrounding objects. If +they are drawn from the nest by means of their +legs, they hold on firmly to the twigs, both with +their bill and wings; and if the nest be upset +they hold on to all objects with which they +come in contact by bill, feet, and wings, making +considerable use of the bill, with the help<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +of the clawed wings, to raise themselves to a +higher level.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_110.jpg" width="400" height="424" alt="" /> +Fig. 15.—Young Hoactzins. +</div> + +<p>Thus, by putting these various facts together +we obtain some pretty good ideas regarding the +appearance and habits of the first birds. The +immediate ancestors of birds, their exact point<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +of departure from other vertebrates, is yet to be +discovered; at one time it was considered that +they were the direct descendants of Dinosaurs, +or that at least both were derived from the +same parent forms, and while that view was +almost abandoned, it is again being brought forward +with much to support it. It has also been +thought that birds and those flying reptiles, the +pterodactyls, have had a common ancestry, and +the possibility of this is still entertained. Be +that as it may, it is safe to consider that back +in the past, earlier than the Jurassic, were creatures +neither bird nor reptile, but possessing +rudimentary feathers and having the promise +of a wing in the structure of their fore legs, +and some time one of these animals may come +to light; until then Archæopteryx remains the +earliest known bird.</p> + +<p>In the Jurassic, then, when the Dinosaurs +were the lords of the earth and small mammals +just beginning to appear, we come upon traces +of full-fledged birds. The first intimation of +their presence was the imprint of a single feather +found in that ancient treasure-house, the Solenhofen +quarries; but as Hercules was revealed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +by his foot, so the bird was made evident by +the feather whose discovery was announced +August 15, 1861. And a little later, in September +of the same year, the bird itself turned +up, and in 1877 a second specimen was found, +the two representing two species, if not two +distinct genera. These were very different +from any birds now living—so different, indeed, +and bearing such evident traces of their reptilian +ancestry, that it is necessary to place them +apart from other animals in a separate division +of the class birds.</p> + +<p>Archæopteryx was considerably smaller than +a crow, with a stout little head armed with +sharp teeth (as scarce as hens' teeth was no +joke in that distant period), while as he fluttered +through the air he trailed after him a tail +longer than his body, beset with feathers on +either side. Everyone knows that nowadays +the feathers of a bird's tail are arranged like +the sticks of a fan, and that the tail opens and +shuts like a fan. But in Archæopteryx the +feathers were arranged in pairs, a feather on +each side of every joint of the tail, so that on a +small scale the tail was something like that of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +a kite; and because of this long, lizard-like tail +this bird and his immediate kith and kin are +placed in a group dubbed Saururæ, or lizard +tailed.</p> + +<p>Because impressions of feathers are not found +all around these specimens some have thought +that they were confined to certain portions of +the body—the wings, tail, and thighs—the +other parts being naked. There seems, however, +no good reason to suppose that such was +the case, for it is extremely improbable that +such perfect and important feathers as those of +the wings and tail should alone have been developed, +while there are many reasons why the +feathers of the body might have been lost before +the bird was covered by mud, or why their +impressions do not show.</p> + +<p>It was a considerable time after the finding +of the first specimen that the presence of teeth +in the jaws was discovered, partly because the +British Museum specimen was imperfect,<a id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and +partly because no one suspected that birds had +ever possessed teeth, and so no one ever looked +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>for them. When, in 1877, a more complete +example was found, the existence of teeth was +unmistakably shown; but in the meantime, +in February, 1873, Professor Marsh had announced +the presence of teeth in Hesperornis, +and so to him belongs the credit of being the +discoverer of birds with teeth.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>The skull was lacking, and a part of the upper jaw lying +to one side was thought to belong to a fish.</i></p></div> + +<p>The next birds that we know are from our +own country, and although separated by an interval +of thousands of years from the Jurassic +Archæopteryx, time enough for the members +of one group to have quite lost their wings, they +still retain teeth, and in this respect the most +bird-like of them is quite unlike any modern bird. +These come from the chalk beds of western +Kansas, and the first specimens were obtained +by Professor Marsh in his expeditions of 1870 +and 1871, but not until a few years later, after +the material had been cleaned and was being +studied, was it ascertained that these birds were +armed with teeth. The smaller of these birds, +which was apparently not unlike a small gull +in general appearance, was, saving its teeth, so +thoroughly a bird that it may be passed by without +further notice, but the larger was remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +in many ways. Hesperornis, the western +bird, was a great diver, in some ways the greatest +of the divers, for it stood higher than the +king penguin, though more slender and graceful +in general build, looking somewhat like an +overgrown, absolutely wingless loon.</p> + +<p>The penguins, as everyone knows, swim with +their front limbs—we can't call them wings—which, +though containing all the bones of a +wing, have become transformed into powerful +paddles; Hesperornis, on the other hand, swam +altogether with its legs—swam so well with +them, indeed, that through disuse the wings +dwindled away and vanished, save one bone. +This, however, is not stating the theory quite +correctly; of course the matter cannot be actually +proved. Hesperornis was a large bird, upwards +of five feet in length, and if its ancestors +were equally bulky their wings were quite +too large to be used in swimming under water, +as are those of such short-winged forms as the +Auks which fly under the water quite as much +as they fly over it. Hence the wings were +closely folded upon the body so as to offer the +least possible resistance, and being disused, they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +and their muscles dwindled, while the bones +and muscles of the legs increased by constant +use. By the time the wings were small enough +to be used in so dense a medium as water the +muscles had become too feeble to move them, +and so degeneration proceeded until but one +bone remained, a mere vestige of the wing that +had been. The penguins retain their great +breast muscles, and so did the Great Auk, because +their wings are used in swimming, since +it requires even more strength to move a small +wing in water than it does to move a large +wing in the thinner air. As for our domesticated +fowls—the turkeys, chickens, and ducks—there +has not been sufficient lapse of time +for their muscles to dwindle, and besides artificial +selection, the breeding of fowls for food +has kept up the mere size of the muscles, although +these lack the strength to be found in +those of wild birds.</p> + +<p>As a swimming bird, one that swims with its +legs and not with its wings, Hesperornis has +probably never been equalled, for the size and +appearance of the bones indicate great power, +while the bones of the foot were so joined to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +those of the leg as to turn edgewise as the foot +was brought forward and thus to offer the least +possible resistance to the water. It is a remarkable +fact that the leg bones of Hesperornis +are hollow, remarkable because as a rule the +bones of aquatic animals are more or less solid, +their weight being supported by the water; but +those of the great diver were almost as light as +if it had dwelt upon the dry land. That it did +not dwell there is conclusively shown by its +build, and above all by its feet, for the foot of +a running bird is modified in quite another +way.</p> + +<p>The bird was probably covered with smooth, +soft feathers, something like those of an Apteryx; +this we know because Professor Williston +found a specimen showing the impression of +the skin of the lower part of the leg as well as +of the feathers that covered the "thigh" and +head. While such a covering seems rather inadequate +for a bird of such exclusively aquatic +habits as Hesperornis must have been, there +seems no getting away from the facts in the +case in the shape of Professor Williston's specimen, +and we have in the Snake Bird, one of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>the most aquatic of recent birds, an instance of +similarly poor covering. As all know who have +seen this bird at home, its feathers shed the water +very imperfectly, and after long-continued +submersion become saturated, a fact which partly +accounts for the habit the bird has of hanging +itself out to dry.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_118.jpg" width="400" height="250" alt="" /> +Fig. 16.—Hesperornis, the Great Toothed Diver. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i> +</div> + +<p>The restoration which Mr. Gleeson has drawn +differs radically from any yet made, and is the +result of a careful study of the specimen belonging +to the United States National Museum. +No one can appreciate the peculiarities of Hesperornis +and its remarkable departures from +other swimming birds who has not seen the +skeleton mounted in a swimming attitude. +The great length of the legs, their position at +the middle of the body, the narrowness of the +body back of the hip joint, and the disproportionate +length of the outer toe are all brought +out in a manner which a picture of the bird +squatting upon its haunches fails utterly to +show. As for the tail, it is evident from the +size and breadth of the bones that something +of the kind was present; it is also evident that +it was not like that of an ordinary bird, and so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +it has been drawn with just a suggestion of +Archæopteryx about it.</p> + +<p>The most extraordinary thing about Hesperornis, +however, is the position of the legs relative +to the body, and this is something that +was not even suspected until the skeleton was +mounted in a swimming attitude. As anyone +knows who has watched a duck swim, the usual +place for the feet and legs is beneath and in a +line with the body. But in our great extinct +diver the articulations of the leg bones are such +that this is impossible, and the feet and lower +joint of the legs (called the tarsus) must have +stood out nearly at right angles to the body, +like a pair of oars. This is so peculiar and +anomalous an attitude for a bird's legs that, +although apparently indicated by the shape of +the bones, it was at first thought to be due +to the crushing and consequent distortion to +which the bones had been subjected, and an +endeavor was made to place the legs in the +ordinary position, even though this was done +at the expense of some little dislocation of the +joints. But when the mounting of the skeleton +had advanced further it became more<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +evident that Hesperornis was not an ordinary +bird, and that he could not have swum in the +usual manner, since this would have brought his +great knee-caps up into his body, which would +have been uncomfortable. And so, at the cost +of some little time and trouble,<a id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> the mountings +were so changed that the legs stood out at +the sides of the body, as shown in the picture.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>The mounting of fossil bones is quite a different matter +from the wiring of an ordinary skeleton, since the bones are not +only so hard that they cannot be bored and wired like those of a +recent animal, but they are so brittle and heavy that often they +will not sustain their own weight. Hence such bones must be +supported from the outside, and to do this so that the mountings +will be strong enough to support their weight, allow the bones to +be removed for study, and yet be inconspicuous, is a difficult task.</i></p></div> + +<p>A final word remains to be said about +toothed birds, which is, that the visitor who +looks upon one for the first time will probably +be disappointed. The teeth are so loosely implanted +in the jaw that most of them fall out +shortly after death, while the few that remain +are so small as not to attract observation.</p> + +<p>By the time the Eocene Period was reached, +even before that, birds had become pretty +much what we now see them, and very little +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>change has taken place in them since that +time; they seem to have become so exactly +adapted to the conditions of existence that no +further modification has taken place. This +may be expressed in another way, by saying +that while the Mammals of the Eocene have +no near relatives among those now living, +entire large groups having passed completely +out of existence, the few birds that we know +might, so far as their appearance and affinities +go, have been killed yesterday.</p> + +<p>Were we to judge of the former abundance +of birds by the number we find in a fossil +state, we should conclude that in the early +days of the world they were remarkably scarce, +for bird bones are among the rarest of fossils. +But from the high degree of development evidenced +by the few examples that have come +to light, and the fact that these represent +various and quite distinct species,<a id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> we are led +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>to conclude that birds were abundant enough, +but that we simply do not find them.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>But three birds, besides a stray feather or two, are so far +known from the Eocene of North America. One of these is a +fowl not very unlike some of the small curassows of South +America; another is a little bird, supposed to be related to the +sparrows, while the third is a large bird of uncertain relationships.</i></p></div> + +<p>Several eggs, too—or, rather, casts of eggs—have +lately been found in the Cretaceous +and Miocene strata of the West; and, as eggs +and birds are usually associated, we are liable +at any time to come upon the bones of the +birds that laid them.</p> + +<p>To the writer's mind no thoroughly satisfactory +explanation has been given for the scarcity +of bird remains; but the reason commonly +advanced is that, owing to their lightness, +dead birds float for a much longer time than +other animals, and hence are more exposed to +the ravages of the weather and the attacks of +carrion-feeding animals. It has also been said +that the power of flight enabled birds to +escape calamities that caused the death of contemporary +animals; but all birds do not fly; +and birds do fall victims to storms, cold, and +starvation, and even perish of pestilence, like +the Cormorants of Bering Island, whose ranks +have twice been decimated by disease.</p> + +<p>It is true that where carnivorous animals +abound, dead birds do disappear quickly; and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +my friend Dr. Stejneger tells me that, while +hundreds of dead sea-fowl are cast on the +shores of the Commander Islands, it is a rare +thing to find one after daylight, as the bodies +are devoured by the Arctic foxes that prowl +about the shores at night. But, again, as in +the Miocene of Southern France and in the +Pliocene of Oregon, remains of birds are fairly +numerous, showing that, under proper conditions, +their bones are preserved for future +reference, so that we may hope some day to +come upon specimens that will enable us to +round out the history of bird life in the past.</p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>The first discovered specimen of Archæopteryx, Archæopteryx +macrura, is in the British Museum, the second +more complete example is in the Royal Museum of Natural +History, Berlin. The largest collection of toothed +birds, including the types of Hesperornis, Ichthyornis +and others, is in the Yale University Museum, at New +Haven. The United States National Museum at Washington +has a fine mounted skeleton of Hesperornis, and +the State University of Kansas, at Lawrence, has the example +showing the impressions of feathers.</i></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>For scientific descriptions of these birds the reader is +referred to Owen's paper "On the Archæopteryx of von +Meyer, with a Description of the Fossil Remains, etc.," in +the "Transactions of the Philosophical Society of London +for 1863," page 33, and "Odontornithes, a Monograph +of the Extinct Toothed Birds of North America," by O. +C. Marsh. Much popular and scientific information +concerning the early birds is to be found in Newton's +"Dictionary of Birds," and "The Story of Bird Life," +by W. P. Pycraft; the "Structure and Life of Birds," +by F. W. Headley; "The Story of the Birds," by J. +Newton Baskett.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter300"> +<img src="images/i_126.jpg" width="300" height="352" alt="" /> +Fig. 17.—Archæopteryx as Restored by Mr. Pycraft. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<p class="h3">THE DINOSAURS</p> + +<div class="inset22"> +<p> +"<i>Shapes of all sorts and sizes, great and small.</i>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>A few million years ago, geologists and physicists +do not agree upon the exact number, +although both agree upon the millions, when +the Rocky Mountains were not yet born and +the now bare and arid western plains a land +of lakes, rivers, and luxuriant vegetation, the +region was inhabited by a race of strange and +mighty reptiles upon whom science has bestowed +the appropriate name of Dinosaurs, or +terrible lizards.</p> + +<p>Our acquaintance with the Dinosaurs is +comparatively recent, dating from the early +part of the nineteenth century, and in America, +at least, the date may be set at 1818, when +the first Dinosaur remains were found in the +Valley of the Connecticut, although they naturally +were not recognized as such, nor had the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>term been devised. The first Dinosaur to be +formally recognized as representing quite a +new order of reptiles was the carnivorous +Megalosaur, found near Oxford, England, in +1824.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_128.jpg" width="400" height="274" alt="" /> +Fig. 18.—Thespesius. A Common Herbivorous Dinosaur of the Cretaceous. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i> +</div> + +<p>For a long time our knowledge of Dinosaurs +was very imperfect and literally fragmentary, +depending mostly upon scattered +teeth, isolated vertebræ, or fragments of bone +picked up on the surface or casually encountered +in some mine or quarry. Now, however, +thanks mainly to the labors of American palæontologists, +thanks also to the rich deposits +of fossils in our Western States, we have an +extensive knowledge of the Dinosaurs, of their +size, structure, habits, and general appearance.</p> + +<p>There are to-day no animals living that are +closely related to them; none have lived for a +long period of time, for the Dinosaurs came to +an end in the Cretaceous, and it can only be +said that the crocodiles, on the one hand, and +the ostriches, on the other, are the nearest existing +relatives of these great reptiles.</p> + +<p>For, though so different in outward appearance, +birds and reptiles are structurally quite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +closely allied, and the creeping snake and the +bird on which it preys are relatives, although +any intimate relationship between them is of +the serpent's making, and is strongly objected +to by the bird.</p> + +<p>But if we compare the skeleton of a Dinosaur +with that of an ostrich—a young one is +preferable—and with those of the earlier birds, +we shall find that many of the barriers now existing +between reptiles and birds are broken +down, and that they have many points in common. +In fact, save in the matter of clothes, +wherein birds differ from all other animals, the +two great groups are not so very far apart.</p> + +<p>The Dinosaurs were by no means confined +to North America, although the western United +States seem to have been their headquarters, +but ranged pretty much over the world, for +their remains have been found in every continent, +even in far-off New Zealand.</p> + +<p>In point of time they ranged from the Trias +to the Upper Cretaceous, their golden age, +marking the culminating point of reptilian life, +being in the Jurassic, when huge forms stalked +by the sea-shore, browsed amid the swamps, or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +disported themselves along the reedy margins +of lakes and rivers.</p> + +<p>They had their day, a day of many thousand +years, and then passed away, giving +place to the superior race of mammals which +was just springing into being when the huge +Dinosaurs were in the heyday of their existence.</p> + +<p>And it does seem as if in the dim and distant +past, as in the present, brains were a potent +factor in the struggle for supremacy; for, +though these reptiles were giants in size, dominating +the earth through mere brute force, +they were dwarfs in intellect.</p> + +<p>The smallest human brain that is thought to +be compatible with life itself weighs a little +over ten ounces, the smallest that can exist +with reasoning powers is two pounds; this in a +creature weighing from 120 to 150 pounds.</p> + +<p>What do we find among Dinosaurs? Thespesius, +or Claosaurus, which may have walked +where Baltimore now stands, was twenty-five +feet in length and stood a dozen feet high in +his bare feet, had a brain smaller than a man's +clenched fist, weighing less than one pound.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>Brontosaurus, in some respects the biggest +brute that ever walked, was but little better off, +and Triceratops, and his relatives, creatures +having twice the bulk of an elephant, weighing +probably over ten tons, possessed a brain weighing +not over two pounds!</p> + +<p>How much of what we term intelligence +could such a creature possess—what was the +extent of its reasoning powers? Judging from +our own standpoint and the small amount of +intellect apparent in some humans with much +larger brains, these big reptiles must have +known just about enough to have eaten when +they were hungry, anything more was superfluous.</p> + +<p>However, intelligence is one thing, life another, +and the spinal cord, with its supply of +nerve-substance, doubtless looked after the +mere mechanical functions of life; and while +even the spinal cord is in many cases quite +small, in some places, particularly in the sacral +region, it is subject to considerable enlargement. +This is notably true of Stegosaurus, +where the sacral enlargement is twenty times +the bulk of the puny brain—a fact noted by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +Professor Marsh, and seized upon by the newspapers, +which announced that he had discovered +a Dinosaur with a brain in its pelvis.</p> + +<p>In their great variety of size and shape the +Dinosaurs form an interesting parallel with +the Marsupials of Australia. For just as +these are, as it were, an epitome of the class +of mammals, mimicking the herbivores, carnivores, +rodents and even monkeys, so there +are carnivorous and herbivorous Dinosaurs—Dinosaurs +that dwelt on land and others that +habitually resided in the water, those that +walked upright and those that crawled about +on all fours; and, while there are no hints that +any possessed the power of flight, some members +of the group are very bird-like in form +and structure, so much so that it has been +thought that the two may have had a common +ancestry.</p> + +<p>The smallest of the Dinosaurs whose acquaintance +we have made were little larger +than chickens; the largest claim the distinction +of being the largest known quadrupeds +that have walked the face of the earth, the +giants not only of their day, but of all time,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +before whose huge frames +the bones of the Mammoth, +that familiar byword +for all things great, +seem slight.</p> + +<p><img src="images/i_135.jpg" width="300" height="682" alt="" class="split" /></p> + +<p class="split">Fig. 19—A Hind Leg +of the Great Brontosaurus, +the Largest of the Dinosaurs.</p> + +<p>For Brontosaurus, the +Thunder Lizard, beneath +whose mighty tread the +earth shook, and his kindred +were from 40 to 60 +feet long and 10 to 14 feet +high, their thigh bones +measuring 5 to 6 feet in +length, being the largest +single bones known to +us, while some of the +vertebræ were 4-1/2 feet +high, exceeding in dimensions +those of a whale.</p> + +<p>The group to +which Brontosaurus +belongs, including +Diplodocus and +Morosaurus, is distinguished +by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +large, though rather short, body, very long +neck and tail, and, for the size of the animal, +a very small head. In fact, the head was so +small and, in the case of Diplodocus, so poorly +provided with teeth that it must +have been quite a task, or a long-continued +pleasure, according to +the state of its digestive +apparatus, +for the animal to +have eaten its daily +meal.</p> + +<p><img src="images/i_136.jpg" width="300" height="422" alt="" class="splitr" /></p> + +<p class="splitr"> +Fig. 20.—A Single Vertebra of +Brontosaurus.</p> + +<p>An elephant +weighing 5 tons +eats 100 pounds of +hay and 25 pounds +of grain for his +day's ration; but, +as this food is in a +comparatively concentrated +form, it +would require at least twice this weight of +green fodder.</p> + +<p>It is a difficult matter to estimate the weight +of a live Diplodocus or a Brontosaurus, but it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +is pretty safe to say that it would not be far +from 20 tons, and that one would devour at +the very least something over 700 pounds of +leaves or twigs or plants each day—more, if +the animal felt really hungry.</p> + +<p>But here we must, even if reluctantly, curb +our imagination a little and consider another +point: the cold-blooded, sluggish reptiles, as +we know them to-day, do not waste their energies +in rapid movements, or in keeping the +temperature of their bodies above that of the +air, and so by no means require the amount +of food needed by more active, warm-blooded +animals. Alligators, turtles, and snakes will +go for weeks, even months, without food, and +while this applies more particularly to those +that dwell in temperate climes and during +their winter hibernation practically suspend +the functions of digestion and respiration, it is +more or less true of all reptiles. And as there +is little reason for supposing that reptiles behaved +in the past any differently from what +they do in the present, these great Dinosaurs +may, after all, not have been gifted with such +ravenous appetites as one might fancy. Still,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +it is dangerous to lay down any hard and fast +laws concerning animals, and he who writes +about them is continually obliged to qualify +his remarks—in sporting parlance, to hedge +a little, and in the present instance there is +some reason, based on the arrangement of +vertebræ and ribs, to suppose that the lungs +of Dinosaurs were somewhat like those of +birds, and that, as a corollary, their blood may +have been better aërated and warmer than +that of living reptiles. But, to return to the +question of food.</p> + +<p>From the peculiar character of the articulations +of the limb-bones, it is inferred that these +animals were largely aquatic in their habits, +and fed on some abundant species of water +plants. One can readily see the advantage of +the long neck in browsing off the vegetation +on the bottom of shallow lakes, while the animal +was submerged, or in rearing the head +aloft to scan the surrounding shores for the +approach of an enemy. Or, with the tail as a +counterpoise, the entire body could be reared +out of water and the head be raised some thirty +feet in the air.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> + +<p>Triceratops, he of the three-horned face, had +a remarkable skull which projected backward +over the neck, like a fireman's helmet, or a +sunbonnet worn hind side before, while over +each eye was a massive horn directed forward, +a third, but much smaller horn being sometimes +present on the nose.</p> + +<p>The little "Horned Toad," which isn't a +toad at all, is the nearest suggestion we have +to-day of Triceratops; but, could he realize +the ambition of the frog in the fable and +swell himself to the dimensions of an ox, he +would even then be but a pigmy compared +with his ancient and distant relative.</p> + +<p>So far as mere appearance goes he would +compare very well, for while so much is said +about the strange appearance of the Dinosaurs, +it is to be borne in mind that their peculiarities +are enhanced by their size, and that there +are many lizards of to-day that lack only +stature to be even more <i>bizarre</i>; and, for example, +were the Australian Moloch but big +enough, he could give even Stegosaurus +"points" in more ways than one.</p> + +<p>Standing before the skull of Triceratops, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>looking him squarely in the face, one notices +in front of each eye a thick guard of projecting +bone, and while this must have interfered with +vision directly ahead it must have also furnished +protection for the eye. So long as Triceratops +faced an adversary he must have +been practically invulnerable, but as he was +the largest animal of his time, upward of +twenty-five feet in length, it is probable that +his combats were mainly with those of his own +kind and the subject of dispute some fair female +upon whom two rival suitors had cast +covetous eyes. What a sight it would have +been to have seen two of these big brutes in +mortal combat as they charged upon each +other with all the impetus to be derived from +ten tons of infuriate flesh! We may picture to +ourselves horn clashing upon horn, or glancing +from each bony shield until some skilful stroke +or unlucky slip placed one combatant at the +mercy of the other, and he went down before +the blows of his adversary "as falls on Mount +Alvernus a thunder-smitten oak."</p> + +<p>A pair of Triceratops horns in the National +Museum bears witness to such encounters, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +one is broken midway between tip and base; +and that it was broken during life is evident +from the fact that the stump is healed and +rounded over, while the size of the horns shows +that their owner reached a ripe old age.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_140.jpg" width="400" height="254" alt="" /> +Fig. 21.—Moloch. A Modern Lizard that Surpasses the Stegosaurs in All but Size. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i> +</div> + +<p>For, unlike man and the higher vertebrates, +reptiles and fishes do not have a maximum +standard of size which is soon reached and +rarely exceeded, but continue to grow +throughout life, so that the size of a turtle, a +crocodile, or a Dinosaur tells something of the +duration of its life.</p> + +<p>Before quitting Triceratops let us glance for +a moment at its skeleton. Now among other +things a skeleton is the solution of a problem +in mechanics, and in Triceratops the head so +dominates the rest of the structure that one +might almost imagine the skull was made first +and the body adjusted to it. The great head +seems made not only for offence and defence; +the spreading frill serves for the attachment +of muscles to sustain the weight of the skull, +while the work of the muscles is made easier +by the fact that the frill reaches so far back +of the junction of head with neck as to largely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +counterbalance the +weight of the face +and jaws. When +we restored the +skull of this animal +it was found +that the centre of +gravity lay back of +the eye. Several +of the bones of the +neck are united in +one mass to furnish +a firm attachment +for the muscles +that support +and move the +skull, but as the +movements of the +neck are already +restricted by the +overhanging frill, +this loss of motion +is no additional disadvantage.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_144.jpg" width="400" height="164" alt="" /> +TRICERATOPS PRORSUS Marsh +Fig. 22.—Skeleton of Triceratops. +</div> + +<p>To support all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +this weight of skull and body requires very +massive legs, and as the fore legs are very +short, this enables Triceratops to browse comfortably +from the ground by merely lowering +the front of the head.</p> + +<p>These forms we have been considering were +the giants of the group, but a commoner species, +Thespesius, though less in bulk than those +just mentioned, was still of goodly proportions, +for, as he stalked about, the top of his head +was twelve feet from the ground.</p> + +<p>Thespesius and his kin seem to have been +comparatively abundant, for they have a wide +distribution, and many specimens, some almost +perfect, have been discovered in this country +and abroad. No less than twenty-nine Iguanodons, +a European relative of Thespesius, +were found in one spot in mining for coal at +Bernissart, Belgium. Here, during long years +of Cretaceous time, a river slowly cut its way +through the coal-bearing strata to a depth of +750 feet, a depth almost twice as great as +the deepest part of the gorge of Niagara, +and then, this being accomplished, began the +work of filling up the valley it had excavated.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was then a sluggish stream with marshy +borders, a stream subject to frequent floods, +when the water, turbid with mud and laden +with sand, overflowed its banks, leaving them, +as the waters subsided, covered thickly with +mud. Here, amidst the luxuriant vegetation +of a semi-tropical climate, lived and died the +Iguanodons, and here the pick of the miner +rescued them from their long entombment to +form part of the treasures of the museum at +Brussels.</p> + +<p>Like other reptiles, living and extinct, Thespesius +was continually renewing his teeth, so +that as fast as one tooth was worn out it was +replaced by another, a point wherein Thespesius +had a decided advantage over ourselves. +On the other hand, as there was a reserve supply +of something like 400 teeth in the lower +jaw alone, what an opportunity for the toothache!</p> + +<p>And then we have a multitude of lesser Dinosaurs, +including the active, predatory species +with sharp claws and double-edged teeth. +Megalosaurus, the first of the Dinosaurs to be +really known, was one of these carnivorous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +species, and from our West comes a near relative, +Ceratosaurus, the nose-horned lizard, a +queer beast with tiny fore legs, powerful, sharp-clawed +hind feet, and well-armed jaws. A +most formidable foe he seems, the more that +the hollow bones speak of active movements, +and Professor Cope pictured him, or a near +relative, vigorously engaged in combat with +his fellows, or preying upon the huge but helpless +herbivores of the marshes, leaping, biting, +and tearing his enemy to pieces with tooth and +claw.</p> + +<p>Professor Osborn, on the other hand, is inclined +to consider him as a reptilian hyena, +feeding upon carrion, although one can but +feel that such an armament is not entirely in +the interests of peace.</p> + +<p>Last, but by no means least, are the Stegosaurs, +or plated lizards, for not only were they +beasts of goodly size, but they were among the +most singular of all known animals, singular +even for Dinosaurs. They had diminutive +heads, small fore legs, long tails armed on +either side near the tip, with two pairs of large +spines, while from these spines to the neck +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>ran series of large, but thin, and sharp-edged +plates standing on edge, so that their backs +looked like the bottom of a boat provided with +a number of little centreboards. Just how +these plates were arranged is not decided beyond +a peradventure, but while originally figured +as having them in a single series down +the back it seems much more probable that +they formed parallel rows.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_148.jpg" width="400" height="226" alt="" /> +Fig. 23.—The Horned Ceratosaurus. A Carnivorous Dinosaur. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i> +</div> + +<p>The largest of these plates were two feet in +height and length, and not more than an inch +thick, except at the base, where they were enlarged +and roughened to give a firm hold to +the thick skin in which they were imbedded. +Be it remembered, too, that these plates and +spines were doubtless covered with horn, so +that they were even longer in life than as we +now see them. The tail spines varied in length, +according to the species, from eight or nine +inches to nearly three feet, and some of them +have a diameter of six inches at the base. +They were swung by a tail eight to ten feet +long, and as a visitor was heard to remark, one +wouldn't like to be about such an animal in +fly time.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such were some of the strange and mighty +animals that once roamed this continent from +the valley of the Connecticut, where they literally +left their footprints on the sands of time, +to the Rocky Mountains, where the ancient +lakes and rivers became cemeteries for the entombment +of their bones.</p> + +<p>The labor of the collector has gathered their +fossil remains from many a Western canyon, +the skill of the preparator has removed them +from their stony sepulchres and the study of +the anatomist has restored them as they were +in life.</p> + +<p><i>REFERENCES.</i></p> + +<p><i>Most of our large museums have on exhibition fine +specimens of many Dinosaurs, comprising skulls, limbs, +and large portions of their skeletons. The American +Museum of Natural History, New York, has the largest +and finest display. The first actual skeleton of a Dinosaur +to be mounted in this country was the splendid Claosaurus +at the Yale University Museum, where other striking +pieces are also to be seen. The mounting of this +Claosaurus, which is 29 feet long and 13 feet high, took +an entire year. The United States National Museum is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +particularly rich in examples of the great, horned Triceratops, +while the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, has +the best Diplodocus. The Field Columbian Museum and +the Universities of Wyoming and Colorado all have good +collections.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_152.jpg" width="400" height="265" alt="" /> +Fig. 24.—Stegosaurus. An Armored Dinosaur of the Jurassic. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i> +</div> + +<p><i>The largest single bone of a Dinosaur is the thigh +bone of a Brontosaurus in the Field Columbian Museum, +this measuring 6 feet 8 inches in length. The height of +a complete hind leg in the American Museum of Natural +History is 10 feet, while a single claw measures 6 by 9 +inches. The skeleton of Triceratops restored in papier-maché +for the Pan-American Exposition measured 25 +feet from tip of nose to end of tail and was 10 feet 6 +inches to the top of the backbone over the hips, this being +the highest point. The head in the United States National +Museum used as a model is 5 feet 6 inches long +in a straight line and 4 feet 3 inches across the frill. +There is a skull in the Yale University Museum even +larger than this.</i></p> + +<p><i>Articles relating to Dinosaurs are mostly technical in +their nature and scattered through various scientific journals. +The most accessible probably is "The Dinosaurs of +North America," by Professor O. C. Marsh, published as +part of the sixteenth annual report of the United States +Geological Survey. This contains many figures of the +skulls, bones, and entire skeletons of many Dinosaurs.</i></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_155.jpg" width="400" height="237" alt="" /> +Fig. 25.—Skull of Ceratosaurus. +<br /> +<i>From a specimen in the United States National Museum.</i> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<p class="h3">READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS</p> + +<div class="inset20"> +<p> +"<i>And the first Morning of Creation wrote<br /> +What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.</i>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>It is quite possible that the reader may wish +to know something of the manner in which +the specimens described in these pages have +been gathered, how we acquire our knowledge +of Brontosaurus, Claosaurus, or any of the +many other "sauruses," and how their restorations +have been made.</p> + +<p>There was a time, not so very long ago, +when fossils were looked upon as mere sports +of Nature, and little attention paid to them; +later their true nature was recognized, though +they were merely gathered haphazard as occasion +might offer. But now, and for many +years past, the fossil-bearing rocks of many +parts of the world have been systematically +worked, and from the material thus obtained<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +we have acquired a great deal of information +regarding the inhabitants of the ancient world. +This is particularly true of our own western +country, where a vast amount of collecting has +been done, although very much remains to be +done in the matter of perfecting this knowledge, +and hosts of new animals remain to be +discovered. For this information we are almost +as much indebted to the collector who has +gathered the needed material, and the preparator +whose patience and skill have made it +available for study, as to the palæontologist +who has interpreted the meaning of the +bones.</p> + +<p>To collect successfully demands not only +a knowledge of the rocks in which fossils +occur and of the localities where they are best +exposed to view, but an eye quick to detect a +piece of bone protruding from a rock or lying +amongst the shale, and, above all, the ability +to work a deposit to advantage after it has +been found. The collector of living animals +hies to regions where there is plenty for bird +and beast to eat and drink, but the collector of +extinct animals cares little for what is on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +surface of the earth; his great desire is to see +as much as possible of what may lie beneath. +So the prospector in search of fossils betakes +himself to some region where the ceaseless +warfare waged by water against the dry land +has seamed the face of the earth with countless +gullies and canyons, or carved it into slopes +and bluffs in which the edges of the bone-bearing +strata are exposed to view, and along +these he skirts, ever on the look-out for some +projecting bit of bone. The country is an +almost shadeless desert, burning hot by day, +uncomfortably cool at night. Water is scarce, +and when it can be found, often has little to +commend it save wetness; but the collector is +buoyed up through all this with the hope that +he may discover some creature new to science +that shall not only be bigger and uglier and +stranger than any heretofore found, but shall +be the long-sought form needed for the solution +of some difficult problem in the history +of the past.</p> + +<p>Now collecting is a lottery, differing from +most lotteries, however, in that while some of +the returns may be pretty small, there are few<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +absolute blanks and some remarkably large +prizes, and every collector hopes that it may +fall to his lot to win one of these, and is willing +to work long and arduously for the chance of +obtaining it.</p> + +<p>It may give some idea of the chances to say +that some years ago Dr. Wortman spent almost +an entire season in the field without success, +and then, at the eleventh hour, found the +now famous skeleton of Phenacodus, or that a +party from Princeton actually camped within +100 yards of a rich deposit of rare fossils and +yet failed to discover it.</p> + +<p>Let us, however, suppose that the reconnaissance +has been successful, and that an outcrop +of bone has been found, serving like a tombstone +carven with strange characters to indicate +the burial-place of some primeval monster. +Possibly Nature long ago rifled the grave, washing +away much of the skeleton, and leaving +little save the fragments visible on the surface; +on the other hand, these pieces may form part +of a complete skeleton, and there is no way to +decide this important question save by actual +excavation. The manner of disinterment varies,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +but much depends on whether the fossil +lies in comparatively loose shale or is imbedded +in the solid rock, whether the strata are level +or dip downward into the hillside. If, unfortunately, +this last is the case, it necessitates a +careful shoring up of the excavation with props +of cotton-wood or such boards as may have +been brought along to box specimens, or it may +even be necessary to run a short tunnel in order +to get at some coveted bone. Should the +specimen lie in shale, as is the case with most +of the large reptiles that have been collected, +much of that work may be done with pick and +shovel; but if it is desirable or necessary to +work in firm rock, drills and hammers, wedges, +even powder, may be needed to rend from Nature +her long-kept secrets. In any event, a +detailed plan is made of the excavation, and +each piece of bone or section of rock duly recorded +therein by letter and number, so that +later on the relation of the parts to one another +may be known, or the various sections assembled +in the work-room exactly as they lay +in the quarry. Bones which lie in loose rock +are often, one might say usually, more or less<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +broken, and when a bone three, four, or even +six feet long, weighing anywhere from 100 to +1,000 pounds, has been shattered to fragments +the problem of removing it is no easy one. +But here the skill of the collector comes into +play to treat the fossil as a surgeon treats a +fractured limb, to cover it with plaster bandages, +and brace it with splints of wood or iron +so that the specimen may not only be taken +from the ground but endure in safety the coming +journey of a thousand or more miles. For +simpler cases or lighter objects strips of sacking, +or even paper, applied with flour and water, +suffice, or pieces of sacking soaked in thin plaster +may be laid over the bone, first covering it +with thin paper in order that the plaster jacket +may simply stiffen and not adhere to it. Collecting +has not always been carried on in this +systematic manner, for the development of the +present methods has been the result of years of +experience; formerly there was a mere skimming-over +of the surface in what Professor +Marsh used to term the potato-gathering style, +but now the effort is made to remove specimens +intact, often imbedded in large masses<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +of rock, in order that all parts may be preserved.</p> + +<p>We will take it for granted that our specimens +have safely passed through all perils by +land and water, road and rail; that they have +been quarried, boxed, carted over a roadless +country to the nearest railway, and have withstood +2,000 miles of jolting in a freight-car. +The first step in reconstruction has been taken; +the problem, now that the boxes are reposing +on the work-room floor, is to make the blocks +of stone give up the secrets they have guarded +for ages, to free the bones from their enveloping +matrix in order that they may tell us +something of the life of the past. The method +of doing this varies with the conditions under +which the material has been gathered, and if +from hard clay, chalk, or shale, the process, +though tedious enough at best, is by no means +so difficult as if the specimens are imbedded +in solid rock. In this case the fragments +from a given section of quarry must be assembled +according to the plan which has been +carefully made as the work of exhumation +progressed, all pieces containing bone must be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +stuck together, and weak parts strengthened +with gum or glue. Now the mass is attacked +with hammer and chisel, and the surrounding +matrix slowly and carefully cut away until the +contained bone is revealed, a process much +simpler and more expeditious in the telling +than in the actuality; for the preparator may +not use the heavy tools of the ordinary stone-cutter: +sometimes an awl, or even a glover's +needle, must suffice him, and the chips cut off +are so small and such care must be taken not +to injure the bone that the work is really tedious. +This may, perhaps, be better appreciated +by saying that to clean a single vertebra +of such a huge Dinosaur as Diplodocus may +require a month of continuous labor, and that +a score of these big and complicated bones, +besides others of simpler structure, are included +in the backbone. The finished specimen +weighs over 120 pounds, while as originally +collected, with all the adherent rock, the +weight was twice or thrice as great. Such a +mass as this is comparatively small, and sometimes +huge blocks are taken containing entire +skulls or a number of bones, and not infrequently<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +weighing a ton. The largest single +specimen is a skull of Triceratops, collected +by Mr. J. B. Hatcher, which weighed, when +boxed, 3,650 pounds.</p> + +<p>Or, as the result of some mishap, or through +the work of an inexperienced collector, a valuable +specimen may arrive in the shape of a +box full of irregular fragments of stone compared +with which a dissected map or an old-fashioned +Chinese puzzle is simplicity itself, +and one may spend hours looking for some +piece whose proper location gives the clew to +an entire section, and days, even, may be consumed +before the task is completed. While +this not only tries the patience, but the eyes +as well, there is, nevertheless, a fascination +about this work of fashioning a bone out of +scores, possibly hundreds, of fragments, and +watching the irregular bits of stone shaping +themselves into a mosaic that forms a portion +of some creature, possibly quite new to science, +and destined to bear a name as long as +itself. And thus, after many days of toil, the +bone that millions of years before sank into +the mud of some old lake-bottom or was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +buried in the sandy shoals of an ancient river, +is brought to light once more to help tell the +tale of the creatures of the past.</p> + +<p>One bone might convey a great deal of information; +on the other hand it might reveal +very little; for, while it is very painful to say +so, the popular impression that it is possible to +reconstruct an animal from a single bone, or +tell its size and habits from a tooth is but +partially correct, and sometimes "the eminent +scientist" has come to grief even with a great +many bones at his disposal. Did not one of +the ablest anatomists describe and figure the +hip-bones of a Dinosaur as its shoulder-blade, +and another, equally able, reconstruct a reptile +"hind side before," placing the head on the +tail! This certainly sounds absurd enough; +but just as absurd mistakes are made by men +in other walks of life, often with far more deplorable +results.</p> + +<p>Before passing to the restoration of the exterior +of animals it may be well to say something +of the manner in which the skeleton of +an extinct animal may be reconstructed and +the meaning of its various parts interpreted.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +For the adjustment of the muscles is dependent +on the structure of the skeleton, and putting +on the muscles means blocking out the +form, details of external appearance being supplied +by the skin and its accessories of hair, +scales, or horns. Let us suppose in the present +instance that we are dealing with one of the +great reptiles known as Triceratops whose remains +are among the treasures of the National +Museum at Washington, for the reconstruction +of the big beast well illustrates the methods +of the palæontologist and also the troubles +by which he is beset. Moreover, this is not a +purely imaginary case, but one that is very +real, for the skeleton of this animal which was +shown at Buffalo was restored in papier-maché +in exactly the manner indicated. We have a +goodly number of bones, but by no means an +entire skeleton, and yet we wish to complete +the skeleton and incidentally to form some +idea of the creature's habits. Now we can interpret +the past only by a knowledge of the +present, and it is by carefully studying the +skeletons of the animals of to-day that we can +learn to read the meaning of the symbols of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +bones left by the animals of a million yesterdays. +Thus we find that certain characters +distinguish the bone of a mammal from that +of a bird, a reptile, or a fish, and these in turn +from one another, and this constitutes the +A B C of comparative anatomy. And, in a +like manner, the bones of the various divisions +of these main groups have to a greater or less +extent their own distinguishing characteristics, +so that by first comparing the bones of extinct +animals with those of creatures that are now +living we are enabled to recognize their nearest +existing relative, and then by comparing them +with one another we learn the relations they +bore in the ancient world. But it must be +borne in mind that some of the early beasts +were so very different from those of to-day +that until pretty much their entire structure +was known there was nothing with which to +compare odd bones. Had but a single incomplete +specimen of Triceratops come to light +we should be very much in the dark concerning +him; and although remains of some thirty +individuals have been discovered, these have +been so imperfect that we are very far from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +having all the information we need. A great +part of the head, with its formidable looking +horns, is present, and although the nose is +gone, we know from other specimens that it, +too, was armed with a knob, or horn, and that +the skull ended in a beak, something like that +of a snapping turtle, though formed by a separate +and extra bone; similarly the end of the +lower jaw is lacking, but we may be pretty +certain that it ended in a beak, to match that +of the skull. The large leg-bones of our specimen +are mostly represented, for these being +among the more solid parts of the skeleton +are more frequently preserved than any others, +and though some are from one side and some +from another, this matters not. If the hind +legs were disproportionately long it would indicate +that our animal often or habitually +walked erect, but as there is only difference +enough between the fore and hind limbs to +enable Triceratops to browse comfortably from +the ground we would naturally place him on +all fours, even were the skull not so large as to +make the creature too top-heavy for any other +mode of locomotion. Were the limbs very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +small in comparison with the other bones, it +would obviously mean that their owner passed +his life in the water. For a skeleton has a twofold +meaning, it is the best, the most enduring, +testimony we have as to an animal's place in +nature and the relationships it sustains to the +creatures that lived with it, before it, and after +it. More than this, a skeleton is the solution +of a problem in mechanics, the problem of +carrying a given weight and of adaptation to +a given mode of life. Thus the skeleton varies +according as a creature dwells on land, in the +water, or in the air, and according as it feeds +on grass or preys upon its fellows.</p> + +<p>And so the mechanics of a skeleton afford +us a clew to the habits of the living animal. +Something, too, may be gathered from the +structure of the leg-bones, for solid bones mean +either a sluggish animal or a creature of more +or less aquatic habits, while hollow bones emphatically +declare a land animal, and an active +one at that; and this, in the case of the Dinosaurs, +hints at predatory habits, the ability to +catch and eat their defenceless and more sluggish +brethren. A claw, or, better yet, a tooth,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +may confirm or refute this hint; for a blunt claw +could not be used in tearing prey limb from +limb, nor would a double-edged tooth, made +for rending flesh, serve for champing grass.</p> + +<p>But few bones of the feet, and especially the +fore feet, are present, these smaller parts of the +skeleton having been washed away before the +ponderous frame was buried in the sand, and +the best that can be done is to follow the law +of probabilities and put three toes on the hind +foot and five on the fore, two of these last +without claws. The single blunt round claw +among our bones shows, as do the teeth, that +Triceratops was herbivorous; it also pointed a +little downward, and this tells that in the living +animal the sole of the foot was a thick, soft +pad, somewhat as it is in the elephant and rhinoceros, +and that the toes were not entirely +free from one another. There are less than a +dozen vertebræ and still fewer ribs, besides +half a barrelful of pieces, from which to reconstruct +a backbone twenty feet long. That the +ribs are part from one side and part from another +matters no more than it did in the case +of the leg-bones; but the backbone presents a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +more difficult problem, since the pieces are not +like so many checkers—all made after one pattern—but +each has an individuality of its own. +The total number of vertebræ must be guessed +at (perhaps it would sound better to say estimated, +but it really means the same), and +knowing that some sections are from the front +part of the vertebral column and some from +the back, we must fill in the gaps as best we +may. The ribs offer a little aid in this task, +giving certain details of the vertebræ, while +those in turn tell something about the adjoining +parts of the ribs. We finish our Triceratops +with a tail of moderate length, as indicated +by the rapid taper of the few vertebræ +available, and from these we gather, too, that +in life the tail was round, and not flattened, +and that it neither served for swimming nor +for a balancing pole. And so, little by little, +have been pieced together the fragments from +which we have derived our knowledge of the +past, and thus has the palæontologist read the +riddles of the rocks.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_172.jpg" width="400" height="273" alt="" /> +Fig. 26.—Triceratops, He of the Three-horned Face. +<br /> +<i>From a statuette by Charles R. Knight.</i> +</div> + +<p>To make these dry bones live again, to +clothe them with flesh and reconstruct the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +creature as he was or may have been in life, +is, to be honest, very largely guesswork, +though to make a guess that shall come anywhere +near the mark not only demands a +thorough knowledge of anatomy—for the +basis of all restoration must be the skeleton—but +calls for more than a passing acquaintance +with the external appearance of living animals. +And while there is nothing in the bones to +tell how an animal is, or was, clad, they will at +least show to what group the creature belonged, +and, that known, there are certain +probabilities in the case. A bird, for example, +would certainly be clad in feathers. Going a +little farther, we might be pretty sure that +the feathers of a water-fowl would be thick +and close; those of strictly terrestrial birds, +such as the ostrich and other flightless forms, +lax and long. These as general propositions; +of course, in special cases, one might easily +come to grief, as in dealing with birds like +penguins, which are particularly adapted for +an aquatic life, and have the feathers highly +modified. These birds depend upon their fat, +and not on their feathers, for warmth, and so +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +their feathers have become a sort of cross between +scales and hairs. Hair and fur belong +to mammals only, although these creatures +show much variety in their outer covering. +The thoroughly marine whales have discarded +furs and adopted a smooth and slippery skin,<a id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +well adapted to movement through the water, +relying for warmth on a thick undershirt of +blubber. The earless seals that pass much of +their time on the ice have just enough hair +to keep them from absolute contact with it, +warmth again being provided for by blubber. +The fur seals, which for several months in the +year dwell largely on land, have a coat of fur +and hair, although warmth is mostly furnished, +or rather kept in, by fat.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>The reader is warned that this is a mere figure of speech, +for, of course, the process of adaptation to surroundings is +passive, not active, although there is a most unfortunate tendency +among writers on evolution, and particularly on mimicry, +to speak of it as active. The writer believes that no animal +in the first stages of mimicry, consciously mimics or endeavors +to resemble another animal or any part of its surroundings, +but a habit at first accidental may in time become +more or less conscious.</i></p></div> + +<p>No reptile, therefore, would be covered with +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>feathers, neither, judging from those we +know to-day, would they be clad in fur or +hair; but, such coverings being barred out, +there remain a great variety of plates and +scales to choose from. Folds and frills, crests +and dewlaps, like beauty, are but skin deep, +and, being thus superficial, ordinarily leave no +trace of their former presence, and in respect +to them the reconstructor must trust to his +imagination, with the law of probabilities as a +check rein to his fancy. This law would tell us +that such ornaments must not be so placed as +to be in the way, and that while there would be +a possibility—one might even say probability—of +the great, short-headed, iguana-like +Dinosaurs having dewlaps, that there would +be no great likelihood of their possessing ruffs +such as that of the Australian Chlamydosaurus +(mantled lizard) to flap about their ears. +Even Stegosaurus, with his bizarre array of +great plates and spines, kept them on his +back, out of the way. Such festal ornamentation +would, however, more likely be found in +small, active creatures, the larger beasts contenting +themselves with plates and folds.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>Spines and plates usually leave some trace +of their existence, for they consist of a super-structure +of skin or horn, built on a foundation +of bone; and while even horn decomposes +too quickly to "petrify," the bone will +become fossilized and changed into enduring +stone. But while this affords a pretty sure +guide to the general shape of the investing +horn, it does not give all the details, and there +may have been ridges and furrows and sculpturing +that we know not of.</p> + +<p>Knowing, then, what the probabilities are, we +have some guide to the character of the covering +that should be placed on an animal, and if +we may not be sure as to what should be done, +we may be pretty certain what should not.</p> + +<p>For example, to depict a Dinosaur with +smooth, rubbery hide walking about on dry +land would be to violate the probabilities, for +only such exclusively aquatic creatures as the +whales among mammals, and the salamanders +among batrachians, are clothed in smooth, +shiny skin. There might, however, be reason +to suspect that a creature largely aquatic in its +habits did occasionally venture on land, as, for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +instance, when vertebræ that seem illy adapted +for carrying the weight of a land animal are +found in company with huge limb-bones and +massive feet we may feel reasonably certain +that their owner passed at least a portion of his +time on <i>terra firma</i>.</p> + +<p>So much for the probabilities as to the covering +of animals known to us only by their fossil +remains; but it is often possible to go beyond +this, and to state certainly how they were +clad. For while the chances are small that +any trace of the covering of an extinct animal, +other than bony plates, will be preserved, Nature +does now and then seem to have relented, +and occasionally some animal settled to rest +where it was so quickly and quietly covered +with fine mud that the impression of small +scales, feathers, or even smooth skin, was preserved; +curiously enough, there seems to be +scarcely any record of the imprint of hair. +Then, too, it is to be remembered that while +the chances were very much against such preservation, +in the thousands or millions of times +creatures died the millionth chance might come +uppermost.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>Silhouettes of those marine reptiles, the Ichthyosaurs, +have been found, probably made by +the slow carbonization of animal matter, showing +not only the form of the body and tail, but +revealing the existence of an unsuspected back +fin. And yet these animals were apparently +clad in a skin as thin and smooth as that of a +whale. Impressions of feathers were known +long before the discovery of Archæopteryx; a +few have been found in the Green River and +Florissant shales of Wyoming, and a Hesperornis +in the collection of the State University +of Kansas shows traces of the existence of +long, soft feathers on the legs and very clear +imprints of the scales and reticulated skin that +covered the tarsus. From the Chalk of Kansas, +too, came the example of Tylosaur, showing +that the back of this animal was decorated +with the crest shown in Mr. Knight's restoration, +one not unlike that of the modern iguana. +From the Laramie sandstone of Montana Mr. +Hatcher and Mr. Butler have obtained the impressions +of portions of the skin of the great +Dinosaur, Thespesius, which show that the +covering of this animal consisted largely, if not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +entirely, of small, irregularly hexagonal horny +scutes, slightly thickened in the centre. The +quarries of lithographic stone at Solenhofen +have yielded a few specimens of flying reptiles, +pterodactyls, which not only verify the correctness +of the inference that these creatures possessed +membranous wings, like the bats, but +show the exact shape, and it was sometimes +very curious, of this membrane. And each and +all of these wonderfully preserved specimens +serve both to check and guide the restorer +in his task of clothing the animal as it was in +life.</p> + +<p>And all this help is needed, for it is an easy +matter to make a wide-sweeping deduction, +apparently resting on a good basis of fact, and +yet erroneous. Remains of the Mammoth +and Woolly Rhinoceros, found in Siberia and +Northern Europe, were thought to indicate +that at the period when these animals lived +the climate was mild, a very natural inference, +since the elephants and rhinoceroses we now +know are all inhabitants of tropical climes. +But the discovery of more or less complete +specimens makes it evident that the climate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +was not particularly mild; the animals were +simply adapted to it; instead of being naked +like their modern relatives, they were dressed +for the climate in a woolly covering. We +think of the tiger as prowling through the +jungles of India, but he ranges so far north +that in some localities this beast preys upon +reindeer, which are among the most northern +of large mammals, and there the tiger is clad +in fairly thick fur.</p> + +<p>When we come to coloring a reconstructed +animal we have absolutely no guide, unless we +assume that the larger a creature the more soberly +will it be colored. The great land animals +of to-day, the elephant and rhinoceros, to +say nothing of the aquatic hippopotamus, are +very dully colored, and while this sombre coloration +is to-day a protection, rendering these +animals less easily seen by man than they +otherwise would be, yet at the time this color +was developing man was not nor were there +enemies sufficiently formidable to menace the +race of elephantine creatures.</p> + +<p>For where mere size furnishes sufficient protection +one would hardly expect to find protective<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +coloration as well, unless indeed a +creature preyed upon others, when it might be +advantageous to enable a predatory animal to +steal upon its prey.</p> + +<p>Color often exists (or is supposed to) as a +sexual characteristic, to render the male of a +species attractive to, or readily recognizable +by, the female, but in the case of large animals +mere size is quite enough to render them conspicuous, +and possibly this may be one of the +factors in the dull coloration of large animals.</p> + +<p>So while a green and yellow Triceratops +would undoubtedly have been a conspicuous +feature in the Cretaceous landscape, from what +we know of existing animals it seems best to +curb our fancy and, so far as large Dinosaurs +are concerned, employ the colors of a Rembrandt +rather than those of a sign painter.</p> + +<p>Aids, or at least hints, to the coloration of +extinct animals are to be found in the coloration +of the young of various living species, for +as the changes undergone by the embryo are +in a measure an epitome of the changes undergone +by a species during its evolution, so the +brief color phases or markings of the young<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +are considered to represent the ordinary coloring +of distant ancestors. Young thrushes are +spotted, young ostriches and grebes are irregularly +striped, young lions are spotted, and in +restoring the early horse, or Hyracothere, Professor +Osborn had the animal represented as +faintly striped, for the reason that zebras, the +wild horses of to-day, are striped, and because +the ass, which is a primitive type of horse, is +striped over the shoulders, these being hints +that the earlier horse-like forms were also +striped.</p> + +<p>Thus just as the skeleton of a Dinosaur may +be a composite structure, made up of the +bones of a dozen individuals, and these in turn +mosaics of many fragments, so may the semblance +of the living animal be based on a fact, +pieced out with a probability and completed +by a bit of theory.</p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>There is a large series of restorations of extinct animals, +prepared by Mr. Charles R. Knight, under the +direction of Professor Osborn, in the Hall of Palæontology +of the American Museum of Natural History,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +and these are later to be reproduced and issued in portfolio +form.</i></p> + +<p><i>Should the reader visit Princeton, he may see in the +museum there a number of B. Waterhouse Hawkins's +creations—creations is the proper word—which are of +interest as examples of the early work in this line.</i></p> + +<p><i>The "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for +1900" contains an article on "The Restoration of +Extinct Animals," pages 479-492, which includes a +number of plates showing the progress that has been +made in this direction.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_184.jpg" width="400" height="179" alt="" /> +Fig. 27.—A Hint of Buried Treasures. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<p class="h3">FEATHERED GIANTS</p> + +<div class="inset20"> +<p> +<i>"There were giants in the earth in those days."</i><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>Nearly every group of animals has its giants, +its species which tower above their fellows as +Goliath of Gath stood head and shoulders +above the Philistine hosts; and while some of +these are giants only in comparison with their +fellows, belonging to families whose members +are short of stature, others are sufficiently +great to be called giants under any circumstances. +Some of these giants live to-day, +some have but recently passed away, and some +ceased to be long ages before man trod this +earth. The most gigantic of mammals—the +whales—still survive, and the elephant of to-day +suffers but little in comparison with the +mammoth of yesterday; the monstrous Dinosaurs, +greatest of all reptiles—greatest, in +fact, of all animals that have walked the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +earth—flourished thousands upon thousands +of years ago. As for birds, some of the giants +among them are still living, some existed long +geologic periods ago, and a few have so recently +vanished from the scene that their +memory still lingers amid the haze of tradition. +The best known among these, as well as the +most recent in point of time, are the Moas of +New Zealand, first brought to notice by the +Rev. W. Colenso, later on Bishop of New +Zealand, one of the many missionaries to +whom Science is under obligations. Early in +1838, Bishop Colenso, while on a missionary +visit to the East Cape region, heard from the +natives of Waiapu tales of a monstrous bird, +called Moa, having the head of a man, that +inhabited the mountain-side some eighty miles +away. This mighty bird, the last of his race, +was said to be attended by two equally huge +lizards that kept guard while he slept, and on +the approach of man wakened the Moa, who +immediately rushed upon the intruders and +trampled them to death. None of the Maoris +had seen this bird, but they had seen and +somewhat irreverently used for making parts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +of their fishing tackle, bones of its extinct relatives, +and these bones they declared to be as +large as those of an ox.</p> + +<p>About the same time another missionary, +the Rev. Richard Taylor, found a bone ascribed +to the Moa, and met with a very similar tradition +among the natives of a near-by district, +only, as the foot of the rainbow moves away +as we move toward it, in his case the bird was +said to dwell in quite a different locality from +that given by the natives of East Cape. While, +however, the Maoris were certain that the +Moa still lived, and to doubt its existence was +little short of a crime, no one had actually seen +it, and as time went on and the bird still remained +unseen by any explorer, hope became +doubt and doubt certainty, until it even became +a mooted question whether such a bird +had existed within the past ten centuries, to +say nothing of having lived within the memory +of man.</p> + +<p>But if we do not know the living birds, their +remains are scattered broadcast over hillside +and plain, concealed in caves, buried in the +mud of swamps, and from these we gain a good +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +idea of their size and structure, while chance +has even made it possible to know something +of their color and general appearance. This +chance was the discovery of a few specimens, +preserved in exceptionally dry caves on the +South Island, which not only had some of the +bones still united by ligaments, but patches of +skin clinging to the bones, and bearing numerous +feathers of a chestnut color tipped with +white. These small, straggling, rusty feathers +are not much to look at, but when we reflect +that they have been preserved for centuries +without any care whatever, while the buffalo +bugs have devoured our best Smyrna rugs in +spite of all possible precautions, our respect for +them increases.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_188.jpg" width="400" height="221" alt="" /> +Fig. 28.—Relics of the Moa. +</div> + +<p>From the bones we learn that there were a +great many kinds of Moas, twenty at least, +ranging in size from those little larger than a +turkey to that giant among giants, <i>Dinornis +maximus</i>, which stood at least ten feet high,<a id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +or two feet higher than the largest ostrich, and +may well claim the distinction of being the +tallest of all known birds. We also learn from +the bones that not only were the Moas flightless, +but that many of them were absolutely +wingless, being devoid even of such vestiges of +wings as we find in the Cassowary or Apteryx. +But if Nature deprived these birds of wings, +she made ample amends in the matter of legs, +those of some species, the Elephant-footed +Moa, <i>Pachyornis elephantopus</i>, for example, +being so massively built as to cause one to +wonder what the owner used them for, although +the generally accepted theory is that +they were used for scratching up the roots of +ferns on which the Moas are believed to have +fed. And if a blow from an irate ostrich is +sufficient to fell a man, what must have been +the kicking power of an able-bodied Moa? +Beside this bird the ostrich would appear as +slim and graceful as a gazelle beside a prize ox.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>The height of the Moas, and even of some species of +Æpyornis, is often stated to be twelve or fourteen feet, but such +a height can only be obtained by placing the skeleton in a wholly +unnatural attitude.</i></p></div> + +<p>The Moas were confined to New Zealand, +some species inhabiting the North Island, some +the South, very few being common to both, +and from these peculiarities of distribution<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +geologists deduce that at some early period in +the history of the earth the two islands formed +one, that later on the land subsided, leaving +the islands separated by a strait, and that since +this subsidence there has been sufficient time +for the development of the species peculiar to +each island. Although Moas were still numerous +when man made his appearance in this +part of the world, the large deposits of their +bones indicate that they were on the wane, and +that natural causes had already reduced the +feathered population of these islands. A glacial +period is believed to have wrought their +destruction, and in one great morass, abounding +in springs, their bones occur in such enormous +numbers, layer upon layer, that it is +thought the birds sought the place where the +flowing springs might afford their feet at least +some respite from the biting cold, and there +perished miserably by thousands.</p> + +<p>What Nature spared man finished, and +legends of Moa hunts and Moa feasts still lingered +among the Maoris when the white man +came and began in turn the extermination of +the Maori. The theory has been advanced,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +with much to support it, that the big birds +were eaten off the face of the earth by an earlier +race than the Maoris, and that after the +extirpation of the Moas the craving for flesh +naturally led to cannibalism. But by whomsoever +the destruction was wrought, the result +was the same, the habitat of these feathered +giants knew them no longer, while multitudes +of charred bones, interspersed with fragments +of egg-shells, bear testimony to former barbaric +feasts.</p> + +<p>It is a far cry from New Zealand to Madagascar, +but thither must we go, for that island +was, pity we cannot say is, inhabited by a +race of giant birds from whose eggs it has been +thought may have been hatched the Roc of +Sindbad. Arabian tales, as we all know, locate +the Roc either in Madagascar or in some +adjacent island to the north and east, and it is +far from unlikely that legends of the Æpyornis, +backed by the substantial proof of its +enormous eggs, may have been the slight +foundation of fact whereon the story-teller +erected his structure of fiction. True, the Roc +of fable was a gigantic bird of prey capable of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +bearing away an elephant in its talons, while +the Æpyornis has shed its wings and shrunk +to dimensions little larger than an ostrich, but +this is the inevitable result of closer acquaintance +and the application of a two-foot rule.</p> + +<p>Like the Moa the Æpyornis seems to have +lived in tradition long after it became extinct, +for a French history of Madagascar, published +as early as 1658 makes mention of a large bird, +or kind of ostrich, said to inhabit the southern +end of the island. Still, in spite of bones having +been found that bear evident traces of the +handiwork of man, it is possible that this and +other reports were due to the obvious necessity +of having some bird to account for the presence +of the eggs.</p> + +<p>The actual introduction of the Æpyornis to +science took place in 1834, when a French +traveller sent Jules Verreaux, the ornithologist, +a sketch of a huge egg, saying that he had +seen two of that size, one sawed in twain to +make bowls, the other, traversed by a stick, +serving in the preparation of rice uses somewhat +in contrast with the proverbial fragility +of egg-shells. A little later another traveller<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +procured some fragments of egg-shells, but it +was not until 1851 that any entire eggs were +obtained, when two were secured, and with a +few bones sent to France, where Geoffroy St. +Hilaire bestowed upon them the name of +<i>Æpyornis maximus</i> (the greatest lofty bird). +Maximus the eggs remain, for they still hold +the record for size; but so far as the bird that +is supposed to have laid them is concerned, the +name was a little premature, for other and +larger species subsequently came to hand. +Between the Æpyornithes and the Moas Science +has had a hard time, for the supply of big +words was not large enough to go around, and +some had to do duty twice. In the way of +generic names we have Dinornis, terrible bird; +Æpyornis, high bird; Pachyornis, stout bird; +and Brontornis, thunder bird, while for specific +names there are robustus, maximus, titan; +gravis, heavy; immanis, enormous; crassus, +stout; ingens, great; and elephantopus, elephant-footed—truly +a goodly array of large-sounding +words. But to return to the big +eggs! Usually we look upon those of the ostrich +as pretty large, but an ostrich egg measures<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +4-1/2 by 6 inches, while that of the Æpyornis +is 9 by 13 inches; or, to put it another +way, it would hold the contents of six ostrichs' +eggs, or one hundred and forty-eight hens' eggs, +or thirty thousand humming birds' eggs; and +while this is very much smaller than a waterbutt, +it is still as large as a bucket, and one or +two such eggs might suffice to make an omelet +for Gargantua himself.</p> + +<p>The size of an egg is no safe criterion of the +size of the bird that laid it, for a large bird +may lay a small egg, or a small bird a large +one. Comparing the egg of the great Moa +with that of our Æpyornis one might think +the latter much the larger bird, say twelve feet +in height, when the facts in the case are that +while there was no great difference in the +weight of the two, that difference, and a superiority +of at least two feet in height, are in +favor of the bird that laid the smaller egg. +The record of large eggs, however, belongs to +the Apteryx, a New Zealand bird smaller +than a hen, though distantly related to the +Moas, which lays an egg about one-third of +its own weight, measuring 3 by 5 inches; perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +it is not to be wondered at that the bird +lays but two.</p> + +<p>Although most of the eggs of these big +birds that have been found have literally been +unearthed from the muck of swamps, now and +then one comes to light in a more interesting +manner as, for example, when a perfect egg of +Æpyornis was found afloat after a hurricane, +bobbing serenely up and down with the waves +near St. Augustine's Bay, or when an egg of +the Moa was exhumed from an ancient Maori +grave, where for years it had lain unharmed, +safely clasped between the skeleton fingers of +the occupant. So far very few of these huge +eggs have made their way to this country, and +the only egg of Æpyornis now on this side of +the water is the property of a private individual.</p> + +<p>Most recent in point of discovery, but oldest +in point of time, are the giant birds from Patagonia, +which are burdened with the name of +Phororhacidæ, a name that originated in an +error, although the error may well be excused. +The first fragment of one of these great birds +to come to light was a portion of the lower +jaw, and this was so massive, so un-bird-like, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +that the finder dubbed it <i>Phororhacos</i>, and so +it must remain.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_198.jpg" width="400" height="231" alt="" /> +Fig. 29.—Eggs of Feathered Giants, Æpyornis, Ostrich, Moa, Compared +with a Hen's Egg. +</div> + +<p>It is a pity that all the large names were +used up before this group of birds was discovered, +and it is particularly unfortunate that +Dinornis, terrible bird, was applied to the root-eating +Moas, for these Patagonian birds, with +their massive limbs, huge heads and hooked +beaks, were truly worthy of such a name; and +although in nowise related to the eagles, they +may in habit have been terrestrial birds of prey. +Not all the members of this family are giants, +for as in other groups, some are big and some +little, but the largest among them might be +styled the Daniel Lambert of the feathered +race. <i>Brontornis</i>, for example, the thunder +bird, or as the irreverent translate it, the thundering +big bird, had leg-bones larger than those +of an ox, the drumstick measuring 30 inches in +length by 2-1/2 inches in diameter, or 4-1/4 inches +across the ends, while the tarsus, or lower bone +of the leg to which the toes are attached, was +16-1/2 inches long and 5-1/2 inches wide where the +toes join on. Bear this in mind the next time +you see a large turkey, or compare these bones +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +with those of an ostrich: but lest you may forget, +it may be said that the same bone of a +fourteen-pound turkey is 5-1/2 inches long, and +one inch wide at either end, while that of an +ostrich measures 19 inches long and 2 inches +across the toes, or 3 at the upper end.</p> + +<p>If Brontornis was a heavy-limbed bird, he +was not without near rivals among the Moas, +while the great Phororhacos, one of his contemporaries, +was not only nearly as large, but +quite unique in build. Imagine a bird seven +or eight feet in height from the sole of his big, +sharp-clawed feet, to the top of his huge head, +poise this head on a neck as thick as that of a +horse, arm it with a beak as sharp as an icepick +and almost as formidable, and you have a +fair idea of this feathered giant of the ancient +pampas. The head indeed was truly colossal +for that of a bird, measuring 23 inches in +length by 7 in depth, while that of the racehorse +Lexington, and he was a good-sized +horse, measures 22 inches long by 5-1/2 inches +deep. The depth of the jaw is omitted because +we wish to make as good a case as possible +for the bird, and the jaw of a horse is so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +deep as to give him an undue advantage in that +respect.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_202.jpg" width="400" height="266" alt="" /> +Fig. 30.—Skull of Phororhacos Compared with that of +the Race-horse Lexington. +</div> + +<p>We can only speculate on the food of these +great birds, and for aught we know to the +contrary they may have caught fish, fed upon +carrion, or used their powerful feet and huge +beaks for grubbing roots; but if they were not +more or less carnivorous, preying upon such +reptiles, mammals and other birds as came +within reach, then nature apparently made a +mistake in giving them such a formidable +equipment of beak and claw. So far as habits<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +go we might be +justified in calling +them cursorial +birds of prey.</p> + +<div class="figcenter300"> +<img src="images/i_203.jpg" width="300" height="652" alt="" /> +Fig. 31.—Leg of a Horse Compared +with that of the Giant Moa. +</div> + +<p>We really know +very little about +these Patagonian +giants, but they +are interesting not +only from their +great size and astounding +skulls, +but because of the +early age (Miocene) +at which +they lived and because +in spite of +their bulk they are +in nowise related +to the ostriches, +but belong near +the heron family. +As usual, we have +no idea why they +became extinct,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +but in this instance man is guiltless, for they +lived and died long before he made his appearance, +and the ever-convenient hypothesis +"change of climate" may be responsible for +their disappearance.</p> + +<p>Something, perhaps, remains to be said concerning +the causes which seem to have led to +the development of these giant birds, as well +as the reasons for their flightless condition and +peculiar distribution, for it will be noticed +that, with the exception of the African and +South American ostriches the great flightless +birds as a rule are, and were, confined to uninhabited +or sparsely populated islands, and this +is equally true of the many small, but equally +flightless birds. It is a seemingly harsh law +of nature that all living beings shall live in a +more or less active struggle with each other +and with their surroundings, and that those +creatures which possess some slight advantage +over their fellows in the matter of speed, or +strength, or ability to adapt themselves to surrounding +conditions, shall prosper at the expense +of the others. In the power of flight, +birds have a great safeguard against changes of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +climate with their accompanying variations in +the supply of food, and, to a lesser extent, +against their various enemies, including man. +This power of flight, acquired early in their +geological history, has enabled birds to spread +over the length and breadth of the globe as no +other group of animals has done, and to thrive +under the most varying conditions, and it +would seem that if this power were lost it +must sooner or later work harm. Now to-day +we find no great wingless birds in thickly +populated regions, or where beasts of prey +abound; the ostriches roam the desert wastes +of Arabia, Africa and South America where +men are few and savage beasts scarce, and +against these is placed a fleetness of foot inherited +from ancestors who acquired it before +man was. The heavy cassowaries dwell in the +thinly inhabited, thickly wooded islands of +Malaysia, where again there are no large carnivores +and where the dense vegetation is some +safeguard against man; the emu comes from +the Australian plains, where also there are no +four-footed enemies<a id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and where his ancestors +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>dwelt in peace before the advent of man. +And the same things are true of the Moas, the +Æpyornithes, the flightless birds of Patagonia, +the recent dodo of Mauritius and the solitaire +of Rodriguez, each and all of which flourished +in places where there were no men and practically +no other enemies. Hence we deduce +that absence of enemies is the prime factor in +the existence of flightless birds,<a id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> although +presence of food is an essential, while isolation, +or restriction to a limited area, plays an important +part by keeping together those birds, +or that race of birds, whose members show a +tendency to disuse their wings. It will be +seen that such combinations of circumstances +will most naturally be found on islands whose +geological history is such that they have had +no connection with adjacent continents, or +such a very ancient connection that they were +not then peopled with beasts of prey, while +subsequently their distance from other countries +has prevented them from receiving such +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>population by accident in recent times and has +also retarded the arrival of man.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> <i>The dingo, or native dog, is not forgotten, but, like man, +it is a comparatively recent animal.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Note that in Tasmania, which is very near Australia, both +in space and in the character of its animals, there are two carnivorous +mammals, the Tasmanian "Wolf" and the Tasmanian +Devil, and no flightless birds.</i></p></div> + +<p>Once established, flightlessness and size play +into one another's hands; the flightless bird +has no limit placed on its size<a id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> while granted +a food supply and immunity from man; the +larger the bird the less the necessity for wings +to escape from four-footed foes. So long as +the climate was favorable and man absent, the +big, clumsy bird might thrive, but upon the +coming of man, or in the face of any unfavorable +change of climate, he would be at a serious +disadvantage and hence whenever either +of these two factors has been brought to bear +against them the feathered giants have vanished.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>While we do not know the limit of size to a flying creature, +none has as yet been found whose wings would spread over +twenty feet from tip to tip, and it is evident that wings larger +than this would demand great strength for their manipulation.</i></p></div> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>There is a fine collection of mounted skeletons of various +species of Moas in the Museum of Comparative +Zoology at Cambridge, Mass., and another in the American +Museum of Natural History, New York. A few</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +<i>other skeletons and numerous bones are to be found in +other institutions, but the author is not aware of any egg +being in this country. Specimens of the Æpyornis are +rare in this country, but Mr. Robert Gilfort, of Orange, +N.J., is the possessor of a very fine egg. A number of +eggs have been sold in London, the prices ranging from +£200 down to £42, this last being much less than prices +paid for eggs of the great auk. But then, the great +auk is somewhat of a fad, and there are just enough +eggs in existence to bring one into the market every +little while. Besides, the number of eggs of the great +auk is a fixed quantity, while no one knows how many +more of Æpyornis remain to be discovered in the swamps +of Madagascar. No specimens of the gigantic Patagonian +birds are now in this country, but a fine example +of one of the smaller forms, Pelycornis, including +the only breast-bone yet found, is in the Museum of +Princeton University.</i></p> + +<p><i>The largest known tibia of a Moa, the longest bird-bone +known, is in the collection of the Canterbury Museum, +Christchurch, New Zealand; it is 3 feet 3 inches +long. This, however, is exceptional, the measurements +of the leg-bones of an ordinary Dinornis maximus +being as follows: Femur, 18 inches; tibia, 32 inches; +tarsus, 19 inches, a total of 5 feet 9 inches. The egg +measures 10-1/2 by 6-1/2 inches.</i></p> + +<p><i>There is plenty of literature, and very interesting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +literature, about the Moas, but, unfortunately, the best +of it is not always accessible, being contained in the +"New Zealand Journal of Science" and the "Transactions +of the New Zealand Institute." The volume of +"Transactions" for 1893, being vol. xxvi., contains a +very full list of articles relating to the Moas, compiled +by Mr. A. Hamilton; it will be found to commence on +page 229. There is a good article on Moa in Newton's +"Dictionary of Birds," a book that should be in every +library.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_209.jpg" width="400" height="304" alt="" /> +Fig. 32.—The Three Giants, Phororhacos, Moa, Ostrich. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<p class="h3">THE ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE</p> + +<div class="inset16"> +<p> +"<i>Said the little Eohippus</i><br /> +<span class="in1"><i>I am going to be a horse</i></span><br /> +<i>And on my middle finger-nails</i><br /> +<span class="in1"><i>To run my earthly course."</i></span><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>The American whose ancestors came over in +the "Mayflower" has a proper pride in the +length of the line of his descent. The Englishman +whose genealogical tree sprang up at the +time of William the Conqueror has, in its eight +centuries of growth, still larger occasion for +pluming himself on the antiquity of his family. +But the pedigree of even the latter is a thing +of yesterday when compared with that of the +horse, whose family records, according to Professor +Osborn, reach backward for something +like 2,000,000 years. And if, as we have been +told, "it is a good thing to have ancestors, but +sometimes a little hard on the ancestor," in this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +instance at least the founders of the family +have every reason to regard their descendants +with undisguised pride. For the horse family +started in life in a small way, and the first of +the line, the Hyracotherium, was "a little animal +no bigger than a fox, and on five<a id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> toes +he scampered over Tertiary rocks," in the age +called Eocene, because it was the morning of +life for the great group of mammals whose culminating +point was man. At that time, western +North America was a country of many +lakes, for the most part comparatively shallow, +around the reedy margins of which moved a +host of animals, quite unlike those of to-day, +and yet foreshadowing them, the forerunners +of the rhinoceros, tapir, and the horse.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> <i>Four, to be exact; but we prefer to sacrifice the foot of +the Hyracothere rather than to take liberties with one of the +feet of Mrs. Stetson's poem.</i></p></div> + +<p>The early horse—we may call him so by +courtesy, although he was then very far from +being a true horse—was an insignificant little +creature, apparently far less likely to succeed +in life's race than his bulky competitors, and +yet, by making the most of their opportunities, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>his descendants have survived, while most of +theirs have dropped by the wayside; and +finally, by the aid of man, the horse has become +spread over the length and breadth of +the habitable globe.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_212.jpg" width="400" height="324" alt="" /> +Fig. 33.—Skeleton of the Modern Horse and of His +Eocene Ancestor. +</div> + +<p>Now right here it may be asked, How do +we know that the little Hyracothere <i>was</i> the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +progenitor of the horse, and how can it be +shown that there is any bond of kinship between +him and, for example, the great French +Percheron? There is only one way in which +we can obtain this knowledge, and but one +method by which the relationship can be +shown, and that is by collecting the fossil remains +of animals long extinct and comparing +them with the bones of the recent horse, a +branch of science known as Palæontology. It +has taken a very long time to gather the necessary +evidence, and it has taken a vast amount +of hard work in our western Territories, for +"the country that is as hot as Hades, watered +by stagnant alkali pools, is almost invariably +the richest in fossils." Likewise it has called +for the expenditure of much time and more patience +to put together some of this petrified +evidence, fragmentary in every sense of the +word, and get it into such shape that it could +be handled by the anatomist. Still, the work +has been done, and, link by link, the chain has +been constructed that unites the horse of to-day +with the horse of very many yesterdays.</p> + +<p>The very first links in this chain are the remains<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +of the bronze age and those found among +the ruins of the ancient Swiss lake dwellings; +but earlier still than these are the bones +of horses found abundantly in northern Europe, +Asia, and America. The individual bones and +teeth of some of these horses are scarcely distinguishable +from those of to-day, a fact noted +in the name, <i>Equus fraternus</i>, applied to one +species; and when teeth alone are found, it is +at times practically impossible to say whether +they belong to a fossil horse or to a modern +animal. But when enough scattered bones are +gathered to make a fairly complete skeleton, it +becomes evident that the fossil horse had a proportionately +larger head and smaller feet than +his existing relative, and that he was a little +more like an ass or zebra, for the latter, spite +of his gay coat, is a near relative of the lowly +ass. Moreover, primitive man made sketches +of the primitive horse, just as he did of the +mammoth, and these indicate that the horse of +those days was something like an overgrown +Shetland pony, low and heavily built, large-headed +and rough-coated. For the old cave-dwellers +of Europe were intimately acquainted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +with the prehistoric horses, using them for +food, as they did almost every animal that fell +beneath their flint arrows and stone axes. And +if one may judge from the abundance of bones, +the horses must have roamed about in bands, +just as the horses escaped from civilization +roam, or have roamed, over the pampas of +South America and the prairies of the West.</p> + +<p>The horse was just as abundant in North +America in Pleistocene time as in Europe; +but there is no evidence to show that it was +contemporary with early man in North America, +and, even were this the case, it is generally +believed that long before the discovery of +America the horse had disappeared. And yet, +so plentiful and so fresh are his remains, and +so much like those of the mustang, that the +late Professor Cope was wont to say that it +almost seemed as if the horse <i>might</i> have +lingered in Texas until the coming of the white +man. And Sir William Flower wrote: "There +is a possibility of the animal having still existed, +in a wild state, in some parts of the continent +remote from that which was first visited +by the Spaniards, where they were certainly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +unknown. It has been suggested that the +horses which were found by Cabot in La Plata +in 1530 cannot have been introduced."</p> + +<p>Still we have not the least little bit of positive +proof that such was the case, and although +the site of many an ancient Indian village has +been carefully explored, no bones of the horse +have come to light, or if they have been found, +bones of the ox or sheep were also present to +tell that the village was occupied long after +the advent of the whites. It is also a curious +fact that within historic times there have been +no wild horses, in the true sense of the word, +unless indeed those found on the steppes north +of the Sea of Azof be wild, and this is very +doubtful. But long before the dawn of history +the horse was domesticated in Europe, and +Cæsar found the Germans, and even the old +Britons, using war chariots drawn by horses—for +the first use man seems to have made of +the horse was to aid him in killing off his fellow-man, +and not until comparatively modern +times was the animal employed in the peaceful +arts of agriculture. The immediate predecessors +of these horses were considerably<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +smaller, being about the size and build of a +pony, but they were very much like a horse in +structure, save that the teeth were shorter. +As they lived during Pliocene times, they have +been named "Pliohippus."</p> + +<p>Going back into the past a step farther, +though a pretty long step if we reckon by +years, we come upon a number of animals very +much like horses, save for certain cranial peculiarities +and the fact that they had three +toes on each foot, while the horse, as every one +knows, has but one toe. Now, if we glance at +the skeleton of a horse, we will see on either +side of the canon-bone, in the same situation +as the upper part of the little toes of the Hippotherium, +as these three-toed horses are called, +a long slender bone, termed by veterinarians +the splint bone; and it requires no anatomical +training to see that the bones in the two animals +are the same. The horse lacks the lower +part of his side toes, that is all, just as man +will very probably some day lack the last bones +of his little toe. We find an approach to this +condition in some of the Hippotheres even, +known as Protohippus, in which the side toes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +are quite small, foreshadowing the time when +they shall have disappeared entirely. It may +also be noted here that the splint bones of the +horses of the bronze age are a little longer than +those of existing horses, and that they are +never united with the large central toe, while +nowadays there is something of a tendency for +the three bones to fuse into one, although part +of this tendency the writer believes to be due +to inflammation set up by the strain of the +pulling and hauling the animal is now called +upon to do. Some of these three-toed Hippotheres +are not in the direct line of ancestry of +the horse, but are side branches on the family +tree, having become so highly specialized in +certain directions that no further progress +horseward was possible.</p> + +<p>Backward still, and the bones we find in the +Miocene strata of the West, belonging to those +ancestors of the horse to which the name of +Mesohippus has been given because they are +midway in time and structure between the +horse of the past and present, tell us that +then all horses were small and that all had +three toes on a foot, while the fore feet bore<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +even the suggestion of a fourth toe. From +this to our Eocene Hyracothere with four toes +is only another long-time step. We may go +even beyond this in time and structure, and +carry back the line of the horse to animals +which only remotely resembled him and had +five good toes to a foot; but while these contained +the possibility of a horse, they made no +show of it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter800"> +<img src="images/i_219.jpg" width="800" height="333" alt="" /> +Fig. 34.—The Development of the Horse. +</div> + +<p>Increase in size and decrease in number of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +the toes were not the only changes that were +required to transform the progeny of the Hyracothere +into a horse. These are the most +evident; but the increased complexity in the +structure of the teeth was quite as important. +The teeth of gnawing animals have often been +compared to a chisel which is made of a steel +plate with soft iron backing, and the teeth of +a horse, or of other grass-eating animals, are +simply an elaboration of this idea. The hard<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +enamel, which represents the steel, is set in +soft dentine, which represents the iron, and in +use the dentine wears away the faster of the +two, so that the enamel stands up in ridges, +each tooth becoming, as it is correctly termed, +"a grinder." In a horse the plates of enamel +form curved, complex, irregular patterns; but +as we go back in time, the patterns become +less and less elaborate, until in the Hyracothere, +standing at the foot of the family tree, +the teeth are very simple in structure. Moreover, +his teeth were of limited growth, while +those of the horse grow for a considerable +time, thus compensating for the wear to which +they are subjected.</p> + +<p>We have, then, this direct evidence as to +the genealogy of the horse, that between the +little Eocene Hyracothere and the modern +horse we can place a series of animals by +which we can pass by gradual stages from one +to the other, and that as we come upward +there is an increase in stature, in the complexity +of the teeth, and in the size of the +brain. At the same time, the number of toes +decreases, which tells that the animals were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +developing more and more speed; for it is a +rule that the fewer the toes the faster the animal: +the fastest of birds, the ostrich, has but +two toes, and one of these is mostly ornamental; +and the fastest of mammals, the horse, +has but one.</p> + +<p>All breeders of fancy stock, particularly of +pigeons and poultry, recognize the tendency +of animals to revert to the forms whence they +were derived and reproduce some character of +a distant ancestor; to "throw back," as the +breeders term it. If now, instead of reproducing +a trait or feature possessed by some +ancestor a score, a hundred, or perhaps a thousand +years ago, there should reappear a characteristic +of some ancestor that flourished +100,000 years back, we should have a seeming +abnormality, but really a case of reversion; +and the more we become acquainted with the +structure of extinct animals and the development +of those now living, the better able are +we to explain these apparent abnormalities.</p> + +<p>Bearing in mind that the two splint bones +of the horse correspond to the upper portions +of the side toes of the Hippotherium and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +Mesohippus, it is easy to see that if for any +reason these should develop into toes, they +would make the foot of a modern horse appear +like that of his distant ancestor. While such +a thing rarely happens, yet now and then nature +apparently does attempt to reproduce a +horse's foot after the ancient pattern, for occasionally +we meet with a horse having, instead +of the single toe with which the average horse +is satisfied, one or possibly two extra toes. +Sometimes the toe is extra in every sense of +the word, being a mere duplication of the central +toe; but sometimes it is an actual development +of one of the splint bones. No less a +personage than Julius Cæsar possessed one of +these polydactyl horses, and the reporters of +the <i>Daily Roman</i> and the <i>Tiberian Gazette</i> +doubtless wrote it up in good journalistic +Latin, for we find the horse described as having +feet that were almost human, and as being +looked upon with great awe. While this is +the most celebrated of extra-toed horses, other +and more plebeian individuals have been much +more widely known through having been exhibited +throughout the country under such<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +titles as "Clique, the horse with six feet," +"the eight-footed Cuban horse," and so on; +and possibly some of these are familiar to +readers of this page.</p> + +<p>So the collateral evidence, though scanty, +bears out the circumstantial proof, derived +from fossil bones, that the horse has developed +from a many-toed ancestor; and the evidence +points toward the little Hyracothere as being +that ancestor. It remains only to show some +good reason why this development should +have taken place, or to indicate the forces by +which it was brought about. We have heard +much about "the survival of the fittest," a +phrase which simply means that those animals +best adapted to their surroundings will survive, +while those ill adapted will perish. But +it should be added that it means also that the +animals must be able to adapt themselves to +changes in their environment, or to change +with it. Living beings cannot stand still indefinitely; +they must progress or perish. And +this seems to have been the cause for the extinction +of the huge quadrupeds that flourished +at the time of the three-toed Miocene<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +horse. They were adapted to their environment +as it was; but when the western mountains +were thrust upward, cutting off the +moist winds from the Pacific, making great +changes in the rainfall and climate to the eastward +of the Rocky Mountains, these big +beasts, slow of foot and dull of brain, could +not keep pace with the change, and their race +vanished from the face of the earth. The day +of the little Hyracothere was at the beginning +of the great series of changes by which the +lake country of the West, with its marshy +flats and rank vegetation, became transformed +into dry uplands sparsely clad with fine +grasses. On these dry plains the more nimble-footed +animals would have the advantage in +the struggle for existence; and while the four-toed +foot would keep its owner from sinking +in soft ground, he was handicapped when it +became a question of speed, for not only is a +fleet animal better able to flee from danger +than his slower fellows, but in time of drouth +he can cover the greater extent of territory +in search of food or water. So, too, as the +rank rushes gave place to fine grasses, often<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +browned and withered beneath the summer's +sun, the complex tooth had an advantage over +that of simpler structure, while the cutting-teeth, +so completely developed in the horse +family, enabled their possessors to crop the +grass as closely as one could do it with scissors. +Likewise, up to a certain point, the +largest, most powerful animal will not only +conquer, or escape from, his enemies, but prevail +over rivals of his own kind as well, and +thus it came to pass that those early members +of the horse family who were preëminent in +speed and stature, and harmonized best with +their surroundings, outstripped their fellows +and transmitted these qualities to their progeny, +until, as a result of long ages of natural +selection, there was developed the modern +horse. The rest man has done: the heavy, +slow-paced dray horse, the fleet trotter, the +huge Percheron, and the diminutive pony are +one and all the recent products of artificial +selection.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>The best collection of fossil horses, and one specially +arranged to illustrate the line of descent of the modern +horse, is to be found in the American Museum of Natural +History, New York, but some good specimens, of particular +interest because they were described by Professor +Marsh and studied by Huxley are in the Yale University +Museum. They are referred to in Huxley's "American +Addresses; Lectures on Evolution." "The +Horse," by Sir W. H. Flower, discusses the horse in a +popular manner from various points of view and contains +numerous references to books and articles on the subject +from which anyone wishing for further information could +obtain it.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_228.jpg" width="400" height="260" alt="" /> +Fig. 35.—The Mammoth. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by Charles R. Knight.</i> +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<p class="h3">THE MAMMOTH</p> + +<div class="inset22"> +<p>"<i>His legs were as thick as the bole of the beech,</i><br /> +<span class="in1"><i>His tusks as the buttonwood white,</i></span><br /> +<i>While his lithe trunk wound like a sapling around</i><br /> +<span class="in1"><i>An oak in the whirlwind's might."</i></span><br /> +</p> +</div> + +<blockquote><p><i>In the October number of McClure's Magazine for 1899 +was published a short story, "The Killing of the Mammoth," +by "H. Tukeman," which, to the amazement of the editors, was +taken by many readers not as fiction, but as a contribution to +natural history. Immediately after the appearance of that +number of the magazine, the authorities of the Smithsonian Institution, +in which the author had located the remains of the +beast of his fancy, were beset with visitors to see the stuffed +mammoth, and the daily mail of the Magazine, as well as that +of the Smithsonian Institution, was filled with inquiries for +more information and for requests to settle wagers as to whether +it was a true story or not. The contribution in question was +printed purely as fiction, with no idea of misleading the public, +and was entitled a story in the table of contents. We doubt if +any writer of realistic fiction ever had a more general and convincing +proof of success.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p>About three centuries ago, in 1696, a Russian, +one Ludloff by name, described some bones +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +belonging to what the Tartars called "Mamantu"; +later on, Blumenbach pressed the common +name into scientific use as "Mammut," +and Cuvier gallicized this into "Mammouth," +whence by an easy transition we get our familiar +mammoth. We are so accustomed to +use the word to describe anything of remarkable +size that it would be only natural to suppose +that the name Mammoth was given to +the extinct elephant because of its extraordinary +bulk. Exactly the reverse of this is true, +however, for the word came to have its present +meaning because the original possessor of the +name was a huge animal. The Siberian peasants +called the creature "Mamantu," or +"ground-dweller," because they believed it to +be a gigantic mole, passing its life beneath the +ground and perishing when by any accident it +saw the light. The reasoning that led to this +belief was very simple and the logic very good; +no one had ever seen a live Mamantu, but +there were plenty of its bones lying at or near +the surface; consequently if the animal did not +live above the ground, it must dwell below.</p> + +<p>To-day, nearly every one knows that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +mammoth was a sort of big, hairy elephant, +now extinct, and nearly every one has a general +idea that it lived in the North. There is +some uncertainty as to whether the mammoth +was a mastodon, or the mastodon a mammoth, +and there is a great deal of misconception as +to the size and abundance of this big beast. It +may be said in passing that the mastodon is +only a second or third cousin of the mammoth, +but that the existing elephant of Asia is a very +near relative, certainly as near as a first cousin, +possibly a very great grandson. Popularly, the +mammoth is supposed to have been a colossus +somewhere from twelve to twenty feet in +height, beside whom modern elephants would +seem insignificant; but as "trout lose much in +dressing," so mammoths shrink in measuring, +and while there were doubtless Jumbos among +them in the way of individuals of exceptional +magnitude, the majority were decidedly under +Jumbo's size. The only mounted mammoth +skeleton in this country, that in the Chicago +Academy of Sciences, is one of the largest, the +thigh-bone measuring five feet one inch in +length, or a foot more than that of Jumbo;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +and as Jumbo stood eleven feet high, the rule +of three applied to this thigh-bone would give +the living animal a height of thirteen feet +eight inches. The height of this specimen is +given as thirteen feet in its bones, with an estimate +of fourteen feet in its clothes; but as the +skeleton is obviously mounted altogether too +high, it is pretty safe to say that thirteen feet +is a good, fair allowance for the height of this +animal when alive. As for the majority of +mammoths, they would not average more than +nine or ten feet high. Sir Samuel Baker tells +us that he has seen plenty of wild African elephants +that would exceed Jumbo by a foot or +more, and while this must be accepted with +caution, since unfortunately he neglected to +put a tape-line on them, yet Mr. Thomas +Baines did measure a specimen twelve feet +high. This, coupled with Sir Samuel's statement, +indicates that there is not so much difference +between the mammoth and the elephant +as there might be. This applies to the +mammoth <i>par excellence</i>, the species known +scientifically as <i>Elephas primigenius</i>, whose +remains are found in many parts of the Northern<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +Hemisphere and occur abundantly in Siberia +and Alaska. There were other elephants +than the mammoth, and some that exceeded +him in size, notably <i>Elephas meridionalis</i> of +southern Europe, and <i>Elephas columbi</i> of our +Southern and Western States, but even the +largest cannot positively be asserted to have +exceeded a height of thirteen feet. Tusks +offer convenient terms of comparison, and +those of an average fully grown mammoth +are from eight to ten feet in length; those of +the famous St. Petersburg specimen and those +of the huge specimen in Chicago measuring +respectively nine feet three inches, and nine +feet eight inches. So far as the writer is +aware, the largest tusks actually measured are +two from Alaska, one twelve feet ten inches +long, weighing 190 pounds, reported by Mr. +Jay Beach; and another eleven feet long, +weighing 200 pounds, noted by Mr. T. L. +Brevig. Compared with these we have the +big tusk that used to stand on Fulton Street, +New York, just an inch under nine feet long, +and weighing 184 pounds, or the largest shown +at Chicago in 1893, which was seven feet six<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +inches long, and weighed 176 pounds. The +largest, most beautiful tusks, probably, ever +seen in this country were a pair brought from +Zanzibar and displayed by Messrs. Tiffany & +Company in 1900. The measurements and +weights of these were as follows: length along +outer curve, ten feet and three-fourths of an +inch, circumference one foot, eleven inches, +weight, 224 pounds; length along outer curve, +ten feet, three and one-half inches, circumference +two feet and one-fourth of an inch, weight, +239 pounds.</p> + +<p>For our knowledge of the external appearance +of the mammoth we are indebted to the +more or less entire examples which have been +found at various times in Siberia, but mainly +to the noted specimen found in 1799 near the +Lena, embedded in the ice, where it had been +reposing, so geologists tell us, anywhere from +10,000 to 50,000 years. How the creature +gradually thawed out of its icy tomb, and the +tusks were taken by the discoverer and sold +for ivory; how the dogs fed upon the flesh in +summer, while bears and wolves feasted upon +it in winter; how the animal was within an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +ace of being utterly lost to science when, at +the last moment, the mutilated remains were +rescued by Mr. Adams, is an old story, often +told and retold. Suffice it to say that, besides +the bones, enough of the beast was preserved +to tell us exactly what was the covering of this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +ancient elephant, and to show that it was a +creature adapted to withstand the northern +cold and fitted for living on the branches of +the birch and hemlock.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_236.jpg" width="400" height="281" alt="" /> +Fig. 36.—Skeleton of the Mammoth in the Royal +Museum of St. Petersburg. +</div> + +<p>The exact birthplace of the mammoth is as +uncertain as that of many other great characters; +but his earliest known resting-place is in +the Cromer Forest Beds of England, a country +inhabited by him at a time when the German +Ocean was dry land and Great Britain part of +a peninsula. Here his remains are found to-day, +while from the depths of the North Sea +the hardy trawlers have dredged hundreds, aye +thousands, of mammoth teeth in company with +soles and turbot. If, then, the mammoth originated +in western Europe, and not in that great +graveyard of fossil elephants, northern India, +eastward he went spreading over all Europe +north of the Pyrenees and Alps, save only +Scandinavia, whose glaciers offered no attractions, +scattering his bones abundantly by the +wayside to serve as marvels for future ages. +Strange indeed have been some of the tales to +which these and other elephantine remains +have given rise when they came to light in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +good old days when knowledge of anatomy +was small and credulity was great. The least +absurd theory concerning them was that they +were the bones of the elephants which Hannibal +brought from Africa. Occasionally they +were brought forward as irrefutable evidences +of the deluge; but usually they figured as the +bones of giants, the most famous of them being +known as Teutobochus, King of the Cimbri, a +lusty warrior said to have had a height of nineteen +feet. Somewhat smaller, but still of respectable +height, fourteen feet, was "Littell +Johne" of Scotland, whereof Hector Boece +wrote, concluding, in a moralizing tone, "Be +quilk (which) it appears how extravegant and +squaire pepill grew in oure regioun afore they +were effeminat with lust and intemperance of +mouth." More than this, these bones have +been venerated in Greece and Rome as the remains +of pagan heroes, and later on worshipped +as relics of Christian saints. Did not the +church of Valencia possess an elephant tooth +which did duty as that of St. Christopher, +and, so late as 1789, was not a thigh-bone, figuring +as the arm-bone of a saint, carried in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +procession through the streets in order to +bring rain?</p> + +<p>Out of Europe eastward into Asia the mammoth +took his way, and having peopled that +vast region, took advantage of a land connection +then existing between Asia and North +America and walked over into Alaska, in company +with the forerunners of the bison and the +ancestors of the mountain sheep and Alaskan +brown bear. Still eastward and southward he +went, until he came to the Atlantic coast, the +latitude of southern New York roughly marking +the southern boundary of the broad domain +over which the mammoth roamed undisturbed.<a id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +Not that of necessity all this vast area +was occupied at one time; but this was the +range of the mammoth during Pleistocene +time, for over all this region his bones and +teeth are found in greater or less abundance +and in varying conditions of preservation. In +regions like parts of Siberia and Alaska, where +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>the bones are entombed in a wet and cold, +often icy, soil, the bones and tusks are almost +as perfectly preserved as though they had been +deposited but a score of years ago, while remains +so situated that they have been subjected +to varying conditions of dryness and +moisture are always in a fragmentary state. +As previously noted, several more or less entire +carcasses of the mammoth have been discovered +in Siberia, only to be lost; and, while no +entire animal has so far been found in Alaska, +some day one may yet come to light. That +there is some possibility of this is shown by the +discovery, recorded by Mr. Dall, of the partial +skeleton of a mammoth in the bank of the +Yukon with some of the fat still present, and +although this had been partially converted into +adipocere, it was fresh enough to be used by +the natives for greasing, not their boots, but +their boats. And up to the present time this +is the nearest approach to finding a live mammoth +in Alaska.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>This must be taken as a very general statement, as the distinction +between and habitats of Elephas primigenius and Elephas +columbi, the southern mammoth, are not satisfactorily +determined; moreover, the two species overlap through a wide +area of the West and Northwest.</i></p></div> + +<p>As to why the mammoth became extinct, +we <i>know</i> absolutely nothing, although various +theories, some much more ingenious than plausible,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +have been advanced to account for their +extermination—they perished of starvation; +they were overtaken by floods on their supposed +migrations and drowned in detachments; +they fell through the ice, equally in detachments, +and were swept out to sea. But all +we can safely say is that long ages ago +the last one perished off the face of the earth. +Strange it is, too, that these mighty beasts, +whose bulk was ample to protect them against +four-footed foes, and whose woolly coat was +proof against the cold, should have utterly vanished. +They ranged from England eastward +to New York, almost around the world; from +the Alps to the Arctic Ocean; and in such +numbers that to-day their tusks are articles of +commerce, and fossil ivory has its price current +as well as wheat. Mr. Boyd Dawkins thinks +that the mammoth was actually exterminated +by early man, but, even granting that this +might be true for southern and western Europe, +it could not be true of the herds that inhabited +the wastes of Siberia, or of the thousands +that flourished in Alaska and the western +United States. So far as man is concerned,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +the mammoth might still be living in these localities, +where, before the discovery of gold +drew thousands of miners to Alaska, there were +vast stretches of wilderness wholly untrodden +by the foot of man. Neither could this theory +account for the disappearance of the mastodon +from North America, where that animal covered +so vast a stretch of territory that man, +unaided by nature, could have made little impression +on its numbers. That many were +swept out to sea by the flooded rivers of Siberia +is certain, for some of the low islands off +the coast are said to be formed of sand, ice, +and bones of the mammoth, and thence, for +hundreds of years, have come the tusks which +are sold in the market beside those of the +African and Indian elephants.</p> + +<p>That man was contemporary with the mammoth +in southern Europe is fairly certain, for +not only are the remains of the mammoth and +man's flint weapons found together, but in a +few instances some primeval Landseer graved +on slate, ivory, or reindeer antler a sketchy +outline of the beast, somewhat impressionistic +perhaps, but still, like the work of a true artist,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +preserving the salient features. We see the +curved tusks, the snaky trunk, and the shaggy +coat that we know belonged to the mammoth, +and we may feel assured that if early man did +not conquer the clumsy creature with fire and +flint, he yet gazed upon him from the safe +vantage point of some lofty tree or inaccessible +rock, and then went home to tell his wife +and neighbors how the animal escaped because +his bow missed fire. That man and mammoth +lived together in North America is uncertain; +so far there is no evidence to show that they +did, although the absence of such evidence is +no proof that they did not. That any live +mammoth has for centuries been seen on the +Alaskan tundras is utterly improbable, and on +Mr. C. H. Townsend seems to rest the responsibility +of having, though quite unintentionally, +introduced the Alaskan Live Mammoth into +the columns of the daily press. It befell in this +wise: Among the varied duties of our revenue +marine is that of patrolling and exploring the +shores of arctic Alaska and the waters of the +adjoining sea, and it is not so many years ago +that the cutter <i>Corwin</i>, if memory serves<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +aright, held the record of farthest north on the +Pacific side. On one of these northern trips, +to the Kotzebue Sound region, famous for the +abundance of its deposits of mammoth bones,<a id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +the <i>Corwin</i> carried Mr. Townsend, then naturalist +to the United States Fish Commission. +At Cape Prince of Wales some natives came +on board bringing a few bones and tusks of +the mammoth, and upon being questioned as +to whether or not any of the animals to which +they pertained were living, promptly replied +that all were dead, inquiring in turn if the +white men had ever seen any, and if they +knew how these animals, so vastly larger than +a reindeer, looked.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Elephant Point, at the mouth of the Buckland River, is so +named from the numbers of mammoth bones which have accumulated +there.</i></p></div> + +<p>Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was on +board a text-book of geology containing the +well-known cut of the St. Petersburg mammoth, +and this was brought forth, greatly to +the edification of the natives, who were delighted +at recognizing the curved tusks and +the bones they knew so well. Next the na<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>tives +wished to know what the outside of the +creature looked like, and as Mr. Townsend +had been at Ward's establishment in Rochester +when the first copy of the Stuttgart restoration +was made, he rose to the emergency, +and made a sketch. This was taken ashore, +together with a copy of the cut of the skeleton +that was laboriously made by an Innuit +sprawled out at full length on the deck. Now +the Innuits, as Mr. Townsend tells us, are +great gadabouts, making long sledge journeys +in winter and equally long trips by boat in +summer, while each season they hold a regular +fair on Kotzebue Sound, where a thousand or +two natives gather to barter and gossip. On +these journeys and at these gatherings the +sketches were no doubt passed about, copied, +and recopied, until a large number of Innuits +had become well acquainted with the appearance +of the mammoth, a knowledge that naturally +they were well pleased to display to any +white visitors. Also, like the Celt, the Alaskan +native delights to give a "soft answer," +and is always ready to furnish the kind of information +desired. Thus in due time the newspaper<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +man learned that the Alaskans could +make pictures of the mammoth, and that they +had some knowledge of its size and habits; so +with inference and logic quite as good as that +of the Tungusian peasant, the reporter came +to the conclusion that somewhere in the frozen +wilderness the last survivor of the mammoths +must still be at large. And so, starting on +the Pacific coast, the Live Mammoth story +wandered from paper to paper, until it had +spread throughout the length and breadth of +the United States, when it was captured by +Mr. Tukeman, who with much artistic color +and some realistic touches, transferred it to +<i>McClure's Magazine</i>, and—unfortunately for +the officials thereof—to the Smithsonian Institution.</p> + +<p>And now, once for all, it may be said that +<i>there is no mounted mammoth</i> to awe the visitor +to the national collections or to any other; +and yet there seems no good and conclusive +reason why there should not be. True, there +are no live mammoths to be had at any price; +neither are their carcasses to be had on demand; +still there is good reason to believe<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +that a much smaller sum than that said to +have been paid by Mr. Conradi for the mammoth +which is <i>not</i> in the Smithsonian Institution, +would place one there.<a id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> It probably +could not be done in one year; it might not +be possible in five years; but should any man +of means wish to secure enduring fame by +showing the world the mammoth as it stood in +life, a hundred centuries ago, before the dawn +of even tradition, he could probably accomplish +the result by the expenditure of a far less sum +than it would cost to participate in an international +yacht race.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>Since these lines were written another fine example of the +Mammoth has been discovered in Siberia and even now (Oct., +1901) an expedition is on its way to secure the skin and skeleton +for the Academy of Natural Sciences at St. Petersburg.</i></p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p></div> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>The mounted skeleton of the mammoth in the museum +of the Chicago Academy of Science is still the only one on +exhibition in the United States; this specimen is probably +the Southern Mammoth, Elephas columbi, a species, or +race, characterized by its great size and the coarse structure +of the teeth. Remains of the mammoth are common +enough but, save in Alaska, they are usually in a poor +state of preservation or consist of isolated bones or teeth. +A great many skeletons of mammoth have been found by +gold miners in Alaska, and with proper care some of +these could undoubtedly have been secured. Naturally, +however, the miners do not feel like taking the time and +trouble to exhume bones whose value is uncertain, while +the cost of transportation precludes the bringing out of +many specimens.</i></p> + +<p><i>Some reports of mammoths have been based on the +bones of whales, including a skull that was figured in +the daily papers.</i></p> + +<p><i>Almost every museum has on exhibition teeth of the +mammoth, and there is a skull, though from a small individual, +of the Southern Mammoth in the American +Museum of Natural History, New York.</i></p> + +<p><i>The tusk obtained by Mr. Beach and mentioned in +the text still holds the record for mammoth tusks. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +greatest development of tusks occurred in Elephas ganesa, +a species found in Pliocene deposits of the Siwalik +Hills, India. This species appears not to have exceeded +the existing elephant in bulk, but the tusks are twelve feet +nine inches long, and two feet two inches in circumference. +How the animal ever carried them is a mystery, +both on account of their size and their enormous leverage. +As for teeth, an upper grinder of Elephas columbi in the +United States National Museum is ten and one-half +inches high, nine inches wide, the grinding face being +eight by five inches. This tooth, which is unusually perfect, +retaining the outer covering of cement, came from +Afton, Indian Territory, and weighs a little over fifteen +pounds. The lower tooth, shown in Fig. 38, is twelve +inches long, and the grinding face is nine by three and +one-half inches; this is also from Elephas columbi. +Grinders of the Northern Mammoth are smaller, and the +plates of enamel thinner, and closer to one another. +Mr. F. E. Andrews, of Gunsight, Texas, reports having +found a femur, or thigh-bone five feet four inches +long, and a humerus measuring four feet three inches, +these being the largest bones on record indicating an +animal fourteen feet high.</i></p> + +<p><i>There is a vast amount of literature relating to the +mammoth, some of it very untrustworthy. A list of all +discoveries of specimens in the flesh is given by Nordens<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>kiold +in "The Voyage of the Vega" and "The Mammoth +and the Flood" by Sir Henry Howorth, is a mine of information. +Mr. Townsend's "Alaska Live-Mammoth +Story" may be found in "Forest and Stream" for +August 14, 1897.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_250.jpg" width="400" height="173" alt="" /> +Fig. 37.—The Mammoth as Engraved by a Primitive +Artist on a Piece of Mammoth Tusk. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<p class="h3">THE MASTODON</p> + +<div class="inset18"> +<p> +<span class="in8">"<i>. . . who shall place</i><br /></span> +<i>A limit to the giant's unchained strength?</i>" +</p> +</div> + +<p>The name mastodon is given to a number of +species of fossil elephants differing from the +true elephants, of which the mammoth is an +example, in the structure of the teeth. In the +mastodons the crown, or grinding face of +the tooth, is formed by more or less regular +<img src="images/i_251.jpg" width="10" height="15" alt="" /> +shaped cross ridges, covered with enamel, +while in the elephants the enamel takes the +form of narrow, pocket-shaped plates, set upright +in the body of the tooth. Moreover, in +the mastodons the roots of the teeth are long +prongs, while in the elephants the roots are +small and irregular. A glance at the cuts will +show these distinctions better than they can +be explained by words. Back in the past, however, +we meet, as we should if there is any truth<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +in the theory of evolution, with elephants having +an intermediate pattern of teeth.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_252.jpg" width="400" height="166" alt="" /> +Fig. 38.—Tooth of Mastodon and of Mammoth. +</div> + +<p>There is usually, or at least often, another +point of difference between elephants and mastodons, +for many of the latter not only had +tusks in the upper, but in the lower jaw, and +these are never found in any of the true elephants. +The lower tusks are longer and larger +in the earlier species of mastodon than in +those of more recent age and in the latest species, +the common American mastodon, the little +lower tusks were usually shed early in life. +These afford some hints of the relationships of +the mastodon; for in Europe are found remains +of a huge beast well called Dinotherium, +or terrible animal, which possessed lower +tusks only, and these, instead of sticking out<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +from the jaw are bent directly downwards. +No perfect skull of this creature has yet been +found, but it is believed to have had a short +trunk. For a long time nothing but the skull +was known, and some naturalists thought the +animal to have been a gigantic manatee, or sea +cow, and that the tusks were used for tearing +food from the bottom of rivers and for anchoring +the animal to the bank, just as the walrus +uses his tusks for digging clams and climbing +out upon the ice. In the first restorations of +Dinotherium it is represented lying amidst +reeds, the feet concealed from view, the head +alone visible, but now it is pictured as standing +erect, for the discovery of massive leg-bones +has definitely settled the question as to +whether it did or did not have limbs.</p> + +<p>There is another hint of relationship in the +upper tusks of the earlier mastodons, and this +is the presence of a band of enamel running +down each tusk. In all gnawing animals the +front, cutting teeth are formed of soft dentine, +or ivory, faced with a plate of enamel, just as +the blade of a chisel or plane is formed of a +plate of tempered steel backed with soft iron;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +the object of this being the same in both tooth +and chisel, to keep the edge sharp by wearing +away the softer material. In the case of the +chisel this is done by a man with a grindstone, +but with the tooth it is performed automatically +and more pleasantly by the gnawing of +food. In the mastodon and elephant the tusks, +which are the representatives of the cutting +teeth of rodents, are wide apart, and of course +do not gnaw anything, but the presence of +these enamel bands hints at a time when they +and their owner were smaller and differently +shaped, and the teeth were used for cutting. +Thus, great though the disparity of size may +be, there is a suggestion that through the mastodon +the elephant is distantly related to the +mouse, and that, could we trace their respective +pedigrees far enough, we might find a common +ancestor.</p> + +<p>This presence of structures that are apparently +of no use, often worse than useless, is +regarded as the survival of characters that once +served some good purpose, like the familiar +buttons on the sleeve or at the back of a man's +coat, or the bows and ruffles on a woman's<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +dress. We are told that these are put on "to +make the dress look pretty," but the student +regards the bows as vestiges of the time when +there were no buttons and hooks and eyes had +not been invented, and dresses were tied together +with strings or ribbons. As for ruffles, +they took the place of flounces, and flounces +are vestiges of the time when a young woman +wore the greater part of her wardrobe on her +back, putting on one dress above another, the +bottoms of the skirts showing like so many +flounces. So buttons, ruffles, and the vermiform +appendix of which we hear so much all +fall in the category of vestigial structures.</p> + +<p>Where the mastodons originated, we know +not: Señor Ameghino thinks their ancestors +are to be found in Patagonia, and he is very +probably wrong; Professor Cope thought they +came from Asia, and he is probably right; or +they may have immigrated from the convenient +Antarctica, which is called up to account +for various facts in the distribution of animals.<a id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>During the past year, 1901, Mr. C. W. Andrews of the +British Museum has discovered in Egypt a small and primitive +species of mastodon, also the remains of another animal which he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +thinks may be the long sought ancestor of the elephant family, +which includes the mammoth and mastodon.</i></p></div> + +<p>Neither do we at present know just how many +species of mastodons there may have been in +the Western Hemisphere, for most of them are +known from scattered teeth, single jaws, and +odd bones, so that we cannot tell just what differences +may be due to sex or individual variation. +It is certain, however, that several distinct +kinds, or species, have inhabited various +parts of North America, while remains of others +occur in South America. <i>The</i> mastodon, however, +the one most recent in point of time, and +the best known because its remains are scattered +far and wide over pretty much the length +and breadth of the United States, and are +found also in southern and western Canada, +is the well-named <i>Mastodon americanus</i>,<a id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> and +unless otherwise specified this alone will be +meant when the name mastodon is used. In +some localities the mastodon seems to have +abounded, but between the Hudson and Connecticut +Rivers indications of its former pres<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>ence +are rare, and east of that they are practically +wanting. The best preserved specimens +come from Ulster and Orange Counties, New +York, for these seem to have furnished the +animal with the best facilities for getting mired. +Just west of the Catskills, parallel with the +valley of the Hudson, is a series of meadows, +bogs, and pools marking the sites of swamps +that came into existence after the recession of +the mighty ice-sheet that long covered eastern +North America, and in these many a mastodon, +seeking for food or water, or merely wallowing +in the mud, stuck fast and perished +miserably. And here to-day the spade of the +farmer as he sinks a ditch to drain what is left +of some beaver pond of bygone days, strikes +some bone as brown and rugged as a root, so +like a piece of water-soaked wood that nine +times out of ten it is taken for a fragment of +tree-trunk.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>This has also been called giganteus and ohioticus, but the +name americanus claims priority, and should therefore be used.</i></p></div> + +<p>The first notice of the mastodon in North +America goes back to 1712, and is found in a +letter from Cotton Mather to Dr. Woodward +(of England?) written at Boston on November +17th, in which he speaks of a large work in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +manuscript entitled <i>Biblia Americana</i>, and +gives as a sample a note on the passage in Genesis +(VI. 4) in which we read that "there +were giants in the earth in those days." We +are told that this is confirmed by "the bones +and teeth of some large animal found lately in +Albany, in New England, which for some +reason he thinks to be human; particularly a +tooth brought from the place where it was +found to New York in 1705, being a very large +grinder, weighing four pounds and three quarters; +with a bone supposed to be a thigh-bone, +seventeen feet long," the total length of the +body being taken as seventy-five feet. Thus +bones of the mastodon, as well as those of the +mammoth, have done duty as those of giants.</p> + +<p>And as the first mastodon remains recorded +from North America came from the region +west of the Hudson, so the first fairly complete +skeleton also came from that locality, +secured at a very considerable outlay of money +and a still more considerable expenditure of +labor by the exertions of C. W. Peale. This +specimen was described at some length by +Rembrandt Peale in a privately printed pamphlet,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +now unfortunately rare, and described +in some respects better than has been done by +any subsequent writer, since the points of difference +between various parts of the mastodon +and elephant were clearly pointed out. This +skeleton was exhibited in London, and afterwards +at Peale's Museum in Philadelphia +where, with much other valuable material, it +was destroyed by fire.</p> + +<p>Struck by the evident crushing power of the +great ridged molars, Peale was led to believe +that the mastodon was a creature of carnivorous +habits, and so described it, but this error +is excusable, the more that to this day, when +the mastodon is well known, and its description +published time and again in the daily papers, +finders of the teeth often consider them as belonging +to some huge beast of prey.</p> + +<p>Since the time of Peale several fine specimens +have been taken from Ulster and Orange +Counties, among them the well-known "Warren +Mastodon," and there is not the slightest +doubt that many more will be recovered from +the meadows, swamps, and pond holes of these +two counties.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_260.jpg" width="400" height="214" alt="" /> +Fig. 39.—The Missourium of Koch, from a Tracing of the Figure Illustrating +Koch's Description. +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> + +<p>The next mastodon to appear on the scene +was the so-called Missourium of Albert Koch, +which he constructed somewhat as he did the +Hydrarchus (see p. 61) of several individuals +pieced together, thus forming a skeleton that +was a monster in more ways than one. To +heighten the effect, the curved tusks were so +placed that they stood out at right angles to +the sides of the head, like the swords upon +the axles of ancient war chariots. Like Peale's +specimen this was exhibited in London, and +there it still remains, for, stripped of its superfluous +bones, and remounted, it may now be +seen in the British Museum.</p> + +<p>Many a mastodon has come to light since +the time of Koch, for while it is commonly +supposed that remains of the animal are great +rarities, as a matter of fact they are quite +common, and it may safely be said that during +the seasons of ditching, draining, and well-digging +not a week passes without one or more +mastodons being unearthed. Not that these +are complete skeletons, very far from it, the +majority of finds are scattered teeth, crumbling +tusks, or massive leg-bones, but still the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +mastodon is far commoner in the museums of +this country than is the African elephant, for +at the present date there are eleven of the +former to one of the latter, the single skeleton +of African elephant being that of Jumbo in +the American Museum of Natural History. +If one may judge by the abundance of bones, +mastodons must have been very numerous +in some favored localities such as parts of +Michigan, Florida, and Missouri and about +Big Bone Lick, Ky. Perhaps the most noteworthy +of all deposits is that at Kimmswick, +about twenty miles south of St. Louis, where +in a limited area Mr. L. W. Beehler has exhumed +bones representing several hundred +individuals, varying in size from a mere baby +mastodon up to the great tusker whose wornout +teeth proclaim that he had reached the +limit of even mastodonic old age. The spot +where this remarkable deposit was found is at +the foot of a bluff near the junction of two +little streams, and it seems probable that in +the days when these were larger the spring +floods swept down the bodies of animals that +had perished during the winter to ground in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +an eddy beneath the bluff. Or as the place +abounds in springs of sulphur and salt water +it may be that this was where the animals +assembled during cold weather, just as the +moas are believed to have gathered in the +swamps of New Zealand, and here the weaker +died and left their bones.</p> + +<p>The mastodon must have looked very much +like any other elephant, though a little shorter +in the legs and somewhat more heavily built +than either of the living species, while the +head was a trifle flatter and the jaw decidedly +longer. The tusks are a variable quantity, +sometimes merely bowing outwards, often +curving upwards to form a half circle; they +were never so long as the largest mammoth +tusks, but to make up for this they were a +shade stouter for their length. As the mastodon +ranged well to the north it is fair to suppose +that he may have been covered with long +hair, a supposition that seems to be borne out +by the discovery, noted by Rembrandt Peale, of +a mass of long, coarse, woolly hair buried in one +of the swamps of Ulster County, New York. +And with these facts in mind, aided by photographs +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +of various skeletons of mastodons, Mr. +Gleeson made the restoration which accompanies +this chapter.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_264.jpg" width="400" height="291" alt="" /> +Fig. 40.—The Mastodon. +<br /> +<i>From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson.</i> +</div> + +<p>As for the size of the mastodon, this, like +that of the mammoth, is popularly much over-estimated, +and it is more than doubtful if any +attained the height of a full-grown African +elephant. The largest femur, or thigh-bone, +that has come under the writer's notice was +one he measured as it lay in the earth at +Kimmswick, and this was just four feet long, +three inches shorter than the thigh-bone of +Jumbo. Several of the largest thigh-bones +measured show so striking an unanimity in +size, between 46 and 47 inches in length, that +we may be pretty sure they represent the average +old "bull" mastodon, and if we say that +these animals stood ten feet high we are +probably doing them full justice. An occasional +tusk reaches a length of ten feet, but +seven or eight is the usual size, with a diameter +of as many inches, and this is no larger than +the tusks of the African elephant would grow +if they had a chance. It is painful to be +obliged to scale down the mastodon as we have +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +just done the mammoth, but if any reader +knows of specimens larger than those noted, +he should by all means publish their measurements.<a id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> <i>As skeletons are sometimes mounted, they stand a full foot +or more higher at the shoulders than the animal stood in life, +this being caused by raising the body until the shoulder-blades +are far below the tips of the vertebræ, a position they never assume +in life.</i></p></div> + +<p>The disappearance of the mastodon is as difficult +to account for as that of the mammoth, +and, as will be noted, there is absolutely no +evidence to show that man had any hand in it. +Neither can it be ascribed to change of climate, +for the mastodon, as indicated by the wide distribution +of its bones, was apparently adapted +to a great diversity of climates, and was as +much at home amid the cool swamps of Michigan +and New York as on the warm savannas +of Florida and Louisiana. Certainly the much +used, and abused, glacial epoch cannot be held +accountable for the extermination of the creature, +for the mastodon came into New York +after the recession of the great ice-sheet, and +tarried to so late a date that bones buried in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>the swamps retain much of their animal matter. +So recent, comparatively speaking, has +been the disappearance of the mastodon, and +so fresh-looking are some of its bones, that +Thomas Jefferson thought in his day that it +might still be living in some part of the then +unexplored Northwest.</p> + +<p>It is a moot question whether or not man +and the mastodon were contemporaries in +North America, and while many there be who, +like the writer of these lines, believe that this +was the case, an expression of belief is not a +demonstration of fact. The best that can be +said is that there are scattered bits of testimony, +slight though they are, which seem to +point that way, but no one so strong by itself +that it could not be shaken by sharp cross-questioning +and enable man to prove an alibi +in a trial by jury. For example, in the great +bone deposit at Kimmswick, Mo., Mr. Beehler +found a flint arrowhead, but this may have lain +just over the bone-bearing layer, or have got +in by some accident in excavating. How easily +a mistake may be made is shown by the report +sent to the United States National Museum of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +many arrowheads associated with mastodon +bones in a spring at Afton, Indian Territory. +This spring was investigated, and a few mastodon +bones and flint arrowheads were found, +but the latter were in a stratum just above the +bones, although this was overlooked by the first +diggers.<a id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Koch reported finding charcoal and +arrowheads so associated with mastodon bones +that he inferred the animal to have been destroyed +by fire and arrows after it became +mired. It has been said that Koch could have +had no object in disseminating this report, and +hence that it may be credited, but he had just +as much interest in doing this as he did in fabricating +the Hydrarchus and the Missourium, +and his testimony is not to be considered seriously. +It seems to be with the mastodon +much as it is with the sea-serpent; the latter +never appears to a naturalist, remains of the +former are never found by a trained observer +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>associated with indications of the presence of +man. Perhaps an exception should be made +in the case of Professor J. M. Clarke, who +found fragments of charcoal in a deposit of +muck under some bones of mastodon.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> <i>This locality has just been carefully investigated by Mr. +W. H. Holmes of the United States National Museum who +found bones of the mastodon and Southern Mammoth associated +with arrowheads. But he also found fresh bones of bison, +horse, and wolf, showing that these and the arrowheads had +simply sunk to the level of the older deposit.</i></p></div> + +<p>We may pass by the so-called "Elephant +Mound," which to the eye of an unimaginative +observer looks as if it might have been intended +for any one of several beasts; also, with +bated breath and due respect for the bitter controversy +waged over them, pass we by the elephant +pipes. There remains, then, not a bit +of man's handiwork, not a piece of pottery, engraved +stone, or scratched bone that can <i>unhesitatingly</i> +be said to have been wrought into +the shape of an elephant before the coming of +the white man. True, there is "The Lenape +Stone," found near Doyleston, Pa., in 1872, +a gorget graven on one side with the representation +of men attacking an elephant, while the +other bears a number of figures of various animals. +The good faith of the finder of this +stone is unimpeachable, but it is a curious fact +that, while this gorget is elaborately decorated +on both sides, no similar stone, out of all that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +have been found, bears any image whatsoever. +On the other hand, if not made by the aborigines, +who made it, why was it made, and why +did nine years elapse between the discovery of +the first and second portions of the broken ornament? +These are questions the reader may +decide for himself; the author will only say +that to his mind the drawing is too elaborate, +and depicts entirely too much to have been +made by a primitive artist. A much better bit +of testimony seems to be presented by a fragment +of Fulgur shell found near Hollyoak, +Del., and now in the United States National +Museum, which bears a very rudely scratched +image of an animal that may have been intended +for a mastodon or a bison. This piece +of shell is undeniably old, but there is, unfortunately, +the uncertainty just mentioned as to +the animal depicted. The familiar legend of +the Big Buffalo that destroyed animals and +men and defied even the lightnings of the +Great Spirit has been thought by some to +have originated in a tradition of the mastodon +handed down from ancient times; but why +consider that the mastodon is meant? Why<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +not a legendary bison that has increased with +years of story-telling? And so the co-existence +of man and mastodon must rest as a case +of not proven, although there is a strong probability +that the two did live together in the +dim ages of the past, and some day the evidence +may come to light that will prove it beyond +a peradventure. If scientific men are +charged with obstinacy and unwarranted incredulity +in declining to accept the testimony +so far presented, it must be remembered that +the evidence as to the existence of the sea +serpent is far stronger, since it rests on the testimony +of eye-witnesses, and yet the creature +himself has never been seen by a trained observer, +nor has any specimen, not a scale, a +tooth, or a bone, ever made its way into any +museum.</p> + +<h3><i>REFERENCES</i></h3> + +<p><i>There are at least eleven mounted skeletons of the +Mastodon in the United States, and the writer trusts he +may be pardoned for mentioning only those which are +most accessible. These are in the American Museum of +Natural History, New York; the State Museum, Al<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>bany, N. Y.; +Field Columbian Museum, Chicago; Carnegie +Museum, Pittsburg; Museum of Comparative +Zoölogy, Cambridge, Mass. There is no mounted skeleton +in the United States National Museum, nor has there +ever been.</i></p> + +<p><i>The heaviest pair of tusks is in the possession of T. O. +Tuttle, Seneca, Mich., and they are nine and one-half +inches in diameter, and a little over eight feet long; +very few tusks, however, reach eight inches in diameter. +The thigh-bone of an old male mastodon measures from +forty-five to forty-six and one-half inches long, the humerus +from thirty-five to forty inches. The height of +the mounted skeleton is of little value as an indication of +size, since it depends so much upon the manner in which +the skeleton is mounted. The grinders of the mastodon +have three cross ridges, save the last, which has four, and +a final elevation, or heel. This does not apply to the +teeth of very young animals. The presence or absence +of the last grinder will show whether or not the animal is +of full age and size, while the amount of wear indicates +the comparative age of the specimen.</i></p> + +<p><i>The skeleton of the "Warren Mastodon" is described +at length by Dr. J. C. Warren, in a quarto volume entitled +"Mastodon Giganteus." There is much information +in a little book by J. P. MacLean, "Mastodon, +Mammoth, and Man," but the reader must not accept all +its statements unhesitatingly. The first volume, 1887,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +of the New Scribner's Magazine contains an article on +"American Elephant Myths," by Professor W. B. Scott, +but he is under an erroneous impression regarding the +size of the mastodon, and photographs of the Maya +carvings show that their resemblance to elephants has been +exaggerated in the wood cuts. The story of the Lenape +Stone is told at length by H. C. Mercer in "The Lenape +Stone, or the Indian and the Mammoth."</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/i_274.jpg" width="400" height="182" alt="" /> +Fig. 41.—The Lenape Stone, Reduced. +</div> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">[220]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<p class="h3">WHY DO ANIMALS BECOME EXTINCT?</p> + +<div class="inset18"> +<p> +"<i>And Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp<br /> +Abode his destined Hour and went his way.</i>"<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p>It is often asked "why do animals become extinct?" +but the question is one to which it is +impossible to give a comprehensive and satisfactory +reply; this chapter does not pretend +to do so, merely to present a few aspects of +this complicated, many-sided problem.</p> + +<p>In very many cases it may be said that actual +extermination has not taken place, but +that in the course of evolution one species has +passed into another; species may have been +lost, but the race, or phylum endures, just as +in the growth of a tree, the twigs and branches +of the sapling disappear, while the tree, as a +whole, grows onward and upward. This is +what we see in the horse, which is the living +representative of an unbroken line reaching<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +back to the little Eocene Hyracothere. So in +a general way it may be said that much of +what at the first glance we might term extinction +is really the replacement of one set of +animals by another better adapted to surrounding +conditions.</p> + +<p>Again, there are many cases of animals, and +particularly of large animals, so peculiar in +their make up, so very obviously adapted to +their own special surroundings that it requires +little imagination to see that it would have +been a difficult matter for them to have responded +to even a slight change in the world +about them. Such great and necessarily sluggish +brutes as Brontosaurus and Diplodocus, +with their tons of flesh, small heads, and feeble +teeth, were obviously reared in easy circumstances, +and unfitted to succeed in any strenuous +struggle for existence. Stegosaurus, with +his bizarre array of plates and spines, and huge-headed +Triceratops, had evidently carried specialization +to an extreme, while in turn the +carnivorous forms must have required an abundant +supply of slow and easily captured prey.</p> + +<p>Coming down to a more recent epoch, when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +the big Titanotheres flourished, it is easy to see +from a glance at their large, simple teeth +that these beasts needed an ample provision of +coarse vegetation, and as they seem never to +have spread far beyond their birthplace, climatic +change, modifying even a comparatively +limited area, would suffice to sweep them out +of existence. To use the epitaph proposed by +Professor Marsh for the tombstone of one of +the Dinosaurs, many a beast might say, "I, +and my race perished of over specialization." +To revert to the horse it will be remembered +that this very fate is believed to have overtaken +those almost horses the European Hippotheres; +they reached a point where no further progress +was possible, and fell by the wayside.</p> + +<p>There is, however, still another class of cases +where species, families, orders, even, seem to +have passed out of existence without sufficient +cause. Those great marine reptiles, the Ichthyosaurs, +of Europe, the Plesiosaurs and Mosasaurs, +of our own continent, seem to have +been just as well adapted to an aquatic life as +the whales, and even better than the seals, and +we can see no reason why Columbus should<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +not have found these creatures still disporting +themselves in the Gulf of Mexico. The best +we can do is to fall back on an unknown "law +of progress," and say that the trend of life is +toward the replacement of large, lower animals +by those smaller and intellectually higher.</p> + +<p>But <i>why</i> there should be an allotted course +to any group of animals, why some species +come to an end when they are seemingly as +well fitted to endure as others now living, we +do not know, and if we say that a time comes +when the germ-plasm is incapable of further +subdivision, we merely express our ignorance +in an unnecessary number of words. The +mammoth and mastodon have already been +cited as instances of animals that have unaccountably +become extinct, and these examples +are chosen from among many on account of +their striking nature. The great ground sloths, +the Mylodons, Megatheres, and their allies, are +another case in point. At one period or another +they reached from Oregon to Virginia, +Florida, and Patagonia, though it is not +claimed that they covered all this area at one +time. And, while it may be freely admitted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +that in some portions of their range they may +have been extirpated by a change in food-supply, +due in turn to a change in climate, it seems +preposterous to claim that there was not at all +times, somewhere in this vast expanse of territory, +a climate mild enough and a food-supply +large enough for the support of even these +huge, sluggish creatures. We may evoke the +aid of primitive man to account for the disappearance +of this race of giants, and we know +that the two were coeval in Patagonia, where +the sloths seem to have played the rôle of domesticated +animals, but again it seems incredible +that early man, with his flint-tipped spears +and arrows, should have been able to slay even +such slow beasts as these to the very last individual.</p> + +<p>Of course, in modern times man has directly +exterminated many animals, while by the introduction +of dogs, cats, pigs, and goats he has +indirectly not only thinned the ranks of animals, +but destroyed plant life on an enormous +scale. But in the past man's capabilities for +harm were infinitely less than now, while of +course the greatest changes took place before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +man even existed, so that, while he is responsible +for the great changes that have taken place +in the world's flora and fauna during recent +times, his influence, as a whole, has been insignificant. +Thus, while man exterminated the +great northern sea-cow, Rytina, and Pallas's +cormorant on the Commander Islands, these +animals were already restricted to this circumscribed +area<a id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> by natural causes, so that man +but finished what nature had begun. The extermination +of the great auk in European +waters was somewhat similar. There is, however, +this unfortunate difference between extermination +wrought by man and that brought +about by natural causes: the extermination of +species by nature is ordinarily slow, and the +place of one is taken by another, while the destruction +wrought by man is rapid, and the gaps +he creates remain unfilled.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>It is possible that the cormorant may always have been confined +to this one spot, but this is probably not the case with the +sea-cow.</i></p></div> + +<p>Not so very long ago it was customary to +account for changes in the past life of the +globe by earthquakes, volcanic outbursts, or +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>cataclysms of such appalling magnitude that +the whole face of nature was changed, and entire +races of living beings swept out of existence +at once. But it is now generally conceded +that while catastrophes have occurred, yet, vast +as they may have been, their effects were comparatively +local, and, while the life of a limited +region may have been ruthlessly blotted out, +life as a whole was but little affected. The +eruption of Krakatoa shook the earth to its centre +and was felt for hundreds of miles around, +yet, while it caused the death of thousands of +living beings, it remains to be shown that it +produced any effect on the life of the region +taken in its entirety.</p> + +<p>Changes in the life of the globe have been in +the main slow and gradual, and in response to +correspondingly slow changes in the level of +portions of the earth's crust, with their far-reaching +effects on temperature, climate, and +vegetation. Animals that were what is termed +plastic kept pace with the altering conditions +about them and became modified, too, while +those that could not adapt themselves to their +surroundings died out.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> + +<p>How slowly changes may take place is +shown by the occurrence of a depression in the +Isthmus of Panama, in comparatively recent +geologic time, permitting free communication +between the Atlantic and Pacific, a sort of natural +inter-oceanic canal. And yet the alterations +wrought by this were, so to speak, superficial, +affecting only some species of shore fishes +and invertebrates, having no influence on the +animals of the deeper waters. Again, on the +Pacific coast are now found a number of shells +that, as we learn from fossils, were in Pliocene +time common on both coasts of the United +States, and Mr. Dall interprets this to mean +that when this continent was rising, the steeper +shore on the Pacific side permitted the shell-fish +to move downward and adapt themselves to +the ever changing shore, while on the Atlantic +side the drying of a wide strip of level sea-bottom +in a relatively short time exterminated a +large proportion of the less active mollusks. +And in this instance "relatively short" means +positively long; for, compared to the rise of a +continent from the ocean's bed, the flow of a +glacier is the rapid rush of a mountain torrent.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, too, while a tendency to vary seems to +be inherent in animals, some appear to be vastly +more susceptible than others to outside influences, +to respond much more readily to any +change in the world about them. In fact, Professor +Cook has recently suggested that the inborn +tendency to variation is sufficient in itself +to account for evolution, this tendency being +either repressed or stimulated as external conditions +are stable or variable.</p> + +<p>The more uniform the surrounding conditions, +and the simpler the animal, the smaller +is the liability to change, and some animals +that dwell in the depths of the ocean, where +light and temperature vary little, if any, remain +at a standstill for long periods of time.</p> + +<p>The genus Lingula, a small shell, traces its +ancestry back nearly to the base of the Ordovician +system of rocks, an almost inconceivable +lapse of time, while one species of brachiopod +shell endures unchanged from the Trenton +Limestone to the Lower Carboniferous. In +the first case one species has been replaced by +another, so that the shell of to-day is not exactly +like its very remote ancestor, but that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +the type of shell should have remained unchanged +when so many other animals have +arisen, flourished for a time, and perished, +means that there was slight tendency to variation, +and that the surrounding conditions were +uniform. Says Professor Brooks, speaking of +Lingula: "The everlasting hills are the type of +venerable antiquity; but Lingula has seen the +continents grow up, and has maintained its integrity +unmoved by the convulsions which +have given the crust of the earth its present +form."</p> + +<p>Many instances of sudden but local extermination +might be adduced, but among them +that of the tile-fish is perhaps the most striking. +This fish, belonging to a tropical family +having its headquarters in the Gulf of Mexico, +was discovered in 1879 in moderately deep +water to the southward of Massachusetts and +on the edge of the Gulf Stream, where it was +taken in considerable numbers. In the spring +of 1882 vessels arriving at New York reported +having passed through great numbers of dead +and dying fishes, the water being thickly dotted +with them for miles. From samples brought<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +in, it was found that the majority of these were +tile-fish, while from the reports of various vessels +it was shown that the area covered by dead +fish amounted to somewhere between 5,000 +and 7,500 square miles, and the total number +of dead was estimated at not far from <i>a billion</i>. +This enormous and widespread destruction is +believed to have been caused by an unwonted +duration of northerly and easterly winds, which +drove the cold arctic current inshore and southwards, +chilling the warm belt in which the tile-fish +resided and killing all in that locality. It +was thought possible that the entire race might +have been destroyed, but, while none were +taken for many years, in 1899 and in 1900 a +number were caught, showing that the species +was beginning to reoccupy the waters from +which it had been driven years before.</p> + +<p>The effect of any great fall in temperature +on animals specially adapted to a warm climate +is also illustrated by the destruction of the +Manatees in the Sebastian River, Florida, by +the winter of 1894-95, which came very near +exterminating this species. Readers may remember +that this was the winter that wrought<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +such havoc with the blue-birds, while in the +vicinity of Washington, D. C., the fish-crows +died by hundreds, if not by thousands.</p> + +<p>Fishes may also be exterminated over large +areas by outbursts of poisonous gases from +submarine volcanoes, or more rarely by some +vast lava flood pouring into the sea and actually +cooking all living beings in the vicinity. And +in the past these outbreaks took place on a +much larger scale than now, and naturally +wrought more widespread destruction.</p> + +<p>A recent instance of local extermination is +the total destruction of a humming-bird, <i>Bellona +ornata</i>, peculiar to the island of St. Vincent, +by the West Indian hurricane of 1898, +but this is naturally extirpation on a very small +scale.</p> + +<p>Still, the problems of nature are so involved +that while local destruction is ordinarily of +little importance, or temporary in its effects, it +may lead to the annihilation of a species by +breaking a race of animals into isolated groups, +thereby leading to inbreeding and slow decline. +The European bison, now confined to a part of +Lithuania and a portion of the Caucasus, seems<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +to be slowly but surely approaching extinction +in spite of all efforts to preserve the race, and +no reason can be assigned for this save that the +small size of the herds has led to inbreeding +and general decadence.</p> + +<p>In other ways, too, local calamity may be +sweeping in its effects, and that is by the destruction +of animals that resort to one spot during +the breeding season, like the fur-seals and +some sea-birds, or pass the winter months in +great flocks or herds, as do the ducks and elk. +The supposed decimation of the Moas by severe +winters has been already discussed, and the +extermination of the great auk in European +waters was indirectly due to natural causes. +These birds bred on the small, almost inaccessible +island of Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, +and when, through volcanic disturbances, +this islet sank into the sea, the few birds were +forced to other quarters, and as these were, unfortunately, +easily reached, the birds were slain +to the last one.</p> + +<p>From the great local abundance of their remains, +it has been thought that the curious +short-legged Pliocene rhinoceros, <i>Aphelops fos<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>siger</i>, +was killed off in the West by blizzards +when the animals were gathered in their winter +quarters, and other long-extinct animals, +too, have been found under such conditions as +to suggest a similar fate.</p> + +<p>Among local catastrophes brought about by +unusually prolonged cold may be cited the +decimation of the fur-seal herds of the Pribilof +Islands in 1834 and 1859, when the breeding +seals were prevented from landing by the +presence of ice-floes, and perished by thousands. +Peculiar interest is attached to this +case, because the restriction of the northern +fur-seals to a few isolated, long undiscovered +islands, is believed to have been brought about +by their complete extermination in other localities +by prehistoric man. Had these two +seasons killed all the seals, it would have been +a reversal of the customary extermination by +man of a species reduced in numbers by nature.</p> + +<p>In the case of large animals another element +probably played a part. The larger the animal, +the fewer young, as a rule, does it bring +forth at a birth, the longer are the intervals +between births, and the slower the growth of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +the young. The loss of two or three broods +of sparrows or two or three litters of rabbits +makes comparatively little difference, as the +loss is soon supplied, but the death of the +young of the larger and higher mammals is a +more serious matter. A factor that has probably +played an important rôle in the extinction +of animals is the relation that exists between +various animals, and the relations that also +exist between animals and plants, so that the +existence of one is dependent on that of another. +Thus no group of living beings, plants +or animals, can be affected without in some +way affecting others, so that the injury or +destruction of some plant may result in serious +harm to some animal. Nearly everyone is +familiar with the classic example given by Darwin +of the effect of cats on the growth of red +clover. This plant is fertilized by bumble bees +only, and if the field mice, which destroy the +nests of the bees, were not kept in check by +cats, or other small carnivores, their increase +would lessen the numbers of the bees and this +in turn would cause a dearth of clover.</p> + +<p>The yuccas present a still more wonderful<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +example of the dependence of plants on animals, +for their existence hangs on that of a +small moth whose peculiar structure and habits +bring about the fertilization of the flower. +The two probably developed side by side until +their present state of inter-dependence was +reached, when the extinction of the one would +probably bring about that of the other.</p> + +<p>It is this inter-dependence of living things +that makes the outcome of any direct interference +with the natural order of things more +or less problematical, and sometimes brings +about results quite different from what were +expected or intended.</p> + +<p>The gamekeepers on the grouse moors of +Scotland systematically killed off all birds of +prey because they caught some of the grouse, +but this is believed to have caused far more +harm than good through permitting weak and +sickly birds, that would otherwise have fallen +a prey to hawks, to live and disseminate the +grouse distemper.</p> + +<p>The destruction of sheep by coyotes led the +State of California to place a bounty on the +heads of these animals, with the result that in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +eighteen months the State was called upon to +pay out $187,485. As a result of the war on +coyotes the animals on which they fed, notably +the rabbits, increased so enormously that in +turn a bounty was put on rabbits, the damage +these animals caused the fruit-growers being +greater than the losses among sheep-owners +from the depredations of coyotes. And so, +says Dr. Palmer, "In this remarkable case +of legislation a large bounty was offered by a +county in the interest of fruit-growers to counteract +the effects of a State bounty expended +mainly for the benefit of sheep-owners!"</p> + +<p>Professor Shaler, in noting the sudden disappearance +of such trees as the gums, magnolias, +and tulip poplars from the Miocene flora +of Europe has suggested that this may have +been due to the attacks, for a series of years, +of some insect enemy like the gipsy moth, and +the theory is worth considering, although it +must be looked upon as a possibility rather +than a probability. Still, anyone familiar with +the ravages of the gipsy moth in Massachusetts, +where the insect was introduced by accident, +can readily imagine what <i>might</i> have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +been the effect of some sudden increase in the +numbers of such a pest on the forests of the +past. Trees might resist the attacks of enemies +and the destruction of their leaves for +two or three years, but would be destroyed by +a few additional seasons of defoliation.</p> + +<p>Ordinarily the abnormal increase of any insect +is promptly followed by an increase in the +number of its enemies; the pest is killed off, +the destroyers die of starvation and nature's +balance is struck. But if by some accident, +such as two or three consecutive seasons of +wet, drought, or cold, the natural increase of +the enemies was checked, the balance of nature +would be temporarily destroyed and serious +harm done. That such accidents may occur +is familiar to us by the damage wrought in +Florida and other Southern States by the unwonted +severity of the winters of 1893, 1895, +and 1899.</p> + +<p>If any group of forest trees was destroyed in +the manner suggested by Professor Shaler, the +effects would be felt by various plants and animals. +In the first place, the insects that fed +on these trees would be forced to seek another<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +source of food and would be brought into a +silent struggle with forms already in possession, +while the destruction of one set of plants +would be to the advantage of those with which +they came into competition and to the disadvantage +of vegetation that was protected by +the shade. Finally, these changed conditions +would react in various ways on the smaller +birds and mammals, the general effect being, +to use a well-worn simile, like that of casting +a stone into a quiet pool and setting in motion +ripples that sooner or later reach to every part +of the margin.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to warn the reader +that for the most part this is purely conjectural, +for from the nature of the case it is bound +to be so. But it is one of the characteristics +of educated man that he wishes to know the +why and wherefore of everything, and is in a +condition of mental unhappiness until he has +at least formulated some theory which seems +to harmonize with the visible facts. And +from the few glimpses we get of the extinction +of animals from natural causes we must formulate +a theory to fit the continued extermination<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +that has been taking place ever since living +beings came into the world and were pitted +against one another and against their surroundings +in the silent and ceaseless struggle +for existence.</p> + +<p class="h3">THE END.</p> + +<hr class="chapter" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> +<h2><a id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<p class="h3"><i>The asterisk denotes that the animal or object is figured +on or opposite the page referred to.</i></p> + +<p> +Æpyornis, egg of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>,* <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<span class="in1">eggs found in swamps, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="in1">found floating, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">eggs used for bowls, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">origin of fable of Roc, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Alaskan Live Mammoth Story, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br /> +<br /> +Anomœpus tracks, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br /> +<br /> +Apteryx egg, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Archæopteryx, description of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br /> +<span class="in1">discovery of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">earliest known bird, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">specimens of, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>,* <a href="#Page_88">88</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">wing, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>,* <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Archelon, a great turtle, <a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Basilosaurus, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<span class="in1">See also Zeuglodon</span><br /> +<br /> +Beehler, L. W., <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br /> +<br /> +Birds, always clad in feathers, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<span class="in1">earliest, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[244]</span> +Birds, first intimation of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +<span class="in1">rarity of fossil, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">related to reptiles, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">wings of embryonic, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">with teeth, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Bison, European, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Books of reference, xix, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a><br /> +<br /> +Breeding of large animals, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +Brontornis, size of leg-bones, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<br /> +Brontosaurus, size of bones, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>,* <a href="#Page_97">97</a>,* <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br /> +<br /> +Brooks, W. K., on Lingula, <a href="#Page_229">229</a><br /> +<br /> +Buffalo legend, 2<a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /> +<br /> +Buttons as vestigial structures, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Carcharodon auriculatus, <a href="#Page_66">66</a><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">megalodon, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">estimated size, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Carson City footprints, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +Casts, how formed, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +Cats and clover, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br /> +<br /> +Cephalaspis, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Ceratosaurus, habits, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">skull, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Changes in Nature slow, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[245]</span> +Cheirotherium, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> +<br /> +Chlamydosaurus, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Claosaurus. See Thespesius<br /> +<br /> +Climate, changes in western United States, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +Clover and cats, <a href="#Page_234">234</a><br /> +<br /> +Cold, effects of, on animals, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +Cold winters, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Collecting fossils, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a><br /> +<br /> +Color of large land animals, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<span class="in1">of young animals, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Covering of extinct animals sometimes indicated, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Coyotes, effect of their destruction on fruit, <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Dall, W. H., theory as to extinction of mollusks, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +<br /> +Dinosaurs, bones of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a><br /> +<span class="in1">brain of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">collections of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">compared to marsupials, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">first discovered, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">food required by, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">hip-bones mistaken for shoulder-blade, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">Professor Marsh's epitaph for, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">range, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">recognized as new order of reptiles, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">related to ostrich and alligator, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">size of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">tracks, ascribed to birds, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[246]</span> +Dinotherium, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +<br /> +Diplodocus, estimated weight, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br /> +<span class="in1">supposed habits, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Egg of Æpyornis, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<br /> +<span class="in1">Apteryx, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Ostrich, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Moa, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Eggs, casts of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +<br /> +Elephant, size, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +<span class="in1">size of tusks, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Elephas ganesa, tusks, <a href="#Page_196">196</a><br /> +<br /> +Encrustations, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +Extermination. See Extinction<br /> +<br /> +Extinction, ascribed to great convulsions, <a href="#Page_225">225</a><br /> +<span class="in1">ascribed to primitive man, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Dinosaurs, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">local, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">by man, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Marine Reptiles, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">often unaccountable, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Pliocene rhinoceros, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">sometimes evolution, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Titanotheres, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Feathers, imprints of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Fishes, abundance of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br /> +<span class="in1">armored, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">collections of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">killed by cold, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">killed by volcanoes, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fish-crows, killed by cold, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[247]</span> +Flesh does not petrify, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Flightless birds, absent from Tasmania, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br /> +<span class="in1">present distribution, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">relation between flightlessness and size, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Folds and frills, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +<br /> +Footprints, collections of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a><br /> +<span class="in1">books on, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">See also under Tracks</span><br /> +<br /> +Fossil birds, rarity of, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Fossil man, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +Fossilization a slow process, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Fossils, conditions under which they are formed, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br /> +<span class="in1">collecting, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">definition of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">deformation of, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">impressions, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">not necessarily petrifactions, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">preparation of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">why they are not more common, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Fowls, muscles of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Frill of Triceratops, <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +<br /> +Fur-seals killed by ice-floes, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Gar pikes, destruction of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +Giant birds, reasons for distribution and flightlessness, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br /> +<br /> +Giant Moa, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br /> +<span class="in1">leg compared with that of horse, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Giant Sloth, domesticated by man, <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[248]</span> +<span class="in1">struggle between, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Giant Sloth, tracks at Carson City, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<br /> +Gilfort, Robert, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<br /> +Great Auk, extermination of, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +Grouse on Scotch moors, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Hawkins, B. W., restorations by, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br /> +<br /> +Hesperornis, description of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br /> +<span class="in1">impressions of feathers, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">position of legs, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Hippotherium, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br /> +<br /> +Hoactzin, habits of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Horn does not petrify, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Horse, abundant in Pleistocene time, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br /> +<span class="in1">books on, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of bronze age, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">collections of fossil, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">development of, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>,* <a href="#Page_175">175</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">differences between fossil and living, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">early domestication, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">evidence as to genealogy, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>-<a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">extra-toed, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">found in South America in <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Julius Cæsar, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">none found wild in historic times, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">Pliocene, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">possibility of existence in America up to the time of its discovery, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[249]</span> +<span class="in1">primitive, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Horse, sketched by primitive man, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth of, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">three-toed, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Humming-bird, exterminated by hurricane, <a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +<br /> +Hydrarchus, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Hyracotherium, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>,* <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Ichthyosaurs, silhouettes of, <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +<br /> +Iguanodons, found at Bernissart, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br /> +<br /> +Impressions of feathers, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +<span class="in1">of scales, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of skin, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Inbreeding, effects of, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +Information, sources of, xvi<br /> +<br /> +Innuits, habits, <a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Interdependence of animals and plants, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +<br /> +Ivory, fossil, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Jaw of Mosasaur, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>*<br /> +<span class="in1">of reptiles, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Killing of the Mammoth, story, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +Kimmswick, deposit of Mastodon bones, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +<br /> +Knight, Charles R., restorations by, xviii, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +<br /> +Koch's Hydrarchus, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>*<br /> +<span class="in1">Missourium, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>,* <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Leaves, impressions of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[250]</span> +Leg of Brontornis, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Leg of the Great Brontosaurus, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>*<br /> +<span class="in1">of Giant Moa, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">position in Hesperornis, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">position in ducks, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Lenape Stone, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Life, earliest traces of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br /> +<br /> +Lingula, antiquity of, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<span class="in1">Professor Brooks on, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Loricaria, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>*<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Mammoth, adapted to a cold climate, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<span class="in1">Alaskan Live, Story, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">believed to live underground, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">bones taken for those of giants, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">contemporary with man, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">derivation of name, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">description, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">discovery of entire specimens, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">distribution, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">drawn by early man, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">entire specimens obtainable, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">reasons for extermination, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">killing of the, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">literature on, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">misconception as to size, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">mounted skeleton, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">not now living, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">preservation of remains, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">skeletons in Alaska, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[251]</span><br /> +Mammoth, in Chicago Academy of Sciences, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +<span class="in1">at St. Petersburg, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">size, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">size of tusks, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth dredged in North Sea, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">tusks brought into market, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Man contemporary with Mammoth, <a href="#Page_189">189</a><br /> +<span class="in1">fossil, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Guadeloupe, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Manatees killed by cold, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Marsh, Prof. O. C., collection of fossil horses, <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +<span class="in1">on Dinosaurs, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">on toothed birds, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mastodon, bones taken for those of giants, <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<span class="in1">thought to be carnivorous, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">covering, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">description, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">distribution, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">extinction, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">literature, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">and man, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">first noticed in America, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">origin unknown, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">remains abundant, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">remains in Ulster and Orange counties, New York, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[252]</span><br /> +Mastodon, size, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br /> +<span class="in1">skeletons on exhibition, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">species, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>,* <a href="#Page_218">218</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">tusks, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mesohippus, <a href="#Page_167">167</a><br /> +<br /> +Mimicry, not conscious, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +Missourium of Koch, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>,* <a href="#Page_208">208</a><br /> +<br /> +Moas, collections of, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +<span class="in1">contemporary with man, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">deductions from distribution, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">destruction of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">discovery of bones, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">elephant-footed, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">feathers of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">Giant, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">supposed food of, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">legends of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">literature, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">scientific names, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">size of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">species of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Moloch, an Australian lizard, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Mosasaurs, abundance of, in Kansas, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +<span class="in1">books on, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">collections of, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">extinction of, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">first discovery, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">jaw of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[253]</span><br /> +Mosasaurs, range of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">size of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Mylodon tracks at Carson City, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Names, scientific, reasons for using, xvi, xvii<br /> +<br /> +Nature, balance of, <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +<br /> +Nuts, fossil, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Oldest animals, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /> +<span class="in1">vertebrates, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Ostrich egg, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +<br /> +Over-specialization, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Peale, C. W., <a href="#Page_205">205</a><br /> +<br /> +Peale, Rembrandt, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a><br /> +<br /> +Pelican, mandible, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> +<br /> +Penguins, depend on fat for warmth, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<span class="in1">feathers highly modified, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">swim with wings, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Petrified bodies, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Phororhacos, description of, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +<span class="in1">mistaken for mammal, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">Patagonian bird, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">related to heron family, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, frontispiece</span><br /> +<span class="in1">skull, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Protohippus, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> +<br /> +<span class="pagenum">[254]</span> +Pteraspis, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br /> +<br /> +Pterichthys, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>*<br /> +<span class="in1">mistaken for crab, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Pterodactyls, impressions of wings, <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +<span class="in1">from Kansas, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">wing, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Pycraft, W. P., restoration of Archæopteryx, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Radiolarians, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>*<br /> +<br /> +Reconstruction of animals, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<br /> +Reptiles, fasting powers of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +<span class="in1">growth throughout life, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">jaws, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Restorations, xviii<br /> +<span class="in1">Archæopteryx, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Ceratosaurus, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Hesperornis, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Mammoth, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Mastodon, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Phororhacos, frontispiece</span><br /> +<span class="in1">progress in, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">Stegosaurus, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Thespesius, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Triceratops, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">Tylosaurus, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Reversion of fancy stock, <a href="#Page_171">171</a><br /> +<br /> +Rhinoceros, exterminated by cold, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +Roc, legend of, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a><br /> +<br /> +Rocks, thickness of sedimentary, <a href="#Page_20">20</a><br /> +<br /> +Ruffles on dresses, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[255]</span><br /> +<br /> +Schuchert, Charles, on collecting fossils, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<span class="in1">collector of Zeuglodon bones, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Seals, covering of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +<br /> +Sea-serpent, belief in, <a href="#Page_56">56</a><br /> +<span class="in1">possibility of existence, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Shaler, Professor, on changes in Miocene flora of Europe, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br /> +<br /> +Sharks, early, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br /> +<span class="in1">Great-toothed, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">known from spines and teeth, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">Port Jackson, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">White, or Man-Eater, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Skeleton, basis of all restorations, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +<span class="in1">best testimony of animal's relationships, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">information to be derived from, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">a problem in mechanics, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">reconstruction of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">relation of, to exterior of animal, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Triceratops, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>,* <a href="#Page_121">121</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Spines and plates, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +<br /> +Stegosaurus, description of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration of, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Survival of the fittest, <a href="#Page_173">173</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Teeth, birds with, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br /> +<span class="in1">of gnawing animals, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of grass-eaters, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[256]</span><br /> +Teeth, of horse, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +<span class="in1">of mammoth, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">of mastodon, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">of sharks, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Thespesius, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Thespesius, abundance of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +<span class="in1">brain of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">(Same as Claosaurus)</span><br /> +<span class="in1">engulfed in quicksand, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">impressions of skin, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">at Yale, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Tiger, preying on reindeer, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +<br /> +Tile-fish, destruction of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +<br /> +Titanichthys, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br /> +<br /> +Toothed birds, collections of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<span class="in1">discovery of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Townsend C. H., <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_192">192</a><br /> +<br /> +Tracks, ascribed to birds, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br /> +<span class="in1">ascribed to giants, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">animals known from, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">collections of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Connecticut Valley, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">deductions from, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">of Dinosaurs, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>,* <a href="#Page_40">40</a>,* <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">discovery in England and America, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">how formed, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">at Hastings, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[257]</span><br /> +Tracks, of Mylodon, <a href="#Page_46">46</a><br /> +<span class="in1">of worms, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Triceratops, brain, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +<span class="in1">broken horn, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">description, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">restoration, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>*</span><br /> +<span class="in1">skeleton, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>*</span><br /> +<br /> +Tufa, <a href="#Page_14">14</a><br /> +<br /> +Tukeman, killing of the Mammoth, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Variation in animals, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +<br /> +Vertebrates, oldest, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br /> +<br /> +Vestigial structures, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Volcanic outbursts, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Webster, F. S., on destruction of gar pikes, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br /> +<br /> +White, C. A., on the nature and uses of fossils, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br /> +<br /> +White Shark, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br /> +<br /> +Wings, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>,* <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br /> +<span class="in1">of embryonic birds, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></span><br /> +<br /> +Wood, fossil, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br /> +<br /> +Worm trails, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Yucca, fertilization, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +Zeuglodon, abundance of remains, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +<span class="in1">same as Basilosaurus</span><br /> +<span class="in1">description, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">habits, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum">[258]</span><br /> +Zeuglodon, Koch's restoration, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +<span class="in1">name, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">once numerous, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">size, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">specimen of, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">structure of bones, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></span><br /> +<span class="in1">teeth, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>*</span><br /> +</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Animals of the Past, by Frederic A. 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