diff options
| author | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-06-16 05:45:01 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | www-data <www-data@mail.pglaf.org> | 2026-06-16 05:45:01 -0700 |
| commit | 0ac74b6a77ca61c8d38abcb4c1d14aa6a9f83698 (patch) | |
| tree | 29f40842b0d06ed570cf5a551816f2f2e1a69182 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 13 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-0.txt | 1447 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/78879-h.htm | 2470 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 335884 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p08.jpg | bin | 0 -> 238922 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p10.jpg | bin | 0 -> 204370 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p12.jpg | bin | 0 -> 251512 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p13.jpg | bin | 0 -> 254499 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p17.jpg | bin | 0 -> 259049 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p24.jpg | bin | 0 -> 257640 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p26.jpg | bin | 0 -> 257030 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p29.jpg | bin | 0 -> 217847 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p32.jpg | bin | 0 -> 261673 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p36.jpg | bin | 0 -> 257089 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p39.jpg | bin | 0 -> 259317 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p45.jpg | bin | 0 -> 259132 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p47.jpg | bin | 0 -> 259206 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 78879-h/images/p63.jpg | bin | 0 -> 255646 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 1 |
20 files changed, 3942 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f57f44 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,13 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text +*.htm text +*.html text +*.png binary +*.jpg binary +*.svg text +*.pdf binary +*.bmp binary +*.zip binary +*.midi binary +*.mp3 binary diff --git a/78879-0.txt b/78879-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dba7e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1447 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78879 *** + + + + + TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. 274 + Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius + + Animals of Ancient + Lands + + Carroll Lane Fenton + + Author of “Animals of Ancient Seas,” + “The Building of the Earth,” + “A History of Evolution,” Etc. + + HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY + GIRARD, KANSAS + + + + + Copyright, 1922, + Haldeman-Julius Company. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + Page + Fig. 1 8 + Fig. 2 10 + Plate I. 12 + Plate II. 13 + Plate III. 17 + Plate IV. 24 + Plate V. 26 + Plate VI. 29 + Plate VII. 32 + Plate VIII. 36 + Plate IX. 39 + Plate X. 45 + Plate XI. 47 + Plate XII. 63 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +This volume of the evolution series of the pocket library is, like its +predecessors, an expansion of a lecture which the author has frequently +given before popular audiences. It differs from its immediate +predecessor in that it is more loosely planned, and less obviously +designed to instruct. Geologic tables and explanations have been +omitted entirely; these the reader can secure from the volume in this +Series (No. 47) entitled “Animals of Ancient Seas,” while something +about fossils and their origin is given in the first chapter of “The +Building of the Earth.” (No. 275.) + +The lecturer is more fortunate than the writer in that his +illustrations are more numerous; indeed, a good stereopticon lecture +need be little more than a collection of beautiful and accurate slides +interestingly described. However, the publishers have been generous +in the number of illustrations used in these booklets, so that the +difficulty is in a measure overcome. + +It remains for me to acknowledge my indebtedness to the various +authors and articles mentioned in the text and in notes. Dr. Lucas’ +excellent and interesting book, “Animals of the Past,” has afforded in +a concise form much information that otherwise could have come only +from scattered technical papers. The article by Dr. Case has furnished +the base for the entire first chapter, much of the material being +reproduced with but the slightest changes in wording and arrangement, +with the omission of some technical data. Professor Case’s position as +our principal authority on Permian vertebrates gives this chapter a +reliability that could not be achieved by a second-hand re-writing of +material from his larger and more detailed monographs. + + C. L. F. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE FIRST LAND DWELLERS. + + +In the first book of this series, “Animals of Ancient Seas,” (No. +47) we followed the evolution of animal life from the most primitive +one-celled creatures to the fishes, and from the most primitive +fishes to those which possessed lung-like organs that enabled them +to breathe from air as well as water. The next stage in evolution +was the development of feet and legs from the fish fin, and this was +accomplished before the end of that geologic period known as the +Devonian, or more commonly, as the “Age of Fishes.” True, no actual +remains have been found, but one fortunate collector succeeded in +getting out a fossil footprint, which is all that is needed to prove +the case. This footprint was made by an animal that looked much like +the mud puppy, or salamander, of modern streams and lakes, and was +related also to the frogs and toads. Like these creatures, he spent the +early part of his life in water, breathing with gills, and possessing +a more or less fish-like form, while in his maturity he lived at +least partly on land, and breathed by means of lungs. This type of +development, almost universal among his class, has gained for them the +name of Amphibians, or “double livers.” + +During those periods which are correctly known as the Mississippian +and Pennsylvanian, but which are more commonly grouped under the one +name Carboniferous, the amphibians increased in variety, and gave +rise to a new and immensely important group of animals, the Reptiles. +Since everyone knows the general characters of this group, we shall +not take the trouble to define them. The important thing about them, +so far as evolution is concerned is that they are capable of living +on land throughout their whole lives, not even the eggs having to be +deposited in water. This, as can readily be seen, is a very fundamental +character, for as long as animals were confined to water during their +earliest stages, great progress was quite impossible. Imagine what a +state humanity would be in if every child had to begin life in some +brook, lake, or pond, and could not emerge from the water until it was +fifteen to twenty years old! + +Unfortunately for our knowledge of life in the past, fossils of both +amphibians and reptiles are by no means common in the Carboniferous +systems. It was not until the times of coal deposition were almost +past, and great mountains and broad plains were taking the place of +shallow seas and sombre swamps, that land dwelling animals became +really abundant. This appearance of dry land was not only the cause of +the development of the wonderful array of animals that inhabited the +Permian world, but also the reason why so few of them are preserved +as fossils, for it is only when the bones of animals become buried in +water-soaked layers of sediment, or covered by water, that they are +readily petrified. An animal that dies and remains exposed to the +open air stands very little chance of becoming a fossil; its bones are +gnawed by carrion feeders, worn by the wind, and broken up by decay. +Thus of the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of buffalo, cattle, +antelope, and elk whose carcasses have dotted the plains of this +continent in the past half century there remain but a few rotten and +frost-split horns and bones. Without question there are, in the muddy +banks and bars of rivers, skeletons and parts of skeletons that are +undergoing the slow process of petrification, and that will be dug up +and treasured in the museums of some future civilization. And just as +the record of animal life of today will be but a fragment of that which +actually exists, so the record of the great land fauna of the Permian +period is but the merest trace of the myriad creatures of that time. It +is only in the most exceptional places that great quantities of bones +were brought together under conditions favorable to fossilization, and +such a district is found in northern Texas. + +“When the Appalachian Mountains were raised, an extension of their +southern end reached across what are now Arkansas and Oklahoma, +terminating in the Wichita Mountains.... North of this range rose a +broad upland, reaching from the Rockies to the Appalachians and to +the Canadian line on the north; south of the mountains a shallow sea +reached nearly to their base, and some great rivers from the mountains +and uplands poured their flood waters into the sea and built up a +great delta. The remains of animals which haunted the banks of the +rivers were swept into them in time of flood and carried out to be +deposited in the delta, which covered most of what is now Wichita, +Archer, Wilbarger counties in the State of Texas. Naturally, most +of the remains which found their way into the streams were already +fragmentary, as they had rotted on the banks, and had been torn by +predatory animals, but in their course to the sea they were still +further disintegrated so that, rolled by the waters and beaten by +the waves, they sank to their burial as little more than water-worn +fragments; ends of limb bones, isolated vertebrae, and broken skulls, +which do little more than tantalize the student with the hints of new +forms and new relationships that can not be verified. In some places +these water-worn fragments are so thick upon the ground that they +literally can be shoveled up by the wagon load. In some instances +the bodies of animals found their way unharmed into the water and, +distended by the gases of decomposition, floated far and uninjured +until they came to rest on some mud flat beyond the reach of sharks +or other predatory animals. Such skeletons are preserved entire with +most remarkable perfection, but they are exceedingly rare, and it is +a fortunate collector who turns up even one in the course of a whole +season of search.”[1] + +[Illustration: FIG. 1 + +Cacops, a remarkable Permian amphibian.] + +Among the most remarkable of the animals found in the stratified rocks +of this ancient delta are the amphibians. During the preceding ages, +as we have seen, they were the masters of the continental world--the +largest and most progressive of land dwellers. But by the time of +the Permian they were on the downward road which was to lead them, +not to extinction, but to the obscure positions of toads, frogs +and salamanders. But this decline did not come at once, and with +overwhelming completeness; the early amphibians did not yield tamely to +the fate of old age. During the Permian, and the succeeding age, the +Triassic, there lived some of the largest and strangest amphibians that +the world has known. Some of them returned to the water and developed +eel-like bodies with enormous, arrow-like heads; some lived in trees, +where their remains have been found by geologists studying coal +deposits; others protected themselves by armor and crawled about more +or less unmolested, while not a few even went so far as to take refuge +in the ground. + +The giant among all amphibians was Eryops, of the Permian, with a +length of about eight feet. He looked somewhat like an immensely +overgrown salamander with flabby sprawling legs that were incapable of +lifting his body from the ground except by the greatest effort. His +skull was from two to two and a half feet in length, and looked like +that of a gigantic frog, the jaws were equipped with sharp, cone-shaped +teeth and sharp, powerful tusks. Evidently Eryops held about the same +position in Permian swamps of Texas as the alligator does in the +Georgia bayous of today, lying near the surface of the water with only +its eyes and nostrils exposed until the approach of a victim stirred it +to movement. + +Sharply contrasted with the giant Eryops, and doubtless often its +victim, was the unique Diplocaulus. The head of this amphibian was +the form of a rather angular crescent, with strong spines directed to +the rear, and protected by heavy armor. The eyes and nostrils were +directed straight upward, and situated at the forward end of the skull. +The body, remarkably enough, was long, thin, and eel-like, with only +rudimentary limb bones, and delicate ribs. Probably the animal spent +its entire life in the water, wriggling along and pushing its enormous +head before it along the slimy bottom. Perhaps, when attacked from +above, Diplocaulus was thrown into a frenzy of energy that lifted his +heavy, armored head above the bottom, and thrashed it about in the +water, but anything like swimming must have been quite beyond his power. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2 + +Diplocaulus, the most bizarre amphibian known.] + +But, bizarre though the amphibians of this Permian deposit are, they +are exceeded by the reptiles. These creatures, as we have seen, made +their appearance in the Pennsylvanian, or late “Carboniferous,” and +already, in the very beginning of their history, they showed an +astonishing diversity of form and habit. There were reptiles that +lived in the water, and reptiles that lived on dry land; reptiles that +ate flesh, reptiles that ate plants, and reptiles that ate both. Some +of them were extremely primitive, closely resembling their amphibian +ancestors, while others were like nothing that has lived either before +or since. + +The simplest of the flesh-eating reptiles were aquatic, living in the +waters of swamps and rivers, and perhaps even in the sea. Their bodies +and tails were long and slender; their teeth were simple, cone-shaped +affairs of almost equal size throughout the entire length of the jaw. +Such a dentition indicates that the reptiles possessing it preyed upon +small animals which they did not have to tear to pieces; they merely +seized their food and swallowed it, leaving the entire process of +digestion to the internal organs, just as do the snakes of today. The +upper portions--called dorsal spines--of the backbones in these forms +were short, as they are in most lizards, and did not project through +the skin. + +In other, and somewhat higher reptiles, the teeth appear to be +differentiated, those at the forward ends of both jaws being enlarged +to form tusks, while the posterior ones are flattened, so that cutting +edges are developed that would cut the prey and assist materially in +its capture. In some of these same forms the dorsal spines of the +backbones are very high, and project above the back as does the fin of +a fish. + +In Dimetrodon, the last of the series of spiny backed, carnivorous +reptiles, these characters reached their culmination. The incisor and +canine tusks attained an enormous length and strength, projecting +from the jaws as much as three inches. The notch back of the incisors +is large and deep, and the posterior teeth of both jaws are recurved +and have sharp, serrated edges so that they must have had all of the +cutting power of a Malay knife or _kris_. A more effective set of +weapons for the cruel business of capturing prey and holding it despite +its desperate, agonized struggles hardly could be conceived. At the +same time, the spines on the back developed to an enormous length, +and in some species tapered with the delicacy of a whip lash. The tail +was short and strong, and the feet armed with well-developed claws, +all of which go to show that the animal was purely land dwelling in +habit. Dimetrodon reached lengths of more than eight feet, and was by +all odds the largest and most powerful creature of his day. We can +imagine him crouching in the bushes or tall grasses by the side of some +stream, watching for other reptiles that come to quench their thirst, +and making a fierce, scuttling rush upon his prey. Most often, perhaps, +this was another reptile, but the ponderous, slow-moving amphibians +also must have suffered from the attack of the powerful Dimetrodon. +There is ample evidence that these animals often waged fierce battles +among themselves, for it is common to find bones which have been broken +during life and healed again, telling of furious reptilian contests +for mates or territory, or perhaps with the single brute idea of a +cannibalistic meal. + +[Illustration: PLATE I. + +Restoration of Dimetrodon, the largest animal of the Permian lands.] + +[Illustration: PLATE II. + +Naosaurus (Edaphosaurus), the profusely spined mud-grubber. (After +Case.)] + +But a more wonderful animal still has left its remains among the rocks +of this delta. Like Dimetrodon, it possessed high spines on the back, +but instead of being simple and tapering, they were furnished with +projecting processes on either side, much like the yard arms of old +fashioned sailing ships. This resemblance led Cope, a pioneer American +paleontologist, to call the animal Naosaurus, or “Ship Lizard.” But in +spite of his fierce appearance, Naosaurus was totally unlike Dimetrodon +in habit, being a peaceful, sluggish eater of shellfish, and perhaps +of plants. This animal probably has the most remarkable dentition of +any creature known. The incisor teeth are chisel-like, as though +useful in cutting strong, coarse vegetation; behind them are five +triangular teeth not unlike those of such flesh-eaters as the lion +and tiger; behind these are simple cones, like those of the primitive +lizards. But, most wonderful of all, on both the palate and the +corresponding portion of the lower jaw are heavy plates of bone covered +by short, stumpy teeth, such as occur in the jaws of those fish which +live upon shellfish. Seemingly, therefore, the animal ate all sorts of +food, but instead of having a generalized pattern of teeth like the pig +or man, it possessed a separate set for each type of diet. + +The discovery that Naosaurus was an eater of plants and molluscs, and +not a predatory form, makes more perplexing than ever the question as +to the use of the spines on the back. On such a thick-bodied, sluggish +mud-grubber the cross-barred spines must have had about the same value +as an ornamental frieze on a canal boat. What conditions of environment +could have produced similar structures on creatures of such dissimilar +habits as Dimetrodon and Naosaurus? + +The structure of the animal shows that these spines were not covered by +flesh, but by a thin membrane of skin, through which the spines showed +as plainly as the rays in the fin of a fish. It is hard to conceive +of this great dorsal frill as being anything but a hindrance to both +pursuer and pursued. Cope suggested, in a spirit of fun, that these +animals were the natural precursors of the modern fin-keeled yacht, +and that when they wished to navigate the Permian waters they swam +upon their backs. Other authors have made other suggestions of about +the same note, but few have been able to make any serious contribution +on the subject. The obvious suggestion is that the spines served as +some form of protective mimicry, helping the animal to remain concealed +among the reeds which bordered the lakes or streams. But this seems +hardly necessary in an animal that was the dominant form of its time +and needed no concealment unless as an aid to lying in wait or making +an unseen approach until sufficiently near for its final rush upon +its unsuspecting prey. This last, is perhaps, a fair suggestion, but +it seems that the burden of maintaining such a weak structure must +have far outweighed any advantage of concealment. The spines were +slender and were constantly being broken in battle and by accident, and +the animal must have expended no inconsiderable amount of energy in +repairing the damaged structure. + +There remains the suggestion that the spines were remnants of a +formerly useful structure, and that their mature condition was purely +due to overgrowth. It seems certain that when a structure has developed +so far as to give an animal a distinct advantage it may continue +to grow until it is a burden rather than a help. Thus the spines, +originating as a protective feature, may have given their possessors +such a decided advantage that they were almost free from attack. In +this stage they may have become over-nourished, and have continued +growing by a sort of inertia or momentum until they reached their +greatly exaggerated development.[2] Furthermore, there is a tendency, +both in plants and in animals, for a species nearing its extinction +to develop a spiny or horny habit. This we saw in the invertebrates, +among the aging Cephalopods, and it is quite conceivable that a similar +state of affair prevails among these reptiles. For Dimetrodon and +Naosaurus,[3] dominant though they were, were nearing the end of their +life cycle. In their senile aberrations they carried the development +of spines to greater and greater lengths, until, in their declining +strength they were unable to maintain their species, and so disappeared +from the earth. + +[Illustration: PLATE III. + +Permian vertebrates, restored by Williston and others. 1-3 are +reptiles, while 4 is an amphibian.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Case, E. C., “A Great Permian Delta and its Vertebrate Life,” Pop. +Sci. Monthly, Dec. 1908. This quotation is somewhat paraphrased, while +the remainder of this chapter is based very largely on the article. + +[2] Paraphrased from Case, Loc. Cit. + +[3] A relatively recent discovery, made by Dr. Case, shows that the +name Naosaurus must be dropped, being replaced by the earlier name +Edaphosaurus. The former name, however, is the commoner, as well as the +more descriptive. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE DINOSAURS. + + +The continent of North America during that portion of the earth’s +history which we may call the Age of Reptiles would have seemed to our +eyes like another world. The present coastal outlines, mountain chains, +valleys, rivers, lakes, and plains have, with few exceptions, come +into being long since that time. During the early part[4] of the age +there were high mountains in the eastern part of the continent, which +sent strong, muddy streams flowing to the Atlantic. California, on the +other hand, was under the Pacific; the Sierra Nevada region was a great +trough, while throughout that region which is now eastern Colorado, +Utah, western Texas, and Arizona there lay a belt of broad, shallow +lakes. + +The plant life of those times differed as much from that of previous +ages as from those that were to follow. The great Pennsylvanian coal +forests of lepidodendrons, sigillarias, and their allies, had almost +completely vanished from the earth. The higher lands were clothed with +cone-bearers, such as the Aurucarian pines of present day Australia. +Thick, gloomy forests of tree ferns covered the moist regions, while +great “canebrakes” of horsetail reeds whose stems reached four or five +inches in thickness bordered the bayous and marshes. Cycads, trees +which, though related to the pines and spruces, look like palms, were +abundant in the forests of this time. + +During the middle portion of the Age of Reptiles conditions, both in +geography and in plant life, underwent no striking change. But in the +late Mesozoic, the Cretaceous period, there were many changes. The +Atlantic Ocean encroached on the eastern part of the continent, while +the Gulf of Mexico extended as far north as Illinois, and reached +westward over Texas. A broad mediterranean sea stretched from the Gulf +to the Arctic Ocean, and from Iowa to Utah, with the Colorado Mountains +rising from it as a chain of islands. West of the sea was a broad belt +of swamp land which extended from northern Alberta almost to Mexico. + +The plants of the Cretaceous changed with the geography. The Cycads, +so abundant in the early Mesozoic, became rare in most regions. The +highest types of flowering plants gained an almost complete ascendancy, +and forests of a decidedly modern appearance covered the continent from +the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. “Among the kinds of forest +trees whose remains are found in the continental deposits of the +Cretaceous are the magnolia, the myrtle, the laurel, the fig, the tulip +tree, the chestnut, the oak, beech, elm, poplar, willow, birch and +maple. Forests of Eucalyptus grew along the coast of New England,[5] +and palms on the Pacific shores of British Columbia. Sequoias of many +varieties ranged far into northern Canada. In northern Greenland there +were luxuriant forests of magnolias, figs, and cycads; and a similar +flora has been disinterred from the Cretaceous rocks of Alaska and +Spitsbergen. Evidently the lands within the Arctic Circle enjoyed +a warm and genial climate, as they had done during the Paleozoic. +Greenland had the temperature of Cuba and southern Florida, and the +time was yet far distant when it was to be wrapped in glacier ice.”[6] + +Such were the conditions under which flourished the mightiest race of +animals that has ever lived upon land. The Dinosaurs not only were the +dominant animals of their time, but they reached sizes so great that +they have been rivalled by but one group of mammals--the whales. They +maintained their supremacy throughout a long period of time estimated +at from nine to one hundred millions of years; they survived important +changes in geography and climate, and became extinct through a +combination of causes which are yet only half known. Perhaps the great +changes in life conditions at the end of the Cretaceous had much to do +with their disappearance, as may also have been true of other reptiles +living at the same time. Not improbably, too, the rise of egg-eating +mammals, more intelligent and active than the dinosaurs, was a factor; +and last of all, there remains the ever ready and ever probable +hypothesis of racial old age. + +The Dinosaurs were descended, in the opinion of those who have studied +them, from primitive, lizard-like reptiles with fairly long limbs, long +tails, five toes on each foot, and a complete series of sharp pointed +teeth. In all probability, according to Dr. W. D. Matthew,[7] this +ancestor was fully capable of living on dry land, and was more or less +in the habit of walking on its hind legs alone. + +One of the most striking things about the Dinosaurs is their notable +lack of brain power. In man, a creature weighing anywhere from one +hundred twenty to two hundred pounds, on the average, the weight of a +normal brain is about three pounds. The smallest brain that can exist +and possess reasoning powers is about two pounds, while the smallest +human brain known to be fitted for life alone weighs just a little more +than ten ounces. + +We can readily see that if conditions were proportionate among +the Dinosaurs the size of the brain would be almost unbelievable. +Instead, the reptile Claosaurus, which once inhabited the valleys of +Maryland, and was twenty-five feet long and more than twelve feet +high, had a brain so small that it must have weighed less than one +pound. Brachiosaurus, probably the biggest beast that ever walked, +was not much better equipped, while Triceratops, a Dinosaur having +more than twice the bulk of the average elephant, possessed a brain +weighing about two pounds. Truly they who are prone to refer to the +“brainlessness” of human beings should consider the Dinosaurs before +they speak! These great beasts must have known just about enough to +rest when they were tired and eat when they were hungry; “coming in out +of the rain” doubtless was an idea altogether too complicated for them +to grasp. + +But, as Lucas and others have emphasized, intelligence is one thing and +living another and a very different one. The poor, weak brains of the +Dinosaurs doubtless had but little to do with the primary functions +of life; the spinal cord took care of them. In some of the beasts, +notably in the armored giant Stegosaurus, the spinal cord possessed +a sacral enlargement that was twenty times as large as the brain. +This remarkable fact, when announced by Professor Marsh, attracted +great attention, and was made the subject of much newspaper writing. +Thousands of people who would never recognize the name Stegosaur are +familiar with the marvelous character of that beast as he is described +in this catchy though fanciful poem: + +[Illustration: PLATE IV. + +The armored giant Stegosaurus.] + + +THE DINOSAUR. + + Behold the mighty dinosaur, + Famous in prehistoric lore, + Not only for his weight and strength + But for his intellectual length. + You will observe by these remains + The creature had two sets of brains-- + One in his head (the usual place), + The other at his spinal base. + Thus he could reason a priori + As well as a posteriori. + No problem bothered him a bit: + He made both head and tail of it. + So wise he was, so wise and solemn, + Each thought just filled a spinal column. + If one brain found the pressure strong + It passed a few ideas along; + If something slipt his forward mind + ’Twas rescued by the one behind; + And if in error he was caught + He had a saving afterthought. + As he thought twice before he spoke + He had no judgments to revoke; + For he could think without congestion, + Upon both sides of every question. + O’ gaze upon this model beast, + Defunct ten million years at least! + +The Dinosaurs, like all other groups of animals, may be divided +into sub-groups, depending on habits, structure, etc. The commonest +classification separates them into three divisions: the carnivorous, +the amphibious, and the beaked. One of the most remarkable of the +flesh-eating species, though not the largest, is Allosaurus, a powerful +reptile that once roamed over the western part of North America. He +walked by means of his hind legs only, using his long tail as a balance +for his body. The huge head, armed with long, sharp teeth, was set on +a heavy, short neck; casts of the brain indicate that it was of much +the same type as that of the modern alligator, but considerably less +effective. + +[Illustration: PLATE V. + + One of the greater carnivorous dinosaurs, showing the large head, + long teeth, tiny fore limbs and ponderous walking legs typical of the + group. (Modified after Lull.) +] + +Allosaurus lived upon dry land, seldom venturing into the great +Mesozoic swamps. He was predaceous, attacking his prey in swift, mighty +rushes, tearing it with the jaws and occasionally striking it with the +powerful tail. Anything like the elaborate stalking of game such as we +see in the tiger and lion of today was impossible to the Dinosaur; he +simply lay in wait until the close approach of prey stimulated him to +his tremendous but half instinctive rush. The kill was torn to pieces +and swallowed without chewing, as is the case with the alligator of +today. + +The amphibious Dinosaurs, which must have provided much of the food for +Allosaurus and his kin, were characterized by blunt teeth and claws, +strong, elephant-like legs and feet, long neck, and small head. They +attained very great size, some of them, as we have said, being the +largest of land animals. They may well be typified by Brontosaurus, the +Thunder Lizard, which though not the longest, was one of the largest +of his kind. The skeleton which is mounted in the American Museum +is sixty-six feet long, the animal when alive having weighed about +thirty-eight tons. The body was large and rather short; the neck long, +and the head small. The tail was long and thick, and the legs massive +and post-like. The bones of the legs were very long and heavy, the +thigh bones being from five to six feet long--the largest single bones +so far discovered. The vertebrae, or “backbones,” were as much as four +and one-half feet high, being larger than those of the whale. + +The teeth and general structure of Brontosaurus give fairly reliable +evidence as to the habits of the animal. It spent its life in the +shallow water of lagoons, feeding upon the succulent water plants. +There is no evidence that it swam very much; probably its principal +mode of progression was wading, with the immense body partly supported +by the water. Perhaps the beast occasionally left the water for +the purpose of laying eggs, as is shown in Knight’s oft-printed +restoration. It appears, however, that Brontosaurus was not built for +land travel; that his joints were so imperfectly formed that he could +not have moved on land without tearing those of the leg to pieces. Dr. +Matthew thinks that the species of this genus bore their young alive, +as do certain modern reptiles, and therefore had no need to leave the +swamps and bayous at any time during their lives. + +Within the last few years there have come sketchy preliminary accounts +of a mammoth find near Tendaguru, Africa, by an expedition sent out +from Germany. They announce the discovery of a Dinosaur whose neck and +fore limbs far exceeded those of Brontosaurus, although the hinder +parts of the skeleton were relatively small. It appears that this +giant, which the German savants appropriately named Gigantosaurus, +is identical with the American form Brachiosaurus, whose fragmentary +remains are on exhibit at the Field Museum of Chicago. It is, +without question the largest known Dinosaur, so far as weight goes--a +long-necked wading creature that lived much as did Brontosaurus but was +capable of going into considerably deeper waters, quite beyond reach of +the fierce carnivorous giants of the land. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI. + +Fig. 1--Diplodocus, the longest Dinosaur known. + +Fig. 2--Brontosaurus, the giant that could not walk except in water, +because of his great weight and feeble joints.] + +The distinctive character of the third group of Dinosaurs is the +possession of a horny beak or bill, much like that of modern birds. +Indeed, there are many features in the anatomy of these reptiles that +indicate their relationship to the birds, and it is probable that the +remote ancestors of the two groups were very closely connected--perhaps +identical. But the ancestral birds developed feathers and took to +flying, while the ancestral beaked Dinosaurs (Predentates) specialized +in the direction of land life, and in their later development became +even more widely diversified in form than did their feathered relatives. + +The beaked Dinosaurs lived entirely upon vegetable food. The best known +of them, Triceratops or “He-of-the-three-horned-head,” looked more like +a gigantic, long-tailed rhinoceros than a reptile. Above each eye was +a long, sharp horn which extended forward; the bony cores which remain +in the fossils are as much as thirty-three inches long, and during +life the horny covering must have lengthened them by six inches to a +foot. The horn above the nose was considerably shorter, yet would have +compared favorably with that of many rhinoceroses. + +“Standing before the skull of Triceratops,” says Dr. Lucas, “... 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?’” + +Two Triceratops horns in the possession of the United States National +Museum bear the marks of such an encounter as that described by Dr. +Lucas, for one of them is broken about half way between the tip and the +base, and the stump is healed and rounded over. Evidently their owner +was not seriously injured in the fight, but lived to a ripe old age in +spite of his infirmity. + +Triceratops had a number of relatives, at least one of which is even +more famous than himself. This is Stegosaurus, the great Armored +Dinosaur that possessed the remarkable enlargement of the spinal cord. +Like his three-horned relative, Stegosaurus was a land dweller that +walked upon four legs. His head was very small, as were his fore limbs; +his body was very large, and his tail long and powerful. Along his back +ran two rows of bony plates, some of which were four inches thick at +the base, and two and one-half feet high. The tail bore, near the tip, +two pairs of spines which were almost as long as the back plates, and +half again as thick. The hind limbs were long and straight, in marked +contrast with the front ones, so that the creature when walking must +have appeared to be in constant danger of turning a somersault. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII. Triceratops, the Three Horned Reptile.] + +Stegosaurus was a contemporary of Brontosaurus and the carnivorous +Allosaurus. Like the former, he was a peaceful plant feeder, but unlike +him, did not flee to the shallows in order to avoid his flesh-eating +relatives. For this great armor, although undoubtedly developed in +the interests of peace, was hardly designed with any consideration +for the Hebrew creed of turning one cheek when the other is smitten. +Stegosaurus was too brainless and to clumsy to go about seeking +trouble, but to those creatures foolhardy enough to attack him he +could offer stiff resistance. A few blows of the huge spiked tail, +more powerful than the club of the mightiest ogre of mythology, would +be quite enough for even such giants as Allosaurus. Stegosaurus, like +the rhinoceros of modern Africa, probably went his way unharming and +unharmed. + + * * * * * + +The Dinosaurs first appeared during the Triassic period when they +roamed through the valleys of eastern North America in great numbers, +leaving their footprints on the soft, fine mud of the valley flats. +The succeeding period, the Jurassic, was their Golden Age--the age of +Brontosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus and other monsters. +During the Comanchean and Cretaceous periods the larger Dinosaurs +became extinct, and were supplanted by the smaller beaked forms, +such as Triceratops. At the end of the Cretaceous period, which was +also the end of the Age of Reptiles, the Dinosaurs became almost +totally extinct. Perhaps a few of them survived in specially favored +localities, for Dinosaur bones are found in rocks which a number of +geologists refer to the beginning of the Age of Mammals. But such +survivals were of small importance, and had little effect on the +general annihilation. The Dinosaurs were unable to meet the demands of +a dry-land environment, and joined the great hosts of creatures that at +various times have held the earth in their sway and then, defeated by +causes at which we can only guess, have passed into extinction. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] The Mesozoic Era, or Age of Reptiles, is divided into four +periods--Triassic, Jurassic, Comanchean, and Cretaceous. The first two +are here referred to as the “early” part of the age; the third as the +“middle,” and the fourth as the “late.” + +[5] The Eucalyptus is now common in Australia, while the Sequoia is the +“Big Tree” of California. + +[6] Norton, Elements of Geology, 1st Ed., p. 378. + +[7] Dr. Matthew, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the American +Museum of Natural History, is one of the authorities on Dinosaurs. His +book, “Dinosaurs,” published by the Museum, has afforded much of the +material to be found in this chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REPTILES RE-CONQUER THE SEA. + + +The sea, as we have seen, was the metropolis of primitive life. Then +came the amphibia, and the scene of animal activities was partially +transferred to land, while with the coming of reptiles the abandoning +of the sea by the higher forms of life seemed to be insured. Yet the +change did not come so rapidly as one might think, for the reptiles +after having begun their conquest of the land sent not less than three +great branches back to the water, and one of these, at least, extended +its domain around the world, from the islands of the South Seas to what +are now the plains of North America. + +During the latter part of the Age of Reptiles a great island sea +spread over a large part of this continent, while other portions of +the world were similarly inundated. Almost everywhere on the expanse +of the shallow Cretaceous waters might have been seen the forms of +huge, snake-like reptiles, the Elasmosaurs, whose arrow-shaped heads, +poised on long necks rose from ten to twenty feet above the surface +as they swam about searching for food or avoiding enemies. When the +prey was located, the reptiles dived to capture it; when an enemy +approached they swam away with almost incredible swiftness. Their +long necks were attached to large, thick bodies which ended in long, +tapering tails. The legs were modified to form broad paddles, of great +value in swimming; the front pair, perhaps, were used in seizing prey. +Being carnivorous, the Elasmosaur ate whatever it could catch, and +Elasmosaur bones are commonly found along with those of creatures on +which they fed. Not uncommonly large quantities of rounded pebbles +are found with the remains of these reptiles, sometimes a peck of +them in a single deposit. These stones filled the same purpose as do +the “gizzard stones” found in the stomachs of modern birds. Evidently +the Elasmosaurs and their allies did not tear or bite their food into +small bits, but relied on the action of their stomachs, assisted by +these stones, to do the work. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII. An Elasmosaur swimming, as drawn by +Williston.] + +But, remarkable though these reptiles may seem, they were by no means +the rulers of the Mesozoic oceans and seas. The great Mosasaurs were +not only the giants of those waters, but were far more numerous and +wide-spread than their less hardy and prolific contemporaries. + +We may quite properly call these animals great, for so they were. But +it is well to remember that among the lower animals as among men there +are degrees of greatness; moreover there is a general desire on the +part of men to magnify the animals of the past, and consider them as +being far larger than any that live today. Few people, when thinking of +ancient creatures, stop to recollect that the whales of today are by +far the largest animals that ever lived on the earth, just as modern +shellfish compare very favorably with those of past ages. True, there +are no reptiles today that compare with the largest of the Dinosaurs, +but by no means all of the Dinosaurs were giants. A few Mosasaurs +attained a length of forty feet--some even forty-five--but most of them +were less than twenty. Among modern reptiles, the Mugger, or Man-eating +Crocodile of Africa grows, if allowed to live long enough, to a length +of twenty-five or thirty feet, and therefore exceeds in measurements as +well as weight the average Mosasaur. + +The Mosasaurs were elongated and gracefully fish-like in form. Their +heads were large, flattened, and conical; the eyes were placed on +the sides rather than the top of the skull. Their tails were long, +with flattened, fin-like extensions that assisted the four broad, +powerful flippers when the creatures were swimming. Like their distant +relatives, the snakes, they possessed four rows of teeth on the roof +of the mouth. These teeth were valueless for chewing, but were of +utmost service in holding the prey, which was swallowed entire. The +probability is that the tongue was long and forked, while the structure +of the throat and windpipe indicates that the mighty Mosasaur’s only +call was a serpent-like hiss. + +The first Mosasaur was discovered in the quarries beneath St. Peter’s +Mount, near Maestritch, Germany, some ninety feet below the surface. +Immediately on finding the specimen the workmen informed Dr. Hoffman, +the surgeon of the local forces, and an ardent collector of fossils. +He labored with the quarrymen for two weeks, and was rewarded by an +almost perfect specimen which he took to his home and cleaned with +great care and success. The fossil was so unusual, and was made the +basis of so many papers, illustrations, and discussions, that the canon +of the cathedral which stands on St. Peter’s decided that he should +own the specimen. Dr. Hoffman refused to give it up, and Canon Goddin +instituted a long, expensive, and harassing law-suit, making certain +feudal rights the basis of his claim. The whole chapter, of course, +stood with their reverend brother, and the decree went against the +surgeon, who was forced to give up his specimen and pay the costs of +the trial. For several years the skull remained in the possession of +the clergyman, and Hoffman died without regaining it. Finally, during +the French revolution, Maestritch was bombarded and captured. During +the attack, the artillerymen had not been allowed to shoot into that +part of the city where the fossil was known to be. The canon, guessing +the reason for this particular favor, hid the skull in a vault, but was +forced to give it up when the city was plundered. The French, who did +not hesitate to appropriate anything of value in either science or art, +bore the famous Mosasaur off to Paris, and put it in the museum at the +Jardin des Planes, where it still remains. + +[Illustration: PLATE IX. + +A Mosasaur swimming.] + +The first American Mosasaur discovery took place in 1820, at Great +Bend, Mo. Major O’Fallon, an Indian agent, found a fine specimen which +he took to his home in the town of St. Louis. A few years later the +relic was taken to Germany by Prince Maximilian of Wied, after his +famous trip through the United States in search of natural history +specimens and information. Since that time hundreds, even thousands, +of specimens have been collected and described from the Cretaceous +rocks of this country. The shallow seas that covered Kansas were the +headquarters of the Mosasaurs, and their skeletons are abundant in the +chalk cliffs of the district. + +Among the fishes which were the prey of the Mosasaurs was the great +Portheus, or Bulldog fish, whose long, sharp teeth and powerful body +indicate that it often evened matters by capturing smaller mosasaurs. +The head of this monster was twice as large as that of a grizzly bear, +while the muzzle was stouter and deeper than that of a bulldog. Some +of the teeth projected as much as three inches above the gums, sinking +a full inch into the pits--as long as the fangs of a tiger, but more +slender. Two pairs of these deadly teeth crossed each other on either +side of the snout, and were re-enforced by numerous other long, conical +teeth farther back on the jaw. + +Above the water soared or flew--it is not yet decided which--the great +Pterosaurs, or winged reptiles. According to the current conception, +these great beasts flew above the water, swooping down to snatch fishes +and smaller mosasaurs, on which they fed. Some of the Pterosaurs had +wing spreads of eighteen to twenty feet, and if they actually did fly, +were without doubt the largest of all denizens of the air. At night and +while resting they clung to cliffs and rocks by means of the long claws +with which their wings were equipped. + +While we do not know whether or not the Mosasaurs fed upon turtles, +there were plenty from which they might have made their choice. One of +them, at least, was of gigantic size, having a flipper spread of at +least fifteen feet. The skin was smooth and leathery, that over the +back being strengthened by several ridges of stiffer integument. The +back flippers were relatively small, while the front ones were very +broad and without an armor of claws. + + * * * * * + +Gradually, after countless centuries of relative quiet, the earth +began to re-shape its surface. Mountains, plains, and plateaus arose, +leaving those sea-dwellers that could not swim or crawl to perish +in the hot suns of a new time. The once broad seas grew smaller and +smaller, were divided into lakes and basins, continued shrinking. The +sea-dwellers were imprisoned in these basins, where they preyed upon +each other with greater ease than had been possible in the open waters +of earlier times, while the fishes died from the constant freshening +of the water. The stronger gorged upon the weaker until they were left +stranded on the ever rising bars, with no food but their kindred, +and little strength to either attack or escape. At the last they may +have made desperate attempts to escape by land, or else lay starving +in the shallow, muddy pools. Perhaps as the waters shrank a few of +the great saurians fed with them, eventually making their way into +the new sea and ocean areas. But in all probability any such refugees +were so beaten and starved that they had but little chance for success +in life under their new environment. By the time of the great uplift +which proved their undoing, the Mosasaurs and their allies were an +old race,[8] and had little vitality left with which to cope with +new situations. They died, leaving no descendants,[9] and only the +scattered remains in Cretaceous rocks remain to tell of the once mighty +hordes. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[8] For a discussion of the age of groups, life cycle of species, etc., +see the author’s booklet, “Animals of Ancient Seas,” No. 47 of this +Series. + +[9] Rumors of Paleozoic monsters living in remote portions of the earth +appear constantly, but without foundation in fact. Just this year +(1922) newspapers and some magazines have made a great to-do about a +Plesiosaur that was supposed to be living in a South American lake. +The Plesiosaurs, aside from being as ancient as the Mosasaurs, were +exclusively marine; therefore, a report of one of them in a lake is +utterly absurd. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE MOST ANCIENT BIRDS. + + +When and how the first bird came into being is one of the undiscovered +secrets of paleontology. The probability is that at some time during +the late Triassic--the first division of the Mesozoic, or “Middle Life” +era--a little reptile somewhat like the smallest of the bird-like +dinosaurs developed feathers and began to make short flights through +the air. Whether this reptile, which actually may have been a dinosaur, +developed wings on his forelegs and rose from the ground, or whether he +developed feathers on both front and hind legs and began by gliding, +is a matter of theory. Just now the latter view seems to be the more +elaborately worked out, and therefore the more widely accepted. But +there is fashion in theories just as there is in dress, and some new +discovery may easily render the supposed four-winged ancestor passe. + +But, uncertain though the origin of birds may be, there is little +doubt regarding the most ancient known member of the class. It is the +famous Archeopteryx, found in the equally noted lithographic quarries +at Solenhofen, Bavaria. This ancient bird, for all practical purposes +the starting point in the history of the feathered animals,[10] was +considerably smaller than a crow, and possessed a short, strong beak +which was armed with sharp, reptile-like teeth. The wings were short +and broad, while the tail was considerably longer than the rest of the +body, and was of very remarkable construction. As everyone who has ever +shot sparrows or plucked a chicken knows, the tail of a modern bird is +made up very much like a feather fan, and closes up like one, with the +bony part very short and broad. In the Archeopteryx, however, the tail +was long and lizard-like, with the feathers placed in pairs, one pair +to each tail joint. Thus the creature when flying must have looked much +like an undersized crow dragging after him a palm leaf instead of a +tail. + +As may be inferred from the foregoing description, the feathers of +Archeopteryx are well preserved in the two fossils which have been +found. However, they are shown only on certain parts of the body, +and from this some scientists have concluded that the bird possessed +feathers on only the wings, tail, and thighs. There seems, however, +to be little ground for this conclusion, and restorations of the +creature showing it as a bird-like lizard with a few tufts of feathers +are hardly to be relied upon. It is very improbable that such highly +developed feathers as those which are preserved should have been +present without the more primitive ones being found on the back, +breast, and neck. Also, since the feathers of the latter type are +smaller and more easily destroyed than those of the wings and tail, +it is quite natural that they should fail to be preserved in the old +Jurassic sediments. + +[Illustration: PLATE X. + +The fossil remains of Archeopteryx.] + +The Archeopteryx lived during the period when the Dinosaurs were in the +height of their glory. Whether or not he was descended from any of the +birds who, without much question, left tracks in the Connecticut valley +during the preceding age cannot be determined. Doubtless those ancient +forms would hardly have been recognizable as birds, yet inasmuch as +they wore feathers they may properly be placed in that group. For +we may both concisely and accurately define birds as animals with +feathers, for feathers are possessed by every bird that lives, and are +possessed by no creatures other than birds. Flight, as we shall see in +the next chapter, is a characteristic that is by no means universal in +the bird world, but even the flightless birds, such as the ostrich and +the Apteryx, are covered with feathers. True, in the penguins, birds +that spend most of their time on and under the water, the feathers +have been changed so that they are hardly recognizable, yet a closer +examination shows the essential structure to be there, and our +definition is upheld. + +[Illustration: PLATE XI. + +Hesperornis swimming beneath the water. + +(After Lucas.)] + +The next birds of which we have relics were inhabitants of the western +part of our own country, and although separated by tens or hundreds of +thousands of years from the Jurassic Archeopteryx, they still possessed +teeth--a characteristic that separates them sharply from all modern +birds. They were first collected during the years 1870-71 by Professor +O. C. Marsh, who was at that time exploring the chalk beds of western +Kansas. It was not until 1873, however, that Marsh was able to give his +specimens a thorough laboratory examination and discovered that the +jaws were set with teeth, thus establishing a new and most important +fact in evolution.[11] Previous to this men had been quite willing +to believe that birds were descended from toothed animals, for all +the creatures from which they might have come were toothed, but not a +few hesitated to acknowledge that birds themselves possessed similar +equipment. But with Marsh’s discovery the case was proved, and “scarce +as hen’s teeth” ceased to be a joke, at least so far as fossils are +concerned. + +The larger of the two species of birds found in Kansas was a truly +remarkable creature, in some ways the most astonishing bird that has +ever lived. Hesperornis (western bird) looked much like an overgrown, +wingless loon, or “hell diver,” and was quite as much at home in the +water as is that bird. Instead of swimming with the wings, as does +the penguin of Antarctic regions, Hesperornis swam with its legs and +feet, and did it so successfully that the wings disappeared, with +the exception of a single bone. At the same time, the muscles of the +breast, which are used in moving the wings, dwindled away, so that +Hesperornis, although some five feet in length, was remarkably slender +and torpedo-shaped. + +Concerning its habits and probable appearance during life Dr. Lucas +says: “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 those of the leg as to turn edgewise as the +foot was brought forward and thus 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 its feet, for the foot of a running bird is +modified in quite another way. + +“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 is +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 the most +aquatic of recent birds, an instance of similarly poor covering.... + +“The restoration which Mr. Gleeson has drawn[12] differs radically +from any yet made, and is the result of 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 it has +been drawn with just a suggestion of Archaeopteryx about it. + +“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 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, the +mountings were so changed that the legs stood out at the sides of the +body, as shown in the picture.”[13] + +The birds progressed while their kindred and ancestors, the reptiles, +were declining. By the dawn of the Eocene, the first period of the Age +of Mammals, the birds were very much like those of modern times, and +in the last three million years or more very little change has taken +place. However, there were a number of bizarre and gigantic forms which +arose during the later ages of bird ascendancy, and those we shall +consider in the following chapter. + +One who has observed the great abundance of birds today might well +conclude that bird remains should be among the commonest of the +vertebrate fossils. Exactly the opposite, however, is true, for bird +bones are among the rarest finds of the paleontological collector. +Bones of the wings and legs, and occasional skulls, go to make up the +bulk of the finds, with smaller bones, and impressions of the feathers +turning up just often enough to keep the collector in a constant state +of anticipation. A few eggs, also, have been found in the strata of +western United States, but as yet the birds that laid them are unknown. + +The scarcity of bird fossils is a problem to which no satisfactory +answer has yet been given. The commonest theory is that dead birds, +because of their very light weight, float for long periods of time, +and are thus exposed to the attacks of weather, bacteria, and carrion +feeding birds and animals. The bones, too, are light and easily broken, +so that they will not stand the wear as will the heavier remains of +mammals and sea-dwelling shellfish. Yet, in certain formations of +France and Oregon, where conditions are not notably different from +those of other and barren strata, remains of birds are fairly common. +This proves that under proper conditions, whatever they may have been, +bird bones did fossilize--a fact which holds out the hope that some day +a fortunate collector will unearth a large and varied deposit, and will +then be able to fill out some of the greater gaps in the history of +feathered creatures. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] That is, until a more ancient specimen is discovered. One must +always be prepared for new discoveries in paleontology, just as in +other sciences. + +[11] Although the first specimen of Archeopteryx had been found several +years before, it was too poorly preserved to show the teeth. It was not +until 1877 that the famous Berlin specimen, which shows the teeth and +feathers so admirably, was discovered. + +[12] This restoration served as the copy for the accompanying plate. + +[13] Animals of the Past, 1st Ed., pp. 83-85. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +GIANTS OF THE FEATHERED WORLD. + + +As we have seen in the preceding chapter, the earliest birds were both +stranger and, in some cases at least, larger than most of the species +found on earth today. But as we go upward in the geologic scale, we +find that the primitive birds were far outstripped by their relatively +modern descendants. Some of these feathered Goliaths, such as the +Ostrich of Africa, are alive today; some have but recently become +extinct, and their relics are found by thousands in the districts where +they once roamed. Still others, though probably not the largest of +their class, died out thousands, or even millions of years before man +appeared upon the earth. They, like the mighty dinosaurs that preceded +them, succumbed to the many enemies which constantly attack every +animal that lives and left the earth to their more successful rivals +and descendants. + +Among the best known of the more recent avian giants, so recently +extant that it still lives in the traditions of the peoples whose +ancestors feasted upon its flesh, is the great Moa of New Zealand. +The first announcement of the existence of this remarkable bird was +made by the Rev. W. Colenso, a missionary who later became Bishop of +New Zealand. Early in the year of 1838, while on a missionary trip in +the North Island, Bishop Colenso secured from the natives of Waiapu +legends regarding a mammoth bird, called the Moa, which possessed a +human head, and which inhabited a mountain some eighty miles inland. +This creature, according to the legends, was the last of his kind, and +was carefully guarded by two gigantic lizards who stood watch while the +bird slept. When an enemy, especially a man, approached, these lizards +roused the Moa, who immediately rushed upon the intruders and trampled +them to death. It appeared that none of the savages had ever seen this +bird--due, perhaps, to its watchful guardians and fierce prowess--but +they were very sure of its existence. In fact, they used bones of his +dead relatives in making their fishing implements, and these bones, +they assured the bishop, were quite as large as those of the European +ox. + +But a short time later, another missionary, the Rev. Richard Taylor, +discovered a bone which was said to belong to the Moa, and received +considerable free information about its possessor from the natives +with whom he was associated. But, as Dr. Lucas remarks in telling of +the incident, just “as the foot of the rainbow moves away as we move +toward it, in his case the bird was said to dwell in a quite different +locality from that given by the natives of East Cape” where Rev. +Colenso had secured his information. Taylor’s informants, like the +other natives, had not seen the Moa, nor did they even know anyone who +had, but they had no doubt of its existence. When after many years of +search, however, there was not a single explorer who had seen, heard, +or tracked the giant bird, scientists refused to believe the tales of +the natives, and some went so far as to deny that the Moa had lived at +any time within the era of man. + +These latter, however, went somewhat too far in their questioning. For +even though no man has seen the living Moa, its remains are scattered +abundantly over the hills, valleys and swamps of New Zealand, and +from them scientists have been able to gain a very reliable idea of +the size, structure, and general appearance of the feathered giant. +Probably the most remarkable find of Moa remains was made in one of the +large, dry caves of South Island, where collectors secured not only +a number of bones with the original flesh adhering, but also several +patches of skin to which clung numerous feathers of a chestnut color +tipped with white. True, these small, rusty-brown feathers were not +very spectacular, but when we stop to consider that they have been kept +for hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years without any preservative +whatever, and that they belonged to a race of creatures now totally +extinct, our respect for them increases greatly. Since the original +possessor of those feathers died in his New Zealand cavern many wars +have been won and lost, powerful nations have arisen, new languages +and systems of thought have been established, and the surface of the +earth has been carved, planed, and pitted by the restless inventive +animal called man. And now that same man is spending a considerable +amount of his most prized possession--money--to gather and preserve the +broken, dried remains of that old New Zealand bird, his relatives and +ancestors. + +It is now well known, that instead of but one species of Moa, as +the New Zealand savages told the missionaries, there were twenty or +more. Some of these were quite small--but little larger than the +turkey--while others, such as Dinornis (terrible bird) must have +reached a height of at least ten feet, and were, in all probability, +the largest birds that have ever been seen on earth. Remarkably enough, +some writers have not been satisfied with even these great dimensions, +and have stated the height of some of the Moas to be from twelve to +fourteen feet. These measurements, however, can be attained only by +placing the skeleton in a most unnatural position, which the bird could +not possibly have maintained while alive. There is a natural desire on +the part of man to magnify his discoveries, and the remains of extinct +creatures are favorite subjects for such romancing. Unfortunately for +the writers, these same bones offer incontestable evidence as to the +actual sizes of the creatures to which they belonged, and sooner or +later all errors must be corrected and “the high made low.” As Dr. F. +A. Lucas has insisted over and over again, the greatest monster always +shrinks before the application of a two-foot rule. + +The Moas, like the modern Ostriches, were quite incapable of flight. +Indeed, many of them were totally wingless, lacking even the tiny, +almost invisible vestigial wings that are to be found in such modern +species as the Cassowary and Apteryx. But what they lacked in wings +the Moas more than made up for in legs. Those of one species, dubbed +elephantopus (elephant-footed) were so ponderous that one cannot but +wonder what purpose they served. The theory most generally accepted +is that they were of value in digging out the roots of ferns, upon +which the Moas appear to have fed. Furthermore, when we remember that +one blow from the foot of an angry ostrich is quite enough to kill a +man, we cannot doubt that the Moa was quite able to either trample +underfoot, or smash to a shapeless pulp almost any enemy that might +have assailed it. The lizard watchmen of the Maori legend are, of +course, inventions, but the ferocious habits of the enraged Moa are +without question matters of pure fact. + +So far as known, the Moas were confined to New Zealand, some species +inhabiting North Island, some South, but with very few common to both. +From this fact Lucas, and others who have studied the birds, conclude +that the two islands were originally one, and that long after the Moas +came into existence there was a submergence which divided the island +into two. After that submergence sufficient time elapsed to allow for +the development of several species of Moas, each restricted to one +island. Inasmuch as the birds could not fly, and probably were poor +swimmers, there was but little intermingling of the faunas. “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.”[14] + +The glacial cold, however, did not completely destroy the Moas. We have +already seen that legends of the birds were told to the pioneering +white missionaries, and other tales of Moa hunts and Moa feasts were +not uncommon. It is uncertain whether the last of these giants was +eaten by the ancient Maoris, or by a race that preceded them. Some +authors have suggested, apparently on fairly good ground, that Moas +formed the sole important flesh food of these prehistoric peoples, +and that with the dying out of the avian food supply, the hereditary +liking for flesh naturally led to cannibalism. Thus the savages who +destroyed the Moas turned to destroying themselves, were supplanted by +another race which handed on the knowledge of the Moas to the white man +who in turn set about killing off the savages. + +From the New Zealand Moa to Sinbad the Sailor, and his huge and +unintentionally beneficent Roc, is, at first thought, a very far cry, +yet the separation is not so great as it seems. The Arabian tales give +the habitation of the Roc as either Madagascar or one of the adjoining +islands, and it seems very probable that the original of the huge bird +that carried the adventurous Sinbad out of the crater of diamonds was +the Aepyornis, a distant relative of the Moas, and an inhabitant of +Madagascar. It is quite true that the Roc was a gigantic bird quite +capable of carrying off an elephant to make a meal for its young, +while the Aepyornis was little larger than an ostrich, was incapable +of flight, and fed upon plants. These facts, however, would in no way +interfere with the fancy of an Arabian story teller, whose original +materials probably were a collection of Aeypornis legend substantiated +by fragments of the bird’s enormous eggs. Hardly greater exaggerations +are perpetrated weekly by the “feature writers” of American Sunday +newspapers, and these men have all the resources of modern science at +their disposal. + +The actual scientific “discovery” of Aepyornis did not take place until +1834, when Jules Verreaux, a French ornithologist received a sketch +of a huge egg, found in the island of Madagascar. The informant, a +traveler, said that he had seen two of these eggs, one of which had +been used in cracking rice, while the other had been sawed in two to +be used as bowls. Later on, some fragments of a shell were secured by +another traveler, and finally, in 1851, two entire eggs and a number of +bones were secured and sent to France. They were studied by Geoffroy +St-Hilaire, a noted naturalist and pioneer evolutionist, who christened +them Aepyornis maximus, or “greatest lofty bird.” The last part of the +name was appropriate so far as the eggs are concerned, for they stand +as the largest of all eggs. Some idea of their size may be gained by +comparisons; the measurements alone do not mean a great deal. The +egg of the ostrich, which is usually considered to be quite immense, +measures four and one-half by six inches; that of the Aepyornis is +not less than nine by thirteen inches, and would hold the whites and +yolks of six ostrich eggs! The size seems even greater when we say +that it would hold the contents of more than twelve dozen hens’ eggs +or thirty thousands of the tiny, bean-like eggs of the hummingbird. +Had there been giants in the old days, as fairy tales and occasional +newspaper articles seek to convince us, they would have had no trouble +in satisfying their breakfast appetites with a couple of Aepyornis +eggs, poached. Fortunately for Aepyornis, in his day there were neither +giants nor newspapers; had either existed he doubtless would have been +exterminated by hunters long before his time. + +Despite the excellence of their preservation, relics of the giant +birds of New Zealand and Madagascar are not easily seen by the student. +There are fine collections at Harvard University, and the American +Museum in New York, and in museums in Europe and New Zealand, but +there are few, if any Moa eggs in the United States. Specimens of this +sort are very expensive; Aepyornis eggs have sold in London for as +high as two hundred pounds (about nine hundred seventy-two dollars) +and most American museums are desperately poor, being forced to rely +on the generosity of private individuals for money with which to buy +specimens.[15] + +Leaving the giant eastern birds, and the scarcity of collections of +their remains, we may transfer our attention to a group of American +birds, the huge Phororhacidae of Patagonia. Although far older, +geologically these birds were not discovered until long after the Moas +and Aepyornis were well known. Even then, it was not believed that so +massive a bone as the jaw of Phororhacos could possibly belong to a +bird, and it was necessary to find much more complete relics before +the case could be proved. + +It is one of the ludicrous facts of paleontology that most of the +large-sounding names were used up on the Moas, some of which were +small, and that Dinornis (terrible bird) was wasted on root-eating +creatures that probably were of meekest temperament when not annoyed. +In the Patagonian birds, on the other hand, we have species that were +really terrible, with their powerful legs, huge heads, sharp, crooked +beaks, and strong talons. One of them, Brontornis, or thunder bird, +possessed leg bones larger than those of an ox, the drumstick being +thirty inches long and two and one-half inches thick. The corresponding +bone in the turkey, largest of the domestic birds, the length is but +five and one-half inches. The most imposing of the Patagonian birds, +however, is the Phorohacos, a creature unique among the bird world. +This creature stood seven or eight feet in height, possessed a head +larger than that of a horse and a neck as thick, and was armed with +huge, sharply hooked beak and long, sharp claws. One of Dr. Lucas’ +illustrations shows the skull of the race-horse Lexington placed +beneath that of Phororhacos. That of the bird is one inch longer and +one and one-half deeper. + +The structure of Phororhacos, like that of all other animals, affords +an excellent key to its food habits. Probably they did not feed upon +roots, as did the Moas, for had they done so their strong, hooked beaks +would have been useless, or nearly so. Neither is it probable that +they caught fish; the beaks of most fish-eating birds, and particularly +of the herons, which are related to Phororhacos, are long, adapted +to spearing. Beaks and claws like those of the Patagonian giant are +found, in most cases, in birds that feed on either carrion or living +animals, or both. In the accompanying illustration the bird is shown +as just having killed a small grass-eating animal, and preparing to +devour it. Were it to be proved--as it can hardly be--that Phororhacos +fed upon carrion alone, the restoration would have to be modified +greatly, in appearance though not in proportion. Carrion eaters seldom +have feathers on the upper part of the neck and the head, as may be +seen by examining such notorious eaters of dead flesh as the vultures +or “buzzards.” But the designer of the original restoration, as +life-drawings of extinct animals are called, was satisfied to consider +his subject as a swift-running bird of prey that preferred fresh killed +meat, and did the killing itself. + +[Illustration: PLATE XII. + +Phororhacos preparing to devour its prey. + +(After Lucas.)] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Lucas, Animals of the Past, 1st Ed., p. 143. Note that, since the +Moas were on the decline when man appeared in their environment, and +they had no other powerful enemies, the huge legs could hardly have had +defence as their chief function. + +[15] This is true of the United States National Museum, at Washington, +where the customary appropriation for securing specimens is $10,000 +per year. At this _national_ institution it is not rare for employees +to draw upon their own small resources in order to secure particularly +desirable collections. The same condition is to be found in other +museums of the country, excepting the American Museum of Natural +History in New York. It, though privately endowed, is housed by the +city of New York, and is the largest and best supported museum in the +western hemisphere. + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: + +- Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). + +- Footnotes were moved to the ends of the chapters in which they appeared. + +- Illustrations were moved to the ends of the paragraphs in which they +appeared. The list of illustrations was not in the original text. Plate V +was originally untitled. + +- Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. + +- Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. + +- Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following +changes: + + Page 6: “elk whose carcases” to “elk whose carcasses” + Page 9: “He loked somewhat” to “He looked somewhat” + Page 10: “But, bizarre though The” to “But, bizarre though the” + Page 15: “the natural percursors” to “the natural precursors” + Page 18: “their senile aderrations” to “their senile aberrations” + Page 21: “active than the diosaurs” to “active than the dinosaurs” + Page 23: “an idea altogether to” to “an idea altogether too” + Page 30: “loked more like a gigantic” to “looked more like a gigantic” + Page 34: “survivals were of smalll” to “survivals were of small” + Page 35: “they swam about seaching” to “they swam about searching” + Page 42: “with greater ease than has” to “with greater ease than had” + Page 42: “But in all probalility” to “But in all probability” + Page 44: “uncertain though the oirgin” to “uncertain though the origin” + Page 52: “weather, bacteria, and carrrion” to “weather, bacteria, and + carrion” + Page 54: “year of 1838, whie” to “year of 1838, while” + Page 54: “especially a man, aproached” to “especially a man, approached” + Page 54: “they were very sure if” to “they were very sure of” + Page 54: “in a quite a different” to “in a quite different” + Page 55: “and that they belond” to “and that they belonged” + Page 58: “birds sought the pace” to “birds sought the place” + Page 59: “turned to destroying hemselves” to “turned to destroying + themselves” + Page 60: “studied by Goeffroy St-Hilaire” to “studied by Geoffroy + St-Hilaire” + Page 62: “and two and one-haf” to “and two and one-half” +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78879 *** diff --git a/78879-h/78879-h.htm b/78879-h/78879-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bae7856 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/78879-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2470 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Animals of Ancient Lands | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 0.25em; } + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdc {text-align: center;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center {text-align: center;} + +figcaption {font-weight: bold;} +figcaption p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: .2em; text-align: inherit;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +img.w100 {width: 100%;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} +/* comment out next line and uncomment the following one for floating figleft on ebookmaker output */ +.x-ebookmaker .figleft {float: none; text-align: center; margin-right: 0;} +/* .x-ebookmaker .figleft {float: left;} */ + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ + +.tnote { + border: dashed 1px; + font-size: smaller; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: 0.5em; + padding-top: 0.5em; + padding-left: 0.5em; + padding-right: 0.5em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .tnote { margin-left:0; margin-right:0; } + +p .tnote { text-indent:0em; } + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} + +.ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { + text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold + } +.ph2 { + font-size: x-large; + margin: 0.75em auto + } +.ph3 { + font-size: large; + margin: 0.83em auto + } +.ph4 { + font-size: medium; + margin: 1.12em auto + } +.illowp45 { + width: 45% + } +.x-ebookmaker .illowp45 { + width: 100% + } +ins { + text-decoration: none + } + +.loititle { font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} +.illowp31 {width: 31%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp31 {width: 100%;} +.illowp97 {width: 97%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp97 {width: 100%;} +.illowp58 {width: 58%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp58 {width: 100%;} +.illowp70 {width: 70%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp70 {width: 100%;} +.illowp47 {width: 47%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp47 {width: 100%;} +.illowp54 {width: 54%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp54 {width: 100%;} +.illowp56 {width: 56%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp56 {width: 100%;} + </style> +</head> + +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78879 ***</div> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp45" style="max-width:100.0em;" id="cover"> +<img alt="" class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" id="img_images_cover.jpg"> +</figure> + +<p class="ph2">TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. 274</p> +<p class="ph3">Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius</p> + +<h1>Animals of Ancient<br> +Lands +</h1> + +<p class="ph2">Carroll Lane Fenton</p> + +<p style="font-size:medium;text-align:center;margin-bottom:0px;text-indent:0em;">Author of “Animals of Ancient Seas,”</p> +<p style="font-size:medium;text-align:center;margin-bottom:0px;text-indent:0em;">“The Building of the Earth,”</p> +<p style="font-size:medium;text-align:center;text-indent:0em;">“A History of Evolution,” Etc.</p> +<br><br> +<p class="ph2">HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY</p> +<p class="ph2">GIRARD, KANSAS</p> + +<br><br> + +<p class="ph4">Copyright, 1922,</p> +<p class="ph4">Haldeman-Julius Company.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> + +<p class="loititle">List of Illustrations</p> + +<table class="autotable"> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl"></td> +<td class="tdc">Page</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Fig. 1</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p08">8</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Fig. 2</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p10">10</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate I.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p12">12</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate II.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p13">13</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate III.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p17">17</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate IV.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p24">24</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate V.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p26">26</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate VI.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p29">29</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate VII.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p32">32</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate VIII.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p36">36</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate IX.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p39">39</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate X.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p45">45</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate XI.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p47">47</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Plate XII.</td> +<td class="tdc"><a href="#p63">63</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION"> + INTRODUCTION. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>This volume of the evolution series of the +pocket library is, like its predecessors, an expansion +of a lecture which the author has frequently +given before popular audiences. It differs +from its immediate predecessor in that it is +more loosely planned, and less obviously designed +to instruct. Geologic tables and explanations +have been omitted entirely; these the +reader can secure from the volume in this +Series (No. 47) entitled “Animals of Ancient +Seas,” while something about fossils and their +origin is given in the first chapter of “The +Building of the Earth.” (No. 275.)</p> + +<p>The lecturer is more fortunate than the writer +in that his illustrations are more numerous; indeed, +a good stereopticon lecture need be little +more than a collection of beautiful and accurate +slides interestingly described. However, the +publishers have been generous in the number +of illustrations used in these booklets, so that +the difficulty is in a measure overcome.</p> + +<p>It remains for me to acknowledge my indebtedness +to the various authors and articles mentioned +in the text and in notes. Dr. Lucas’ excellent +and interesting book, “Animals of the +Past,” has afforded in a concise form much information +that otherwise could have come only +from scattered technical papers. The article +by Dr. Case has furnished the base for the entire +first chapter, much of the material being +reproduced with but the slightest changes in +wording and arrangement, with the omission +of some technical data. Professor Case’s position +as our principal authority on Permian +vertebrates gives this chapter a reliability that +could not be achieved by a second-hand re-writing +of material from his larger and more +detailed monographs.</p> + +<p style="text-align:right;text-indent:0em;">C. L. F.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I"> + CHAPTER I. + <br> + THE FIRST LAND DWELLERS. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>In the first book of this series, “Animals of +Ancient Seas,” (No. 47) we followed the evolution +of animal life from the most primitive +one-celled creatures to the fishes, and from the +most primitive fishes to those which possessed +lung-like organs that enabled them to breathe +from air as well as water. The next stage in +evolution was the development of feet and legs +from the fish fin, and this was accomplished +before the end of that geologic period known +as the Devonian, or more commonly, as the +“Age of Fishes.” True, no actual remains have +been found, but one fortunate collector succeeded +in getting out a fossil footprint, which +is all that is needed to prove the case. This +footprint was made by an animal that looked +much like the mud puppy, or salamander, of +modern streams and lakes, and was related +also to the frogs and toads. Like these creatures, +he spent the early part of his life in +water, breathing with gills, and possessing a +more or less fish-like form, while in his maturity +he lived at least partly on land, and +breathed by means of lungs. This type of development, +almost universal among his class, +has gained for them the name of Amphibians, +or “double livers.”</p> + +<p>During those periods which are correctly +known as the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>but which are more commonly grouped under +the one name Carboniferous, the amphibians +increased in variety, and gave rise to a new +and immensely important group of animals, the +Reptiles. Since everyone knows the general +characters of this group, we shall not take the +trouble to define them. The important thing +about them, so far as evolution is concerned +is that they are capable of living on land +throughout their whole lives, not even the eggs +having to be deposited in water. This, as can +readily be seen, is a very fundamental character, +for as long as animals were confined to +water during their earliest stages, great progress +was quite impossible. Imagine what a +state humanity would be in if every child had +to begin life in some brook, lake, or pond, and +could not emerge from the water until it was +fifteen to twenty years old!</p> + +<p>Unfortunately for our knowledge of life in +the past, fossils of both amphibians and reptiles +are by no means common in the Carboniferous +systems. It was not until the times of +coal deposition were almost past, and great +mountains and broad plains were taking the +place of shallow seas and sombre swamps, that +land dwelling animals became really abundant. +This appearance of dry land was not only the +cause of the development of the wonderful array +of animals that inhabited the Permian +world, but also the reason why so few of them +are preserved as fossils, for it is only when the +bones of animals become buried in water-soaked +layers of sediment, or covered by water, that +they are readily petrified. An animal that dies +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>and remains exposed to the open air stands +very little chance of becoming a fossil; its +bones are gnawed by carrion feeders, worn by +the wind, and broken up by decay. Thus of +the hundreds of thousands, even millions, of +buffalo, cattle, antelope, and elk whose <ins title="Original has 'carcases'" id="carcasses">carcasses</ins> +have dotted the plains of this continent in the +past half century there remain but a few rotten +and frost-split horns and bones. Without question +there are, in the muddy banks and bars +of rivers, skeletons and parts of skeletons that +are undergoing the slow process of petrification, +and that will be dug up and treasured in +the museums of some future civilization. And +just as the record of animal life of today will +be but a fragment of that which actually exists, +so the record of the great land fauna of the +Permian period is but the merest trace of the +myriad creatures of that time. It is only in +the most exceptional places that great quantities +of bones were brought together under +conditions favorable to fossilization, and such +a district is found in northern Texas.</p> + +<p>“When the Appalachian Mountains were raised, +an extension of their southern end reached +across what are now Arkansas and Oklahoma, +terminating in the Wichita Mountains.... +North of this range rose a broad upland, reaching +from the Rockies to the Appalachians and +to the Canadian line on the north; south of +the mountains a shallow sea reached nearly +to their base, and some great rivers from the +mountains and uplands poured their flood +waters into the sea and built up a great delta. +The remains of animals which haunted the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>banks of the rivers were swept into them in +time of flood and carried out to be deposited in +the delta, which covered most of what is now +Wichita, Archer, Wilbarger counties in the +State of Texas. Naturally, most of the remains +which found their way into the streams were +already fragmentary, as they had rotted on the +banks, and had been torn by predatory animals, +but in their course to the sea they were +still further disintegrated so that, rolled by the +waters and beaten by the waves, they sank to +their burial as little more than water-worn +fragments; ends of limb bones, isolated vertebrae, +and broken skulls, which do little more +than tantalize the student with the hints of +new forms and new relationships that can not +be verified. In some places these water-worn +fragments are so thick upon the ground that +they literally can be shoveled up by the wagon +load. In some instances the bodies of animals +found their way unharmed into the water and, +distended by the gases of decomposition, floated +far and uninjured until they came to rest +on some mud flat beyond the reach of sharks +or other predatory animals. Such skeletons +are preserved entire with most remarkable perfection, +but they are exceedingly rare, and it +is a fortunate collector who turns up even one +in the course of a whole season of search.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p08" style="max-width: 91.125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p08.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>FIG. 1</p> + <p>Cacops, a remarkable Permian amphibian.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Among the most remarkable of the animals +found in the stratified rocks of this ancient +delta are the amphibians. During the preceding +ages, as we have seen, they were the masters +of the continental world—the largest and +most progressive of land dwellers. But by the +time of the Permian they were on the downward +road which was to lead them, not to extinction, +but to the obscure positions of toads, +frogs and salamanders. But this decline did +not come at once, and with overwhelming completeness; +the early amphibians did not yield +tamely to the fate of old age. During the +Permian, and the succeeding age, the Triassic, +there lived some of the largest and strangest +amphibians that the world has known. Some +of them returned to the water and developed +eel-like bodies with enormous, arrow-like +heads; some lived in trees, where their remains +have been found by geologists studying +coal deposits; others protected themselves by +armor and crawled about more or less unmolested, +while not a few even went so far as to +take refuge in the ground.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></p> + +<p>The giant among all amphibians was Eryops, +of the Permian, with a length of about eight +feet. He <ins title="Original has 'loked'" id="looked1">looked</ins> somewhat like an immensely +overgrown salamander with flabby sprawling +legs that were incapable of lifting his body +from the ground except by the greatest effort. +His skull was from two to two and a half feet +in length, and looked like that of a gigantic +frog, the jaws were equipped with sharp, cone-shaped +teeth and sharp, powerful tusks. Evidently +Eryops held about the same position in +Permian swamps of Texas as the alligator does +in the Georgia bayous of today, lying near the +surface of the water with only its eyes and +nostrils exposed until the approach of a victim +stirred it to movement.</p> + +<p>Sharply contrasted with the giant Eryops, +and doubtless often its victim, was the unique +Diplocaulus. The head of this amphibian was +the form of a rather angular crescent, with +strong spines directed to the rear, and protected +by heavy armor. The eyes and nostrils +were directed straight upward, and situated at +the forward end of the skull. The body, remarkably +enough, was long, thin, and eel-like, +with only rudimentary limb bones, and delicate +ribs. Probably the animal spent its entire life +in the water, wriggling along and pushing its +enormous head before it along the slimy bottom. +Perhaps, when attacked from above, Diplocaulus +was thrown into a frenzy of energy +that lifted his heavy, armored head above the +bottom, and thrashed it about in the water, +but anything like swimming must have been +quite beyond his power.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<figure class="figleft illowp31" id="p10" style="max-width: 46.4375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p10.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>FIG. 2</p> + <p>Diplocaulus, the most bizarre + amphibian known.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>But, bizarre though <ins title="Original has 'The'" id="the">the</ins> amphibians of this +Permian deposit are, they are exceeded by the +reptiles. These creatures, as we have seen, +made their appearance +in the Pennsylvanian, +or late “Carboniferous,” +and already, in the very +beginning of their history, +they showed an +astonishing diversity of +form and habit. There +were reptiles that lived +in the water, and reptiles +that lived on dry +land; reptiles that ate +flesh, reptiles that ate +plants, and reptiles that +ate both. Some of them +were extremely primitive, +closely resembling +their amphibian ancestors, +while others were +like nothing that has +lived either before or +since.</p> + +<p>The simplest of the +flesh-eating reptiles +were aquatic, living in +the waters of swamps +and rivers, and perhaps +even in the sea. Their +bodies and tails were +long and slender; their +teeth were simple, cone-shaped +affairs of almost +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>equal size throughout the entire length of +the jaw. Such a dentition indicates that the +reptiles possessing it preyed upon small animals +which they did not have to tear to pieces; +they merely seized their food and swallowed it, +leaving the entire process of digestion to the +internal organs, just as do the snakes of today. +The upper portions—called dorsal spines—of +the backbones in these forms were short, as +they are in most lizards, and did not project +through the skin.</p> + +<p>In other, and somewhat higher reptiles, the +teeth appear to be differentiated, those at the +forward ends of both jaws being enlarged to +form tusks, while the posterior ones are flattened, +so that cutting edges are developed that +would cut the prey and assist materially in its +capture. In some of these same forms the +dorsal spines of the backbones are very high, +and project above the back as does the fin of +a fish.</p> + +<p>In Dimetrodon, the last of the series of +spiny backed, carnivorous reptiles, these characters +reached their culmination. The incisor +and canine tusks attained an enormous length +and strength, projecting from the jaws as much +as three inches. The notch back of the incisors +is large and deep, and the posterior teeth +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[Pg 12]</span>of both jaws are recurved and have sharp, +serrated edges so that they must have had all +of the cutting power of a Malay knife or <i>kris</i>. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[Pg 13]</span>A more effective set of weapons for the cruel +business of capturing prey and holding it despite +its desperate, agonized struggles hardly +could be conceived. At the same time, the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[Pg 14]</span>spines on the back developed to an enormous +length, and in some species tapered with the +delicacy of a whip lash. The tail was short +and strong, and the feet armed with well-developed +claws, all of which go to show that +the animal was purely land dwelling in habit. +Dimetrodon reached lengths of more than eight +feet, and was by all odds the largest and most +powerful creature of his day. We can imagine +him crouching in the bushes or tall grasses by +the side of some stream, watching for other +reptiles that come to quench their thirst, and +making a fierce, scuttling rush upon his prey. +Most often, perhaps, this was another reptile, +but the ponderous, slow-moving amphibians +also must have suffered from the attack of the +powerful Dimetrodon. There is ample evidence +that these animals often waged fierce +battles among themselves, for it is common to +find bones which have been broken during life +and healed again, telling of furious reptilian +contests for mates or territory, or perhaps with +the single brute idea of a cannibalistic meal.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp97" id="p12" style="max-width: 119.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p12.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE I.</p> + <p>Restoration of Dimetrodon, the largest animal of + the Permian lands.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p13" style="max-width: 129.4375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p13.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE II.</p> + <p>Naosaurus (Edaphosaurus), the profusely spined + mud-grubber. (After Case.)</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>But a more wonderful animal still has left +its remains among the rocks of this delta. +Like Dimetrodon, it possessed high spines on +the back, but instead of being simple and tapering, +they were furnished with projecting processes +on either side, much like the yard arms +of old fashioned sailing ships. This resemblance +led Cope, a pioneer American paleontologist, +to call the animal Naosaurus, or “Ship +Lizard.” But in spite of his fierce appearance, +Naosaurus was totally unlike Dimetrodon in +habit, being a peaceful, sluggish eater of shellfish, +and perhaps of plants. This animal probably +has the most remarkable dentition of any +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>creature known. The incisor teeth are chisel-like, +as though useful in cutting strong, coarse +vegetation; behind them are five triangular +teeth not unlike those of such flesh-eaters as +the lion and tiger; behind these are simple +cones, like those of the primitive lizards. But, +most wonderful of all, on both the palate and +the corresponding portion of the lower jaw are +heavy plates of bone covered by short, stumpy +teeth, such as occur in the jaws of those fish +which live upon shellfish. Seemingly, therefore, +the animal ate all sorts of food, but instead +of having a generalized pattern of teeth +like the pig or man, it possessed a separate +set for each type of diet.</p> + +<p>The discovery that Naosaurus was an eater +of plants and molluscs, and not a predatory +form, makes more perplexing than ever the +question as to the use of the spines on the +back. On such a thick-bodied, sluggish mud-grubber +the cross-barred spines must have had +about the same value as an ornamental frieze +on a canal boat. What conditions of environment +could have produced similar structures on +creatures of such dissimilar habits as Dimetrodon +and Naosaurus?</p> + +<p>The structure of the animal shows that these +spines were not covered by flesh, but by a thin +membrane of skin, through which the spines +showed as plainly as the rays in the fin of a +fish. It is hard to conceive of this great dorsal +frill as being anything but a hindrance to both +pursuer and pursued. Cope suggested, in a +spirit of fun, that these animals were the natural +<ins title="Original has 'percursors'" id="precursors">precursors</ins> of the modern fin-keeled yacht, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>and that when they wished to navigate the +Permian waters they swam upon their backs. +Other authors have made other suggestions of +about the same note, but few have been able +to make any serious contribution on the subject. +The obvious suggestion is that the spines +served as some form of protective mimicry, +helping the animal to remain concealed among +the reeds which bordered the lakes or streams. +But this seems hardly necessary in an animal +that was the dominant form of its time and +needed no concealment unless as an aid to lying +in wait or making an unseen approach until +sufficiently near for its final rush upon its unsuspecting +prey. This last, is perhaps, a fair suggestion, +but it seems that the burden of maintaining +such a weak structure must have far +outweighed any advantage of concealment. The +spines were slender and were constantly being +broken in battle and by accident, and the animal +must have expended no inconsiderable amount +of energy in repairing the damaged structure.</p> + +<p>There remains the suggestion that the spines +were remnants of a formerly useful structure, +and that their mature condition was purely due +to overgrowth. It seems certain that when a +structure has developed so far as to give +an animal a distinct advantage it may +continue to grow until it is a burden rather +than a help. Thus the spines, originating as +a protective feature, may have given their +possessors such a decided advantage that they +were almost free from attack. In this stage +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[Pg 17]</span>they may have become over-nourished, and have +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[Pg 18]</span>continued growing by a sort of inertia or momentum +until they reached their greatly exaggerated +development.⁠<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Furthermore, there is +a tendency, both in plants and in animals, for +a species nearing its extinction to develop a +spiny or horny habit. This we saw in the invertebrates, +among the aging Cephalopods, and +it is quite conceivable that a similar state of +affair prevails among these reptiles. For Dimetrodon +and Naosaurus,⁠<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> dominant though +they were, were nearing the end of their life +cycle. In their senile <ins title="Original has 'aderrations'" id="aberrations">aberrations</ins> they carried +the development of spines to greater and +greater lengths, until, in their declining strength +they were unable to maintain their species, +and so disappeared from the earth.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp58" id="p17" style="max-width: 103.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p17.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE III.</p> + <p>Permian vertebrates, restored by Williston and + others. 1-3 are reptiles, while 4 is an amphibian.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> Case, E. C., “A Great Permian Delta and its Vertebrate +Life,” Pop. Sci. Monthly, Dec. 1908. +This quotation is somewhat paraphrased, while +the remainder of this chapter is based very +largely on the article.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> Paraphrased from Case, Loc. Cit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> A relatively recent discovery, made by Dr. Case, +shows that the name Naosaurus must be +dropped, being replaced by the earlier name +Edaphosaurus. The former name, however, is +the commoner, as well as the more descriptive.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II"> + CHAPTER II. + <br> + THE DINOSAURS. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>The continent of North America during that +portion of the earth’s history which we may +call the Age of Reptiles would have seemed to +our eyes like another world. The present +coastal outlines, mountain chains, valleys, +rivers, lakes, and plains have, with few exceptions, +come into being long since that time. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>During the early part⁠<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> of the age there were +high mountains in the eastern part of the continent, +which sent strong, muddy streams flowing +to the Atlantic. California, on the other +hand, was under the Pacific; the Sierra Nevada +region was a great trough, while throughout +that region which is now eastern Colorado, +Utah, western Texas, and Arizona there lay a +belt of broad, shallow lakes.</p> + +<p>The plant life of those times differed as +much from that of previous ages as from those +that were to follow. The great Pennsylvanian +coal forests of lepidodendrons, sigillarias, and +their allies, had almost completely vanished +from the earth. The higher lands were clothed +with cone-bearers, such as the Aurucarian pines +of present day Australia. Thick, gloomy forests +of tree ferns covered the moist regions, +while great “canebrakes” of horsetail reeds +whose stems reached four or five inches in +thickness bordered the bayous and marshes. +Cycads, trees which, though related to the +pines and spruces, look like palms, were abundant +in the forests of this time.</p> + +<p>During the middle portion of the Age of +Reptiles conditions, both in geography and in +plant life, underwent no striking change. But +in the late Mesozoic, the Cretaceous period, +there were many changes. The Atlantic Ocean +encroached on the eastern part of the continent, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>while the Gulf of Mexico extended as far +north as Illinois, and reached westward over +Texas. A broad mediterranean sea stretched +from the Gulf to the Arctic Ocean, and from +Iowa to Utah, with the Colorado Mountains +rising from it as a chain of islands. West of +the sea was a broad belt of swamp land which +extended from northern Alberta almost to +Mexico.</p> + +<p>The plants of the Cretaceous changed with +the geography. The Cycads, so abundant in +the early Mesozoic, became rare in most regions. +The highest types of flowering plants +gained an almost complete ascendancy, and +forests of a decidedly modern appearance covered +the continent from the Gulf of Mexico to +the Arctic Ocean. “Among the kinds of forest +trees whose remains are found in the continental +deposits of the Cretaceous are the +magnolia, the myrtle, the laurel, the fig, the tulip +tree, the chestnut, the oak, beech, elm, +poplar, willow, birch and maple. Forests of +Eucalyptus grew along the coast of New England,⁠<a id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +and palms on the Pacific shores of +British Columbia. Sequoias of many varieties +ranged far into northern Canada. In northern +Greenland there were luxuriant forests of +magnolias, figs, and cycads; and a similar flora +has been disinterred from the Cretaceous rocks +of Alaska and Spitsbergen. Evidently the +lands within the Arctic Circle enjoyed a warm +and genial climate, as they had done during +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>the Paleozoic. Greenland had the temperature +of Cuba and southern Florida, and the time +was yet far distant when it was to be wrapped +in glacier ice.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_6_6" href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the conditions under which flourished +the mightiest race of animals that has +ever lived upon land. The Dinosaurs not only +were the dominant animals of their time, but +they reached sizes so great that they have been +rivalled by but one group of mammals—the +whales. They maintained their supremacy +throughout a long period of time estimated at +from nine to one hundred millions of years; +they survived important changes in geography +and climate, and became extinct through a +combination of causes which are yet only half +known. Perhaps the great changes in life +conditions at the end of the Cretaceous had +much to do with their disappearance, as may +also have been true of other reptiles living at +the same time. Not improbably, too, the rise +of egg-eating mammals, more intelligent and +active than the <ins title="Original has 'diosaurs'" id="dinosaurs">dinosaurs</ins>, was a factor; and last +of all, there remains the ever ready and ever +probable hypothesis of racial old age.</p> + +<p>The Dinosaurs were descended, in the opinion +of those who have studied them, from +primitive, lizard-like reptiles with fairly long +limbs, long tails, five toes on each foot, and a +complete series of sharp pointed teeth. In +all probability, according to Dr. W. D. Matthew,⁠<a id="FNanchor_7_7" href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>this ancestor was fully capable of living +on dry land, and was more or less in the habit +of walking on its hind legs alone.</p> + +<p>One of the most striking things about the +Dinosaurs is their notable lack of brain power. +In man, a creature weighing anywhere from +one hundred twenty to two hundred pounds, +on the average, the weight of a normal brain +is about three pounds. The smallest brain that +can exist and possess reasoning powers is about +two pounds, while the smallest human brain +known to be fitted for life alone weighs just +a little more than ten ounces.</p> + +<p>We can readily see that if conditions were +proportionate among the Dinosaurs the size of +the brain would be almost unbelievable. Instead, +the reptile Claosaurus, which once inhabited +the valleys of Maryland, and was +twenty-five feet long and more than twelve feet +high, had a brain so small that it must have +weighed less than one pound. Brachiosaurus, +probably the biggest beast that ever walked, +was not much better equipped, while Triceratops, +a Dinosaur having more than twice the +bulk of the average elephant, possessed a brain +weighing about two pounds. Truly they who +are prone to refer to the “brainlessness” of human +beings should consider the Dinosaurs before +they speak! These great beasts must have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>known just about enough to rest when they +were tired and eat when they were hungry; +“coming in out of the rain” doubtless was an +idea altogether <ins title="Original has 'to'" id="too">too</ins> complicated for them to +grasp.</p> + +<p>But, as Lucas and others have emphasized, +intelligence is one thing and living another and +a very different one. The poor, weak brains +of the Dinosaurs doubtless had but little to +do with the primary functions of life; the +spinal cord took care of them. In some of the +beasts, notably in the armored giant Stegosaurus, +the spinal cord possessed a sacral enlargement +that was twenty times as large as +the brain. This remarkable fact, when announced +by Professor Marsh, attracted great +attention, and was made the subject of much +newspaper writing. Thousands of people who +would never recognize the name Stegosaur are +familiar with the marvelous character of that +beast as he is described in this catchy though +fanciful poem:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p24" style="max-width: 136.9375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p24.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE IV.</p> + <p>The armored giant Stegosaurus.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span></p> +<br> +<p class="center">THE DINOSAUR.</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold the mighty dinosaur,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Famous in prehistoric lore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not only for his weight and strength</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But for his intellectual length.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You will observe by these remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The creature had two sets of brains—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One in his head (the usual place),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The other at his spinal base.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus he could reason a priori</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As well as a posteriori.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No problem bothered him a bit:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He made both head and tail of it.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So wise he was, so wise and solemn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each thought just filled a spinal column.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If one brain found the pressure strong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It passed a few ideas along;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If something slipt his forward mind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twas rescued by the one behind;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if in error he was caught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He had a saving afterthought.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As he thought twice before he spoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He had no judgments to revoke;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For he could think without congestion,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon both sides of every question.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ gaze upon this model beast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Defunct ten million years at least!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p>The Dinosaurs, like all other groups of animals, +may be divided into sub-groups, depending +on habits, structure, etc. The commonest +classification separates them into three divisions: +the carnivorous, the amphibious, and +the beaked. One of the most remarkable of the +flesh-eating species, though not the largest, is +Allosaurus, a powerful reptile that once roamed +over the western part of North America. He +walked by means of his hind legs only, using +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[Pg 26]</span>his long tail as a balance for his body. The +huge head, armed with long, sharp teeth, was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[Pg 27]</span>set on a heavy, short neck; casts of the brain +indicate that it was of much the same type as +that of the modern alligator, but considerably +less effective.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p26" style="max-width: 133.9375em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p26.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE V.</p> + <p>One of the greater carnivorous dinosaurs, showing + the large head, long teeth, tiny fore limbs + and ponderous walking legs typical of the + group. (Modified after Lull.)</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Allosaurus lived upon dry land, seldom venturing +into the great Mesozoic swamps. He +was predaceous, attacking his prey in swift, +mighty rushes, tearing it with the jaws and +occasionally striking it with the powerful tail. +Anything like the elaborate stalking of game +such as we see in the tiger and lion of today +was impossible to the Dinosaur; he simply lay +in wait until the close approach of prey stimulated +him to his tremendous but half instinctive +rush. The kill was torn to pieces and +swallowed without chewing, as is the case with +the alligator of today.</p> + +<p>The amphibious Dinosaurs, which must have +provided much of the food for Allosaurus and +his kin, were characterized by blunt teeth and +claws, strong, elephant-like legs and feet, long +neck, and small head. They attained very +great size, some of them, as we have said, being +the largest of land animals. They may +well be typified by Brontosaurus, the Thunder +Lizard, which though not the longest, was +one of the largest of his kind. The skeleton +which is mounted in the American Museum +is sixty-six feet long, the animal when alive +having weighed about thirty-eight tons. The +body was large and rather short; the neck long, +and the head small. The tail was long and +thick, and the legs massive and post-like. The +bones of the legs were very long and heavy, the +thigh bones being from five to six feet long—the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>largest single bones so far discovered. The +vertebrae, or “backbones,” were as much as +four and one-half feet high, being larger than +those of the whale.</p> + +<p>The teeth and general structure of Brontosaurus +give fairly reliable evidence as to the +habits of the animal. It spent its life in the +shallow water of lagoons, feeding upon the +succulent water plants. There is no evidence +that it swam very much; probably its principal +mode of progression was wading, with +the immense body partly supported by the +water. Perhaps the beast occasionally left the +water for the purpose of laying eggs, as is +shown in Knight’s oft-printed restoration. It +appears, however, that Brontosaurus was not +built for land travel; that his joints were so +imperfectly formed that he could not have +moved on land without tearing those of the +leg to pieces. Dr. Matthew thinks that the +species of this genus bore their young alive, +as do certain modern reptiles, and therefore +had no need to leave the swamps and bayous +at any time during their lives.</p> + +<p>Within the last few years there have come +sketchy preliminary accounts of a mammoth +find near Tendaguru, Africa, by an expedition +sent out from Germany. They announce the +discovery of a Dinosaur whose neck and fore +limbs far exceeded those of Brontosaurus, although +the hinder parts of the skeleton were +relatively small. It appears that this giant, +which the German savants appropriately +named Gigantosaurus, is identical with the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[Pg 29]</span>American form Brachiosaurus, whose fragmentary +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[Pg 30]</span>remains are on exhibit at the Field +Museum of Chicago. It is, without question +the largest known Dinosaur, so far as weight +goes—a long-necked wading creature that +lived much as did Brontosaurus but was capable +of going into considerably deeper waters, +quite beyond reach of the fierce carnivorous +giants of the land.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p29" style="max-width: 132.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p29.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE VI.</p> + <p>Fig. 1—Diplodocus, the longest Dinosaur known.</p> + <p>Fig. 2—Brontosaurus, the giant that could not walk except in water, + because of his great weight and feeble joints.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The distinctive character of the third group +of Dinosaurs is the possession of a horny +beak or bill, much like that of modern birds. +Indeed, there are many features in the anatomy +of these reptiles that indicate their relationship +to the birds, and it is probable that the remote +ancestors of the two groups were very +closely connected—perhaps identical. But the +ancestral birds developed feathers and took +to flying, while the ancestral beaked Dinosaurs +(Predentates) specialized in the direction of +land life, and in their later development became +even more widely diversified in form +than did their feathered relatives.</p> + +<p>The beaked Dinosaurs lived entirely upon +vegetable food. The best known of them, +Triceratops or “He-of-the-three-horned-head,” +<ins title="Original has 'loked'" id="looked2">looked</ins> more like a gigantic, long-tailed rhinoceros +than a reptile. Above each eye was a +long, sharp horn which extended forward; the +bony cores which remain in the fossils are as +much as thirty-three inches long, and during +life the horny covering must have lengthened +them by six inches to a foot. The horn above +the nose was considerably shorter, yet would +have compared favorably with that of many +rhinoceroses.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> + +<p>“Standing before the skull of Triceratops,” +says Dr. Lucas, “... 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>Two Triceratops horns in the possession of +the United States National Museum bear the +marks of such an encounter as that described +by Dr. Lucas, for one of them is broken about +half way between the tip and the base, and +the stump is healed and rounded over. Evidently +their owner was not seriously injured +in the fight, but lived to a ripe old age in spite +of <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[Pg 32]</span>his infirmity.</p> + +<p>Triceratops had a number of relatives, at +least one of which is even more famous than +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[Pg 33]</span>himself. This is Stegosaurus, the great Armored +Dinosaur that possessed the remarkable enlargement +of the spinal cord. Like his three-horned +relative, Stegosaurus was a land dweller +that walked upon four legs. His head was +very small, as were his fore limbs; his body +was very large, and his tail long and powerful. +Along his back ran two rows of bony plates, +some of which were four inches thick at the +base, and two and one-half feet high. The tail +bore, near the tip, two pairs of spines which +were almost as long as the back plates, and +half again as thick. The hind limbs were long +and straight, in marked contrast with the front +ones, so that the creature when walking must +have appeared to be in constant danger of +turning a somersault.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p32" style="max-width: 133.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p32.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE VII. Triceratops, the Three Horned Reptile.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>Stegosaurus was a contemporary of Brontosaurus +and the carnivorous Allosaurus. Like +the former, he was a peaceful plant feeder, +but unlike him, did not flee to the shallows in +order to avoid his flesh-eating relatives. For +this great armor, although undoubtedly developed +in the interests of peace, was hardly +designed with any consideration for the Hebrew +creed of turning one cheek when the +other is smitten. Stegosaurus was too brainless +and to clumsy to go about seeking trouble, +but to those creatures foolhardy enough to attack +him he could offer stiff resistance. A +few blows of the huge spiked tail, more powerful +than the club of the mightiest ogre of mythology, +would be quite enough for even such +giants as Allosaurus. Stegosaurus, like the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>rhinoceros of modern Africa, probably went +his way unharming and unharmed.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p>The Dinosaurs first appeared during the +Triassic period when they roamed through the +valleys of eastern North America in great numbers, +leaving their footprints on the soft, fine +mud of the valley flats. The succeeding period, +the Jurassic, was their Golden Age—the age of +Brontosaurus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus +and other monsters. During the Comanchean +and Cretaceous periods the larger +Dinosaurs became extinct, and were supplanted +by the smaller beaked forms, such as Triceratops. +At the end of the Cretaceous period, +which was also the end of the Age of Reptiles, +the Dinosaurs became almost totally extinct. +Perhaps a few of them survived in specially +favored localities, for Dinosaur bones are found +in rocks which a number of geologists refer +to the beginning of the Age of Mammals. But +such survivals were of <ins title="Original has 'smalll'" id="small">small</ins> importance, and +had little effect on the general annihilation. +The Dinosaurs were unable to meet the demands +of a dry-land environment, and joined +the great hosts of creatures that at various +times have held the earth in their sway and +then, defeated by causes at which we can only +guess, have passed into extinction.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Mesozoic Era, or Age of Reptiles, is divided +into four periods—Triassic, Jurassic, Comanchean, +and Cretaceous. The first two are here +referred to as the “early” part of the age; the +third as the “middle,” and the fourth as the +“late.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5" class="label">[5]</a> The Eucalyptus is now common in Australia, +while the Sequoia is the “Big Tree” of California.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6_6" href="#FNanchor_6_6" class="label">[6]</a> Norton, Elements of Geology, 1st Ed., p. 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7_7" href="#FNanchor_7_7" class="label">[7]</a> Dr. Matthew, curator of vertebrate paleontology +at the American Museum of Natural History, is +one of the authorities on Dinosaurs. His book, +“Dinosaurs,” published by the Museum, has afforded +much of the material to be found in +this chapter.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III"> + CHAPTER III. + <br> + REPTILES RE-CONQUER THE SEA. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>The sea, as we have seen, was the metropolis +of primitive life. Then came the amphibia, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>the scene of animal activities was partially +transferred to land, while with the coming of +reptiles the abandoning of the sea by the +higher forms of life seemed to be insured. +Yet the change did not come so rapidly as one +might think, for the reptiles after having +begun their conquest of the land sent not less +than three great branches back to the water, +and one of these, at least, extended its domain +around the world, from the islands of the +South Seas to what are now the plains of +North America.</p> + +<p>During the latter part of the Age of Reptiles +a great island sea spread over a large part of +this continent, while other portions of the +world were similarly inundated. Almost everywhere +on the expanse of the shallow Cretaceous +waters might have been seen the forms of +huge, snake-like reptiles, the Elasmosaurs, +whose arrow-shaped heads, poised on long +necks rose from ten to twenty feet above the +surface as they swam about <ins title="Original has 'seaching'" id="searching">searching</ins> for food +or avoiding enemies. When the prey was located, +the reptiles dived to capture it; when an +enemy approached they swam away with almost +incredible swiftness. Their long necks +were attached to large, thick bodies which ended +in long, tapering tails. The legs were modified +to form broad paddles, of great value in +swimming; the front pair, perhaps, were used +in seizing prey. Being carnivorous, the Elasmosaur +ate whatever it could catch, and +Elasmosaur bones are commonly found along +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[Pg 36]</span>with those of creatures on which they fed. Not +uncommonly large quantities of rounded pebbles +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[Pg 37]</span>are found with the remains of these reptiles, +sometimes a peck of them in a single +deposit. These stones filled the same purpose +as do the “gizzard stones” found in the +stomachs of modern birds. Evidently the Elasmosaurs +and their allies did not tear or bite +their food into small bits, but relied on the +action of their stomachs, assisted by these +stones, to do the work.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p36" style="max-width: 135.0625em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p36.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE VIII. An Elasmosaur swimming, as drawn by Williston.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>But, remarkable though these reptiles may +seem, they were by no means the rulers of the +Mesozoic oceans and seas. The great Mosasaurs +were not only the giants of those waters, +but were far more numerous and wide-spread +than their less hardy and prolific contemporaries.</p> + +<p>We may quite properly call these animals +great, for so they were. But it is well to remember +that among the lower animals as +among men there are degrees of greatness; +moreover there is a general desire on the part +of men to magnify the animals of the past, +and consider them as being far larger than +any that live today. Few people, when thinking +of ancient creatures, stop to recollect that +the whales of today are by far the largest animals +that ever lived on the earth, just as modern +shellfish compare very favorably with +those of past ages. True, there are no reptiles +today that compare with the largest of the +Dinosaurs, but by no means all of the Dinosaurs +were giants. A few Mosasaurs attained +a length of forty feet—some even forty-five—but +most of them were less than twenty. +Among modern reptiles, the Mugger, or Man-eating +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span>Crocodile of Africa grows, if allowed +to live long enough, to a length of twenty-five +or thirty feet, and therefore exceeds in measurements +as well as weight the average Mosasaur.</p> + +<p>The Mosasaurs were elongated and gracefully +fish-like in form. Their heads were large, flattened, +and conical; the eyes were placed on +the sides rather than the top of the skull. +Their tails were long, with flattened, fin-like +extensions that assisted the four broad, powerful +flippers when the creatures were swimming. +Like their distant relatives, the snakes, +they possessed four rows of teeth on the roof +of the mouth. These teeth were valueless for +chewing, but were of utmost service in holding +the prey, which was swallowed entire. The +probability is that the tongue was long and +forked, while the structure of the throat and +windpipe indicates that the mighty Mosasaur’s +only call was a serpent-like hiss.</p> + +<p>The first Mosasaur was discovered in the +quarries beneath St. Peter’s Mount, near Maestritch, +Germany, some ninety feet below the +surface. Immediately on finding the specimen +the workmen informed Dr. Hoffman, the surgeon +of the local forces, and an ardent collector +of fossils. He labored with the quarrymen +for two weeks, and was rewarded by an +almost perfect specimen which he took to his +home and cleaned with great care and success. +The fossil was so unusual, and was made the +basis of so many papers, illustrations, and discussions, +that the canon of the cathedral which +stands on St. Peter’s decided that he should +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>own the specimen. Dr. Hoffman refused to +give it up, and Canon Goddin instituted a long, +expensive, and harassing law-suit, making certain +feudal rights the basis of his claim. The +whole chapter, of course, stood with their reverend +brother, and the decree went against +the surgeon, who was forced to give up his +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>specimen and pay the costs of the trial. For +several years the skull remained in the possession +of the clergyman, and Hoffman died +without regaining it. Finally, during the +French revolution, Maestritch was bombarded +and captured. During the attack, the artillerymen +had not been allowed to shoot into that +part of the city where the fossil was known +to be. The canon, guessing the reason for +this particular favor, hid the skull in a vault, +but was forced to give it up when the city was +plundered. The French, who did not hesitate +to appropriate anything of value in either science +or art, bore the famous Mosasaur off to +Paris, and put it in the museum at the Jardin +des Planes, where it still remains.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp70" id="p39" style="max-width: 91.75em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p39.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE IX.</p> + <p>A Mosasaur swimming.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The first American Mosasaur discovery took +place in 1820, at Great Bend, Mo. Major O’Fallon, +an Indian agent, found a fine specimen +which he took to his home in the town of St. +Louis. A few years later the relic was taken +to Germany by Prince Maximilian of Wied, +after his famous trip through the United States +in search of natural history specimens and information. +Since that time hundreds, even +thousands, of specimens have been collected +and described from the Cretaceous rocks of +this country. The shallow seas that covered +Kansas were the headquarters of the Mosasaurs, +and their skeletons are abundant in the +chalk cliffs of the district.</p> + +<p>Among the fishes which were the prey of +the Mosasaurs was the great Portheus, or Bulldog +fish, whose long, sharp teeth and powerful +body indicate that it often evened matters by +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>capturing smaller mosasaurs. The head of this +monster was twice as large as that of a grizzly +bear, while the muzzle was stouter and deeper +than that of a bulldog. Some of the teeth projected +as much as three inches above the gums, +sinking a full inch into the pits—as long as +the fangs of a tiger, but more slender. Two +pairs of these deadly teeth crossed each other +on either side of the snout, and were re-enforced +by numerous other long, conical teeth +farther back on the jaw.</p> + +<p>Above the water soared or flew—it is not yet +decided which—the great Pterosaurs, or winged +reptiles. According to the current conception, +these great beasts flew above the water, +swooping down to snatch fishes and smaller +mosasaurs, on which they fed. Some of the +Pterosaurs had wing spreads of eighteen to +twenty feet, and if they actually did fly, were +without doubt the largest of all denizens of the +air. At night and while resting they clung to +cliffs and rocks by means of the long claws +with which their wings were equipped.</p> + +<p>While we do not know whether or not the +Mosasaurs fed upon turtles, there were plenty +from which they might have made their +choice. One of them, at least, was of gigantic +size, having a flipper spread of at least fifteen +feet. The skin was smooth and leathery, that +over the back being strengthened by several +ridges of stiffer integument. The back flippers +were relatively small, while the front ones were +very broad and without an armor of claws.</p> + +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p> + +<p>Gradually, after countless centuries of relative +quiet, the earth began to re-shape its +surface. Mountains, plains, and plateaus arose, +leaving those sea-dwellers that could not swim +or crawl to perish in the hot suns of a new +time. The once broad seas grew smaller and +smaller, were divided into lakes and basins, +continued shrinking. The sea-dwellers were +imprisoned in these basins, where they preyed +upon each other with greater ease than <ins title="Original has 'has'" id="had">had</ins> +been possible in the open waters of earlier times, +while the fishes died from the constant freshening +of the water. The stronger gorged upon +the weaker until they were left stranded on +the ever rising bars, with no food but their +kindred, and little strength to either attack +or escape. At the last they may have made +desperate attempts to escape by land, or else +lay starving in the shallow, muddy pools. Perhaps +as the waters shrank a few of the great +saurians fed with them, eventually making their +way into the new sea and ocean areas. But +in all <ins title="Original has 'probalility'" id="probability">probability</ins> any such refugees were so +beaten and starved that they had but little +chance for success in life under their new environment. +By the time of the great uplift +which proved their undoing, the Mosasaurs and +their allies were an old race,⁠<a id="FNanchor_8_8" href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> and had little +vitality left with which to cope with new situations. +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>They died, leaving no descendants,⁠<a id="FNanchor_9_9" href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +and only the scattered remains in Cretaceous +rocks remain to tell of the once mighty hordes.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8_8" href="#FNanchor_8_8" class="label">[8]</a> For a discussion of the age of groups, life cycle +of species, etc., see the author’s booklet, “Animals +of Ancient Seas,” No. 47 of this Series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9_9" href="#FNanchor_9_9" class="label">[9]</a> Rumors of Paleozoic monsters living in remote +portions of the earth appear constantly, but +without foundation in fact. Just this year +(1922) newspapers and some magazines have +made a great to-do about a Plesiosaur that +was supposed to be living in a South American +lake. The Plesiosaurs, aside from being as +ancient as the Mosasaurs, were exclusively +marine; therefore, a report of one of them in +a lake is utterly absurd.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV"> + CHAPTER IV. + <br> + THE MOST ANCIENT BIRDS. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>When and how the first bird came into being +is one of the undiscovered secrets of paleontology. +The probability is that at some time during +the late Triassic—the first division of the +Mesozoic, or “Middle Life” era—a little reptile +somewhat like the smallest of the bird-like +dinosaurs developed feathers and began to make +short flights through the air. Whether this +reptile, which actually may have been a dinosaur, +developed wings on his forelegs and rose +from the ground, or whether he developed +feathers on both front and hind legs and began +by gliding, is a matter of theory. Just now the +latter view seems to be the more elaborately +worked out, and therefore the more widely accepted. +But there is fashion in theories just +as there is in dress, and some new discovery +may easily render the supposed four-winged +ancestor passe.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p> + +<p>But, uncertain though the <ins title="Original has 'oirgin'" id="origin">origin</ins> of birds +may be, there is little doubt regarding the most +ancient known member of the class. It is the +famous Archeopteryx, found in the equally +noted lithographic quarries at Solenhofen, +Bavaria. This ancient bird, for all practical +purposes the starting point in the history of +the feathered animals,⁠<a id="FNanchor_10_10" href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> was considerably smaller +than a crow, and possessed a short, strong +beak which was armed with sharp, reptile-like +teeth. The wings were short and broad, while +the tail was considerably longer than the rest +of the body, and was of very remarkable construction. +As everyone who has ever shot +sparrows or plucked a chicken knows, the tail +of a modern bird is made up very much like +a feather fan, and closes up like one, with the +bony part very short and broad. In the Archeopteryx, +however, the tail was long and lizard-like, +with the feathers placed in pairs, one pair to +each tail joint. Thus the creature when flying +must have looked much like an undersized crow +dragging after him a palm leaf instead of a +tail.</p> + +<p>As may be inferred from the foregoing description, +the feathers of Archeopteryx are well +preserved in the two fossils which have been +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[Pg 45]</span>found. However, they are shown only on certain +parts of the body, and from this some +scientists have concluded that the bird possessed +feathers on only the wings, tail, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[Pg 46]</span>thighs. There seems, however, to be little +ground for this conclusion, and restorations of +the creature showing it as a bird-like lizard +with a few tufts of feathers are hardly to be +relied upon. It is very improbable that such +highly developed feathers as those which are +preserved should have been present without +the more primitive ones being found on the +back, breast, and neck. Also, since the feathers +of the latter type are smaller and more easily +destroyed than those of the wings and tail, it is +quite natural that they should fail to be preserved +in the old Jurassic sediments.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="p45" style="max-width: 76.6875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p45.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE X.</p> + <p>The fossil remains of Archeopteryx.</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The Archeopteryx lived during the period +when the Dinosaurs were in the height of their +glory. Whether or not he was descended from +any of the birds who, without much question, +left tracks in the Connecticut valley during +the preceding age cannot be determined. Doubtless +those ancient forms would hardly have +been recognizable as birds, yet inasmuch as they +wore feathers they may properly be placed in +that group. For we may both concisely and +accurately define birds as animals with feathers, +for feathers are possessed by every bird that +lives, and are possessed by no creatures other +than birds. Flight, as we shall see in the next +chapter, is a characteristic that is by no means +universal in the bird world, but even the flightless +birds, such as the ostrich and the Apteryx, +are covered with feathers. True, in the penguins, +birds that spend most of their time on +and under the water, the feathers have been +changed so that they are hardly recognizable, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[Pg 47]</span>yet a closer examination shows the essential +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[Pg 48]</span>structure to be there, and our definition is +upheld.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp54" id="p47" style="max-width: 79.25em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p47.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE XI.</p> + <p>Hesperornis swimming beneath the water.</p> + <p>(After Lucas.)</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<p>The next birds of which we have relics were +inhabitants of the western part of our own +country, and although separated by tens or hundreds +of thousands of years from the Jurassic +Archeopteryx, they still possessed teeth—a +characteristic that separates them sharply from +all modern birds. They were first collected +during the years 1870-71 by Professor O. C. +Marsh, who was at that time exploring the +chalk beds of western Kansas. It was not until +1873, however, that Marsh was able to give his +specimens a thorough laboratory examination +and discovered that the jaws were set with +teeth, thus establishing a new and most important +fact in evolution.⁠<a id="FNanchor_11_11" href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Previous to this men +had been quite willing to believe that birds +were descended from toothed animals, for all +the creatures from which they might have come +were toothed, but not a few hesitated to acknowledge +that birds themselves possessed similar +equipment. But with Marsh’s discovery the +case was proved, and “scarce as hen’s teeth” +ceased to be a joke, at least so far as fossils +are concerned.</p> + +<p>The larger of the two species of birds found +in Kansas was a truly remarkable creature, in +some ways the most astonishing bird that has +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>ever lived. Hesperornis (western bird) looked +much like an overgrown, wingless loon, or “hell +diver,” and was quite as much at home in the +water as is that bird. Instead of swimming with +the wings, as does the penguin of Antarctic +regions, Hesperornis swam with its legs and +feet, and did it so successfully that the wings +disappeared, with the exception of a single +bone. At the same time, the muscles of the +breast, which are used in moving the wings, +dwindled away, so that Hesperornis, although +some five feet in length, was remarkably slender +and torpedo-shaped.</p> + +<p>Concerning its habits and probable appearance +during life Dr. Lucas says: “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 those of +the leg as to turn edgewise as the foot was +brought forward and thus 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 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 +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>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 +is 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 the most +aquatic of recent birds, an instance of similarly +poor covering....</p> + +<p>“The restoration which Mr. Gleeson has +drawn⁠<a id="FNanchor_12_12" href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> differs radically from any yet made, and +is the result of 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 it has been drawn with just a suggestion of +Archaeopteryx about it.</p> + +<p>“The most extraordinary thing about Hesperornis, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>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 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, the mountings were so changed that +the legs stood out at the sides of the body, as +shown in the picture.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_13_13" href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>The birds progressed while their kindred and +ancestors, the reptiles, were declining. By the +dawn of the Eocene, the first period of the Age +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>of Mammals, the birds were very much like +those of modern times, and in the last three +million years or more very little change has +taken place. However, there were a number of +bizarre and gigantic forms which arose during +the later ages of bird ascendancy, and those we +shall consider in the following chapter.</p> + +<p>One who has observed the great abundance +of birds today might well conclude that bird +remains should be among the commonest of +the vertebrate fossils. Exactly the opposite, +however, is true, for bird bones are among the +rarest finds of the paleontological collector. +Bones of the wings and legs, and occasional +skulls, go to make up the bulk of the finds, with +smaller bones, and impressions of the feathers +turning up just often enough to keep the collector +in a constant state of anticipation. A few +eggs, also, have been found in the strata of western +United States, but as yet the birds that laid +them are unknown.</p> + +<p>The scarcity of bird fossils is a problem to +which no satisfactory answer has yet been +given. The commonest theory is that dead +birds, because of their very light weight, float +for long periods of time, and are thus exposed +to the attacks of weather, bacteria, and <ins title="Original has 'carrrion'" id="carrion">carrion</ins> +feeding birds and animals. The bones, too, are +light and easily broken, so that they will not +stand the wear as will the heavier remains of +mammals and sea-dwelling shellfish. Yet, in +certain formations of France and Oregon, where +conditions are not notably different from those +of other and barren strata, remains of birds +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>are fairly common. This proves that under +proper conditions, whatever they may have +been, bird bones did fossilize—a fact which +holds out the hope that some day a fortunate +collector will unearth a large and varied deposit, +and will then be able to fill out some of +the greater gaps in the history of feathered +creatures.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10_10" href="#FNanchor_10_10" class="label">[10]</a> That is, until a more ancient specimen is discovered. +One must always be prepared for new +discoveries in paleontology, just as in other +sciences.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11_11" href="#FNanchor_11_11" class="label">[11]</a> Although the first specimen of Archeopteryx +had been found several years before, it was too +poorly preserved to show the teeth. It was +not until 1877 that the famous Berlin specimen, +which shows the teeth and feathers so +admirably, was discovered.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12_12" href="#FNanchor_12_12" class="label">[12]</a> This restoration served as the copy for the accompanying +plate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13_13" href="#FNanchor_13_13" class="label">[13]</a> Animals of the Past, 1st Ed., pp. 83-85.</p></div></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V"> + CHAPTER V. + <br> + GIANTS OF THE FEATHERED WORLD. + </h2> +</div> + +<p>As we have seen in the preceding chapter, +the earliest birds were both stranger and, in +some cases at least, larger than most of the +species found on earth today. But as we go +upward in the geologic scale, we find that the +primitive birds were far outstripped by their +relatively modern descendants. Some of these +feathered Goliaths, such as the Ostrich of Africa, +are alive today; some have but recently become +extinct, and their relics are found by thousands +in the districts where they once roamed. Still +others, though probably not the largest of their +class, died out thousands, or even millions of +years before man appeared upon the earth. +They, like the mighty dinosaurs that preceded +them, succumbed to the many enemies which +constantly attack every animal that lives and +left the earth to their more successful rivals +and descendants.</p> + +<p>Among the best known of the more recent +avian giants, so recently extant that it still +lives in the traditions of the peoples whose +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span>ancestors feasted upon its flesh, is the great +Moa of New Zealand. The first announcement +of the existence of this remarkable bird was +made by the Rev. W. Colenso, a missionary who +later became Bishop of New Zealand. Early +in the year of 1838, <ins title="Original has 'whie'" id="while">while</ins> on a missionary trip +in the North Island, Bishop Colenso secured +from the natives of Waiapu legends regarding +a mammoth bird, called the Moa, which possessed +a human head, and which inhabited a +mountain some eighty miles inland. This creature, +according to the legends, was the last of +his kind, and was carefully guarded by two +gigantic lizards who stood watch while the +bird slept. When an enemy, especially a man, +<ins title="Original has 'aproached'" id="approached">approached</ins>, these lizards roused the Moa, who +immediately rushed upon the intruders and +trampled them to death. It appeared that none +of the savages had ever seen this bird—due, +perhaps, to its watchful guardians and fierce +prowess—but they were very sure <ins title="Original has 'if'" id="of">of</ins> its existence. +In fact, they used bones of his dead +relatives in making their fishing implements, +and these bones, they assured the bishop, were +quite as large as those of the European ox.</p> + +<p>But a short time later, another missionary, +the Rev. Richard Taylor, discovered a bone +which was said to belong to the Moa, and received +considerable free information about its +possessor from the natives with whom he was +associated. But, as Dr. Lucas remarks in telling +of the incident, just “as the foot of the +rainbow moves away as we move toward it, in +his case the bird was said to dwell in a <ins title="Original has 'quite a different'" id="quite">quite +different</ins> locality from that given by the natives +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>of East Cape” where Rev. Colenso had +secured his information. Taylor’s informants, +like the other natives, had not seen the Moa, +nor did they even know anyone who had, but +they had no doubt of its existence. When after +many years of search, however, there was not +a single explorer who had seen, heard, or tracked +the giant bird, scientists refused to believe +the tales of the natives, and some went so far +as to deny that the Moa had lived at any time +within the era of man.</p> + +<p>These latter, however, went somewhat too +far in their questioning. For even though no +man has seen the living Moa, its remains are +scattered abundantly over the hills, valleys and +swamps of New Zealand, and from them scientists +have been able to gain a very reliable idea +of the size, structure, and general appearance +of the feathered giant. Probably the most remarkable +find of Moa remains was made in +one of the large, dry caves of South Island, +where collectors secured not only a number +of bones with the original flesh adhering, but +also several patches of skin to which clung +numerous feathers of a chestnut color tipped +with white. True, these small, rusty-brown +feathers were not very spectacular, but when +we stop to consider that they have been kept +for hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years +without any preservative whatever, and that +they <ins title="Original has 'belond'" id="belonged">belonged</ins> to a race of creatures now totally +extinct, our respect for them increases greatly. +Since the original possessor of those feathers +died in his New Zealand cavern many wars +have been won and lost, powerful nations have +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>arisen, new languages and systems of thought +have been established, and the surface of the +earth has been carved, planed, and pitted by +the restless inventive animal called man. And +now that same man is spending a considerable +amount of his most prized possession—money—to +gather and preserve the broken, dried remains +of that old New Zealand bird, his relatives +and ancestors.</p> + +<p>It is now well known, that instead of but +one species of Moa, as the New Zealand savages +told the missionaries, there were twenty +or more. Some of these were quite small—but +little larger than the turkey—while others, +such as Dinornis (terrible bird) must have +reached a height of at least ten feet, and were, +in all probability, the largest birds that have +ever been seen on earth. Remarkably enough, +some writers have not been satisfied with even +these great dimensions, and have stated the +height of some of the Moas to be from twelve +to fourteen feet. These measurements, however, +can be attained only by placing the skeleton +in a most unnatural position, which the +bird could not possibly have maintained while +alive. There is a natural desire on the part +of man to magnify his discoveries, and the +remains of extinct creatures are favorite subjects +for such romancing. Unfortunately for +the writers, these same bones offer incontestable +evidence as to the actual sizes of the creatures +to which they belonged, and sooner or +later all errors must be corrected and “the +high made low.” As Dr. F. A. Lucas has insisted +over and over again, the greatest monster +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span>always shrinks before the application of +a two-foot rule.</p> + +<p>The Moas, like the modern Ostriches, were +quite incapable of flight. Indeed, many of them +were totally wingless, lacking even the tiny, +almost invisible vestigial wings that are to be +found in such modern species as the Cassowary +and Apteryx. But what they lacked in wings +the Moas more than made up for in legs. Those +of one species, dubbed elephantopus (elephant-footed) +were so ponderous that one cannot but +wonder what purpose they served. The theory +most generally accepted is that they were of +value in digging out the roots of ferns, upon +which the Moas appear to have fed. Furthermore, +when we remember that one blow from +the foot of an angry ostrich is quite enough to +kill a man, we cannot doubt that the Moa was +quite able to either trample underfoot, or smash +to a shapeless pulp almost any enemy that +might have assailed it. The lizard watchmen +of the Maori legend are, of course, inventions, +but the ferocious habits of the enraged Moa +are without question matters of pure fact.</p> + +<p>So far as known, the Moas were confined to +New Zealand, some species inhabiting North +Island, some South, but with very few common +to both. From this fact Lucas, and others who +have studied the birds, conclude that the two +islands were originally one, and that long +after the Moas came into existence there was +a submergence which divided the island into +two. After that submergence sufficient time +elapsed to allow for the development of several +species of Moas, each restricted to one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>island. Inasmuch as the birds could not fly, +and probably were poor swimmers, there was +but little intermingling of the faunas. “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 +<ins title="Original has 'pace'" id="place">place</ins> where the flowing springs might afford +their feet at least some respite from the biting +cold, and there perished miserably by thousands.”⁠<a id="FNanchor_14_14" href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>The glacial cold, however, did not completely +destroy the Moas. We have already seen +that legends of the birds were told to the pioneering +white missionaries, and other tales of +Moa hunts and Moa feasts were not uncommon. +It is uncertain whether the last of these giants +was eaten by the ancient Maoris, or by a race +that preceded them. Some authors have suggested, +apparently on fairly good ground, that +Moas formed the sole important flesh food of +these prehistoric peoples, and that with the +dying out of the avian food supply, the hereditary +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>liking for flesh naturally led to cannibalism. +Thus the savages who destroyed the Moas +turned to destroying <ins title="Original has 'hemselves'" id="themselves">themselves</ins>, were supplanted +by another race which handed on the knowledge +of the Moas to the white man who in turn +set about killing off the savages.</p> + +<p>From the New Zealand Moa to Sinbad the +Sailor, and his huge and unintentionally beneficent +Roc, is, at first thought, a very far +cry, yet the separation is not so great as it +seems. The Arabian tales give the habitation +of the Roc as either Madagascar or one of the +adjoining islands, and it seems very probable +that the original of the huge bird that carried +the adventurous Sinbad out of the crater of +diamonds was the Aepyornis, a distant relative +of the Moas, and an inhabitant of Madagascar. +It is quite true that the Roc was a gigantic +bird quite capable of carrying off an elephant +to make a meal for its young, while the +Aepyornis was little larger than an ostrich, +was incapable of flight, and fed upon plants. +These facts, however, would in no way interfere +with the fancy of an Arabian story teller, +whose original materials probably were a collection +of Aeypornis legend substantiated by +fragments of the bird’s enormous eggs. Hardly +greater exaggerations are perpetrated weekly +by the “feature writers” of American Sunday +newspapers, and these men have all the +resources of modern science at their disposal.</p> + +<p>The actual scientific “discovery” of Aepyornis +did not take place until 1834, when Jules +Verreaux, a French ornithologist received a +sketch of a huge egg, found in the island of +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>Madagascar. The informant, a traveler, said +that he had seen two of these eggs, one of +which had been used in cracking rice, while +the other had been sawed in two to be used +as bowls. Later on, some fragments of a shell +were secured by another traveler, and finally, +in 1851, two entire eggs and a number of bones +were secured and sent to France. They were +studied by <ins title="Original has 'Goeffroy'" id="Geoffroy">Geoffroy</ins> St-Hilaire, a noted naturalist +and pioneer evolutionist, who christened +them Aepyornis maximus, or “greatest lofty +bird.” The last part of the name was appropriate +so far as the eggs are concerned, for they +stand as the largest of all eggs. Some idea of +their size may be gained by comparisons; the +measurements alone do not mean a great deal. +The egg of the ostrich, which is usually considered +to be quite immense, measures four and +one-half by six inches; that of the Aepyornis is +not less than nine by thirteen inches, and +would hold the whites and yolks of six ostrich +eggs! The size seems even greater when we +say that it would hold the contents of more +than twelve dozen hens’ eggs or thirty thousands +of the tiny, bean-like eggs of the hummingbird. +Had there been giants in the old +days, as fairy tales and occasional newspaper +articles seek to convince us, they would have +had no trouble in satisfying their breakfast +appetites with a couple of Aepyornis eggs, +poached. Fortunately for Aepyornis, in his day +there were neither giants nor newspapers; had +either existed he doubtless would have been +exterminated by hunters long before his time.</p> + +<p>Despite the excellence of their preservation, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>relics of the giant birds of New Zealand and +Madagascar are not easily seen by the student. +There are fine collections at Harvard University, +and the American Museum in New York, +and in museums in Europe and New Zealand, +but there are few, if any Moa eggs in the +United States. Specimens of this sort are very +expensive; Aepyornis eggs have sold in London +for as high as two hundred pounds (about nine +hundred seventy-two dollars) and most American +museums are desperately poor, being +forced to rely on the generosity of private individuals +for money with which to buy specimens.⁠<a id="FNanchor_15_15" href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<p>Leaving the giant eastern birds, and the +scarcity of collections of their remains, we may +transfer our attention to a group of American +birds, the huge Phororhacidae of +Patagonia. Although far older, geologically +these birds were not discovered until long +after the Moas and Aepyornis were well +known. Even then, it was not believed that +so massive a bone as the jaw of Phororhacos +could possibly belong to a bird, and it was +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>necessary to find much more complete relics +before the case could be proved.</p> + +<p>It is one of the ludicrous facts of paleontology +that most of the large-sounding names +were used up on the Moas, some of which were +small, and that Dinornis (terrible bird) was +wasted on root-eating creatures that probably +were of meekest temperament when not annoyed. +In the Patagonian birds, on the other +hand, we have species that were really terrible, +with their powerful legs, huge heads, sharp, +crooked beaks, and strong talons. One of them, +Brontornis, or thunder bird, possessed leg +bones larger than those of an ox, the drumstick +being thirty inches long and two and +<ins title="Original has 'one-haf'" id="one-half">one-half</ins> inches thick. The corresponding bone +in the turkey, largest of the domestic birds, +the length is but five and one-half inches. The +most imposing of the Patagonian birds, however, +is the Phorohacos, a creature unique +among the bird world. This creature stood +seven or eight feet in height, possessed a head +larger than that of a horse and a neck as +thick, and was armed with huge, sharply +hooked beak and long, sharp claws. One of +Dr. Lucas’ illustrations shows the skull of the +race-horse Lexington placed beneath that of +Phororhacos. That of the bird is one inch +longer and one and one-half deeper.</p> + +<p>The structure of Phororhacos, like that of +all other animals, affords an excellent key to its +food habits. Probably they did not feed upon +roots, as did the Moas, for had they done so +their strong, hooked beaks would have been +useless, or nearly so. Neither is it probable +<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a><a id="Page_64"></a>[Pg 64]</span>that they caught fish; the beaks of most fish-eating +birds, and particularly of the herons, +which are related to Phororhacos, are long, +adapted to spearing. Beaks and claws like +those of the Patagonian giant are found, in +most cases, in birds that feed on either carrion +or living animals, or both. In the accompanying +illustration the bird is shown as +just having killed a small grass-eating animal, +and preparing to devour it. Were it to be +proved—as it can hardly be—that Phororhacos +fed upon carrion alone, the restoration would +have to be modified greatly, in appearance +though not in proportion. Carrion eaters seldom +have feathers on the upper part of the +neck and the head, as may be seen by examining +such notorious eaters of dead flesh as +the vultures or “buzzards.” But the designer +of the original restoration, as life-drawings of +extinct animals are called, was satisfied to consider +his subject as a swift-running bird of +prey that preferred fresh killed meat, and did +the killing itself.</p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp56" id="p63" style="max-width: 87.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/p63.jpg" alt=""> + <figcaption> + <p>PLATE XII.</p> + <p>Phororhacos preparing to devour its prey.</p> + <p>(After Lucas.)</p> + </figcaption> +</figure> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14_14" href="#FNanchor_14_14" class="label">[14]</a> Lucas, Animals of the Past, 1st Ed., p. 143. Note +that, since the Moas were on the decline when +man appeared in their environment, and they +had no other powerful enemies, the huge legs +could hardly have had defence as their chief +function.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15_15" href="#FNanchor_15_15" class="label">[15]</a> This is true of the United States National Museum, +at Washington, where the customary appropriation +for securing specimens is $10,000 +per year. At this <i>national</i> institution it is not +rare for employees to draw upon their own +small resources in order to secure particularly +desirable collections. The same condition is to +be found in other museums of the country, excepting +the American Museum of Natural History +in New York. It, though privately endowed, +is housed by the city of New York, and +is the largest and best supported museum in +the western hemisphere.</p></div></div> + + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="tnote"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note"> + Transcriber’s Note + </h2> + +<p>Footnotes were moved to the ends of the chapters in which they appeared.</p> + +<p>Illustrations were moved to the ends of the paragraphs in which they appeared. +The list of illustrations was not in the original text. Plate V was originally +untitled.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> + +<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.</p> + +<p>Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes:</p> + +<table class="autotable"> + +<tbody> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#carcasses">6</a>: “elk whose carcases”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“elk whose carcasses”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#looked1">9</a>: “He loked somewhat”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“He looked somewhat”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#the">10</a>: “But, bizarre though The”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“But, bizarre though the”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#precursors">15</a>: “the natural percursors”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“the natural precursors”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#aberrations">18</a>: “their senile aderrations”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“their senile aberrations”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#dinosaurs">21</a>: “active than the diosaurs”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“active than the dinosaurs”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#too">23</a>: “an idea altogether to”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“an idea altogether too”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#looked2">30</a>: “loked more like a gigantic”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“looked more like a gigantic”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#small">34</a>: “survivals were of smalll”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“survivals were of small”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#searching">35</a>: “they swam about seaching”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“they swam about searching”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#had">42</a>: “with greater ease than has”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“with greater ease than had”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#probability">42</a>: “But in all probalility”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“But in all probability”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#origin">44</a>: “uncertain though the oirgin”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“uncertain though the origin”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#carrion">52</a>: “weather, bacteria, and carrrion”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“weather, bacteria, and carrion”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#while">54</a>: “year of 1838, whie”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“year of 1838, while”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#approached">54</a>: “especially a man, aproached”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“especially a man, approached”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#of">54</a>: “they were very sure if”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“they were very sure of”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#quite">54</a>: “in a quite a different”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“in a quite different”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#belonged">55</a>: “and that they belond”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“and that they belonged”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#place">58</a>: “birds sought the pace”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“birds sought the place”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#themselves">59</a>: “turned to destroying hemselves”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“turned to destroying themselves”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Geoffroy">60</a>: “studied by Goeffroy St-Hilaire”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“studied by Geoffroy St-Hilaire”</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#one-half">62</a>: “and two and one-haf”</td> +<td class="tdl">to</td> +<td class="tdl">“and two and one-half”</td> +</tr> + +</tbody></table> + +</div></div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78879 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78879-h/images/cover.jpg b/78879-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7b9212 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p08.jpg b/78879-h/images/p08.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8513e1e --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p08.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p10.jpg b/78879-h/images/p10.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b760d1c --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p10.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p12.jpg b/78879-h/images/p12.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5125992 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p12.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p13.jpg b/78879-h/images/p13.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..586e61b --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p13.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p17.jpg b/78879-h/images/p17.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e610940 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p17.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p24.jpg b/78879-h/images/p24.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a36e246 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p24.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p26.jpg b/78879-h/images/p26.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9682fb --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p26.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p29.jpg b/78879-h/images/p29.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..741b882 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p29.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p32.jpg b/78879-h/images/p32.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4751745 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p32.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p36.jpg b/78879-h/images/p36.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..340235e --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p36.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p39.jpg b/78879-h/images/p39.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbedc97 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p39.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p45.jpg b/78879-h/images/p45.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4157f37 --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p45.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p47.jpg b/78879-h/images/p47.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8c74ff --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p47.jpg diff --git a/78879-h/images/p63.jpg b/78879-h/images/p63.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7295ccc --- /dev/null +++ b/78879-h/images/p63.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfb1df3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +[Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook [#78879](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78879) |
