Animals of the Past

Part 1

Produced by Chris Curnow, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

ANIMALS OF THE PAST

Science for Everybody

ANIMALS OF THE PAST

BY FREDERIC A. LUCAS

Curator of the Division of Comparative Anatomy, United States National Museum

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. 1901

COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY S. S. MCCLURE CO. 1901, BY MCCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO.

PUBLISHED NOVEMBER, 1901.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY

Use of scientific names, xvi; estimates of age of earth, xvii; restorations by Mr. Knight, xviii; Works of Reference, xix.

I. FOSSILS, AND HOW THEY ARE FORMED

Definition of fossils, 1; fossils may be indications of animals or plants, 2; casts and impressions, 3; why fossils are not more abundant, 4; conditions under which fossils are formed, 5; enemies of bones, 6; Dinosaurs engulfed in quicksand, 8; formation of fossils, 9; petrified bodies frauds, 10; natural casts, 10; leaves, 13; incrustations, 14; destruction of fossils, 15; references, 17.

II. THE EARLIEST KNOWN VERTEBRATES

Methods of interrogating Nature, 18; thickness of sedimentary rocks, 20; earliest traces of life, 21; early vertebrates difficult of preservation, 22; armored fishes, 23; abundance of early fishes, 25; destruction of fish, 26; carboniferous sharks, 29; known mostly from teeth and spines, 30; references, 32.

III. IMPRESSIONS OF THE PAST

Records of extinct animals, 33; earliest traces of animal life, 34; formation of tracks, 35; tracks in all strata, 36; discovery of tracks, 37; tracks of Dinosaurs, 39; species named from tracks, 41; footprints aid in determining attitude of animals, 43; tracks at Carson City, 45; references, 47.

IV. RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS

The Mosasaurs, 49; history of the first known Mosasaur, 50; jaws of reptiles, 53; extinction of Mosasaurs, 55; the sea-serpent, 56; Zeuglodon, 58; its habits, 59; Koch's Hydrarchus, 61; bones collected by Mr. Schuchert, 63; abundance of sharks, 64; the great Carcharodon, 65; arrangement of sharks' teeth, 67; references, 68.

V. BIRDS OF OLD

Earliest birds, 70; wings, 71; study of young animals, 73; the curious Hoactzin, 74; first intimation of birds, 76; Archaeopteryx, 77; birds with teeth, 78; cretaceous birds, 79; Hesperornis, 80; loss of power of flight, 81; covering of Hesperornis, 82; attitude of Hesperornis, 83; curious position of legs, 84; toothed birds disappointing, 85; early development of birds, 86; eggs of early birds, 87; references, 88.

VI. THE DINOSAURS

Discovery of Dinosaur remains, 90; nearest relatives of Dinosaurs, 91; relation of birds to reptiles, 92; brain of Dinosaurs, 93; parallel between Dinosaurs and Marsupials, 95; the great Brontosaurus, 96; food of Dinosaurs, 97; habits of Diplodocus, 99; the strange Australian Moloch, 100; combats of Triceratops, 101; skeleton of Triceratops, 102; Thespesius and his kin, 104; the carnivorous Ceratosaurus, 106; Stegosaurus, the plated lizard, 106; preferences, 109.

VII. READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS

Fossils regarded as sports of nature, 111; qualifications of a successful collector, 112; chances of collecting, 114; excavation of fossils, 115; strengthening fossils for shipment, 117; great size of some specimens, 118; the preparation of fossils, 119; mistakes of anatomists, 120; reconstruction of Triceratops, 121; distinguishing characters of bones, 122; the skeleton a problem in mechanics, 124; clothing the bones with flesh, 127; the covering of animals, 127; outside ornamentation, 129; probabilities in the covering of animals, 130; impressions of extinct animals, 131; mistaken inferences from bones of Mammoth, 133; coloring of large land animals, 134; color markings of young animals, 136; references, 137.

VIII. FEATHERED GIANTS

Part 2

Legend of the Moa, 139; our knowledge of the Moas, 141; some Moas wingless, 142; deposits of Moa bones, 143; legend of the Roc, 144; discovery of AEpyornis, 145; large-sounding names, 146; eggs of great birds, 147; the Patagonian Phororhacos, 149; the huge Brontornis, 150; development of giant birds, 153; distribution of flightless birds, 154; relation between flightlessness and size, 156; references, 156.

IX. THE ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE

North America in the Eocene age, 160; appearance of early horses, 163; early domestication of the horse, 165; the toes of horses, 166; Miocene horses small, 167; evidence of genealogy of the horse, 170; meaning of abnormalities, 170; changes in the climate and animals of the West, 174; references, 176.

X. THE MAMMOTH

The story of the killing of the Mammoth, 177; derivation of the word "mammoth," 178; mistaken ideas as to size of the Mammoth, 179; size of Mammoth and modern elephants, 180; finding of an entire Mammoth, 182; birthplace of the Mammoth, 184; beliefs concerning its bones, 185; the range of the animal, 186; theories concerning the extinction of the Mammoth, 188; Man and Mammoth, 189; origin of the Alaskan Live Mammoth Story, 190; traits of the Innuits, 192; an entire Mammoth recently found, 194; references, 195.

XI. THE MASTODON

Differences between Mastodon and Mammoth, 198; affinities of the Mastodon, 200; vestigial structures, 201; distribution of American Mastodon, 203; first noticed in North America, 204; thought to be carnivorous, 206; Koch's Missourium, 208; former abundance of Mastodons, 209; appearance of the animal, 210; its size, 211; was man contemporary with Mastodon? 213; the Lenape stone, 215; legend of the big buffalo, 216; references, 218.

XII. WHY DO ANIMALS BECOME EXTINCT?

Extinction sometimes evolution, 221; over-specialization as a cause for extinction, 222; extinction sometimes unaccountable, 223; man's capability for harm small in the past, 224; old theories of great convulsions, 226; changes in nature slow, 227; the case of Lingula, 228; local extermination, 229; the Moas and the Great Auk, 232; the case of large animals, 233; inter-dependence of living beings, 234; coyotes and fruit, 236; Shaler on the Miocene flora of Europe, 236; man's desire for knowledge, 238.

INDEX, 243

NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS

The original drawings, made especially for this book, are by Charles R. Knight and James M. Gleeson, under the direction of Mr. Knight. The fact that the originals of these drawings have been presented to and accepted by the United States National Museum is evidence of their scientific value. Mr. Knight has been commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution, the United States National Museum, and the New York Museum of Natural History, to do their most important pictures of extinct animals. He is the one modern artist who can picture prehistoric animals with artistic charm of presentation as well as with full scientific accuracy. In this instance, the author has personally superintended the artist's work, so that it is as correct in every respect as present knowledge makes possible. Of the minor illustrations, some are by Mr. Bruce Horsfall, an artist attached to the staff of the New York Museum of Natural History, and all have been drawn with the help of and under the author's supervision.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. Page

Phororhacos, a Patagonian Giant of the Miocene From a Drawing by Charles R. Knight Frontispiece

1. Diplomystus, an Ancient Member of the Shad Family From the fish-bed at Green River, Wyoming. From a specimen in the United States National Museum. 4

2. Bryozoa, from the Shore of the Devonian Sea that Covered Eastern New York From a specimen in Yale University Museum, prepared by Dr. Beecher. 10

3. Skeleton of a Radiolarian Very Greatly Enlarged 17

4. Cephalaspis and Loricaria, an Ancient and a Modern Armored Fish 24

5. Pterichthys, the Wing Fish 32

6. Where a Dinosaur Sat Down 38

7. Footprints of Dinosaurs on the Brownstone of the Connecticut Valley From a slab in the museum of Amherst College. 40

8. The Track of a Three-toed Dinosaur 47

9. A Great Sea Lizard, Tylosaurus Dyspelor From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. 52

10. Jaw of a Mosasaur, Showing the Joint that Increased the Swallowing Capacity of that Reptile 54

11. Koch's Hydrarchus. Composed of Portions of the Skeletons of Several Zeuglodons 62

12. A Tooth of Zeuglodon, One of the "Yoke Teeth," from which it derives the name 69

13. Archaeopteryx, the Earliest Known Bird From the specimen in the Berlin Museum. 70

Part 3

14. Nature's Four Methods of Making a Wing: Bat, Pteryodactyl, Archaeopteryx, and Modern Bird 72

15. Young Hoactzins 75

16. Hesperornis, the Great Toothed Diver From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. 82

17. Archaeopteryx As Restored by Mr. Pycraft. 89

18. Thespesius, a Common Herbivorous Dinosaur of the Cretaceous From a drawing by Charles R. Knight. 90

19. A Hind Leg of the Great Brontosaurus, the Largest of the Dinosaurs 96

20. A Single Vertebra of Brontosaurus 97

21. Moloch, a Modern Lizard that Surpasses the Stegosaurs in All but Size From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. 100

22. Skeleton of Triceratops 103

23. The Horned Ceratosaurus, a Carnivorous Dinosaur From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. 106

24. Stegosaurus, an Armored Dinosaur of the Jurassic From a drawing by Charles R. Knight. 108

25. Skull of Ceratosaurus From a specimen in the United States National Museum. 110

26. Triceratops, He of the Three-horned Face From a statuette by Charles R. Knight. 126

27. A Hint of Buried Treasures 137

28. Relics of the Moa 140

Continue reading Animals of the Past free in the Wunder reader →