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