The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-11-21
ANCIENT LIFE OF AMERICA.
Discovery of n Remarkable Grave
yard I'm the Bad Lands of Colorado
Fossil Remains Of Horses, Elephants,
RhinOceri--LeIter from Prof Nay.

yard I'm the Bad Lands of Colorado
Fossil Remains of Horses, Elephants
RhinOceri--LeIter from Prof fay
den.
Correspondence Of the New York World
The barren, treeless plains of the fa
West are at this time invested with sipgu
lar and profound interest to the man O
science. Within few years numerou.
cemeteries OF the extinct inhabitants thai
roamed over these now arid plains thou
sands of years ago, have been brought t
light by the various exploring expeditions
We regard with sort Of reverential awe
the ancient remains dug up from the ruins
Of Rome and the Holy Land, and view
with q sort Of vague wonder the re-
markable cities among the luxuriani
forests of Central America, yet these
wonderful old inhabitants of Colo.
rado, Wyoming, and Dakota, were dead
and buried untold ages before the people
who conceived these ruins had an existence
We bestow the highest honors of litera.
ture on the historians of our own time, as
Motley, Bancroft, and others, and yet the
period of human history is but day com.
pared with the innumerable ages of the
past with which the geological historian
has to deaA 1t is the province of the ge-
ologist to reconstruct past worlds and to
repeople them with the ancient inhabitants;
to cover the surface with the original seas,
lakes, mountains, and forests. This is
what Lyell so aptly calls the charm of dis
covery. and with true enthusiasm he
quotes the beautiful sentiment of the
Niebuhr: "He who calls what has
vanished back again into being enjoys a
bliss like that Of creating"
One of the most remarkable results OF
the United States geological survey, under
my charge during the past season, was the
discovery by Professor Cope, in the "Bad
Lands" of Colorado, of one of these grave
yards Of long past period, distinct from
that of Wyoming, and containing the osse-
GUS remains of great population Of beasts
Of totally different species, and even orders
from those of the latter age and region.
They resemble more nearly those of the
White River of Nebraska, but many have
been obtained by Professor Cope not
known there or elsewhere. So far he has
proven the existence Of more than 100 spe-
cies, some represented by thousands of in
dividuals. of these at least seventy species
are new to science. They range from the
size of the mole to nearly that of the
elephant; sixteen species only are reptiles
Many forms of insectivorous animals re-
lated to the mole, and of very small size,
have been procured. The delicacy and
minuteness of these fossils is surprising.
Gnawing animals, or rodents, left numer-
GUS remains of eighteen species, some not
larger than the domestic mouse. Some
were the predecessors of the rabbits, other
of squirrels, and others of mice.
Of cloven-footed quadrupeds great
many species have been found, Some
were nearly intermediate between the deer
and the hog in structure. Like the latter
they had no horns. They were about as
large as sheep. Others were about the
size Of gray squirrels, being the smallest
of this class of animals ever discovered.
Several species of horses were living dur
ing the same period, as is proven by the
bones and teeth that have been discovered.
Their relative, the rhinoceros, abounded
in Colorado in former days, no less than
seven species having been procured by
Professor Cope. One of the specimens is
q perfect skull, with teeth complete, and
covered with the moss-like crystalzation
seen in the moss agate. But the most
remarkable monsters Of the past whose
existence has been disclosed by the pres
ent survey, are series of horned species
related t1 the rhinoceros, but possessing
some features in which, according to Pro-
fessor Cope, they resemble the elephant.
They stood high on the legs and had short
feet, but possessed osseous horns in pairs
on different parts of the head.
One of the largest species had huge
horn over each eye, while another had one
on each side Of the nose, and more than a
foot in length, resembling, on the back
part Of the head, tho OK, etc. A third
one, of larger size than the last, had rudi-
mental horns on the nose. Still another
was about as large as the elephant. Its
cheek bones were enormously expanded,
and its horns were fiat. A fifth species
had triangular horns, turned outward.
The aforementioned species has been
named by Prof. Cope, miobasileus oph-
ryas, and the others have been placed in
new genus. 1t is claimed by Prof. Cope
that their structure disproves entirely the
statement of recent writer that the pres
ence of horns in pairs is an indication Of
to the Illuminating animals,
(oxen, etc.. for these beasts are quite near
the rhinoceros.
Carnivorous species were not rare in
this ancient family, and served as now to
check the too rapid increase. Of the four
teen species known there were tiger cats,
dogs, hymnodons, and the tomarctes, a
new genus found by Professor Cope. This
resembles dog, and was as large as the
black bear, but was much more carniyo-
rous in its propensities hyanodons were
abundant and had many flesh teeth while
the cats had remarkably long canine teeth.
In new species, the size of the panther,
these teeth greatly resemble those Of the
shark.
The reptiles embrace those of lizards
and snakes, the last two orders discovered
for the first time in this formation in
America. All of the curious extinct
forms of life will be carefully described fol-
the seventh annual report of the geological
survey of the territories under the depart
ment of the interior, and in the quartz
series full illustrations will be made of al
the new species. Prof. Cope has already
obtained from the ancient sea and lax,
deposits of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming
and Idaho, about 800 species of vertebrate
animals, of which he has made known t.
science for the first time about 200
The history 'of the succession of lifi
on this continent, as well as that 0
other regions of the earth, will b,
made much clearer by these importan
discoveries, and the vast number of mis-