Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-09-01

CORRESPONDENTS.
Ussder CUR Noses.
Correspondence of Stanton VINDlCAToRl
LEXINGTON, Virginia,
August, 21st, rs
During brief visit here we have been
indebted to the courtesy of Gen1 'Custis
Lee, the president of our venerable Alma
Mater, Washington Il Lee University, for
arranging for us visit to the new museum
which has recently been presented to the
Institution by an unknown and liberal
friend OF Rochester, N. Y. In the museum
we were met by our learned friend, Prof.
| J. l.. Campbell. who kindly introduced us
to his antediluvian wonders. and patiently
unravelled the thread which connects the
wonderful present with the more wonder
full past. Our first Introduction at the
entrance was to
| THE HUGE S SKELETON
of thing scientists call a Megatherium-
| Noah's name for the v;Mmint has not been
transmitted to us. The elephant is calf
to him. There he sits on his launches reach
ing his long fore paws Is feet into the
lap of a big chestn ut-oak, which has
been transplanted there for his conye-
nience. This is the lind of game, doubt
less, that Enoch ant Methuselah used to
hunt. and perhaps young Noah got a
chance at one now nd then, and thought
it no greater matter to bring down mega
therium 1--WE will CO Ill it that for want of a
better name), than one of our boys would
to shoot fox or bear, for ''there were
giants in the earth in. those days. and who
can not say that n ethuselah was not as
big as he was old. But it seems Noah had
not room in his arlz fcT pair of ''mega-
therium,'' so we Little, folk Of the present
| day must be content to wonder at his
| bones.
THE GIANT QITADRUPED
must have subsisi5ed, jud ging from his form,
weight, and the peculiar shape of his jaws,
by reaching up into the trees, pulling and
splitting them down antl browsing upon
| the leaves, for twenty feet would not have
been high reach for we ll-grown fellow.
Just in front of this giant Of the animal
race is
A GLYPTODOlV
or fossil armadillo, with an upper shell
nine feet across, and large enough, turned
upside down, to make, a conf ortable bed for
a man and wife and half a d Oxen children.
1t has a great, knobby four foot tail, that
doubtless served it good pur posein knock
| ing over bears and panthe rs, and such
small game as would ventura too near Its
sweep. Near by is
THE "DEINOTI IERIJM."
Surely, Father Adam ha d better name for
him. Imagine Enoch, 8 ome fine morning,
saying: "Methuselah, my son, take your
gun and go out and shoe t me a megathe-
rum, and a pair Of deh lotherii, and try
to secure for me a Glyptot Ion for breakfast.
The deinotherium has kull four feet in
thickness, with tusks three feet long, curv-
ing downward, which must have been used
for digging.
| HUGE TORTt Disc
from the Himalaya noun 5ains, called the
Colopochalys, with shell. four feet high
and large enough for pig -pen, stands on
a pedestal behind the meg; atherium. Fur
ther on Count Cuvier's Mastodo1l, with
teeth as large as mans double fs It, and
head like stone crusher, the Pa!a eothe-
rum, AnoplotheYiam, and other gis antic
mammal relics OF antiquity, whose origi-
nails lived and moved before
1.-THE RAIN WAS UPON THE FACE OF THE
|
NIGHTS"
Over the doorway is stuffed baby eleph ant
the only modern animal in the room, an a
very fine, life-like specimen. In the sa Inc
room, arranged in glass cases around the
wall, is the Geological Cabinet, as full a. no
complete as though it had been catalogue &c
from Dana's Manual. The classiGcatic Z
and arrangement is admirable, each geolt \
gical period being separate and distinct
and illustrated with some Of the most
beautiful and perfect specimens we ever
saw, but so numerous that we nave
space for mention of only a few.
On slab feet long are the tracks Of q
HUGE EXTINCT FROG
called the Labyrinthodon, which was ;as
large as bullock and had a head nearl y
two feet across. Next we pause in won
der before the
RELICT OF AN ICHTHYOSAURUS,
reptile about 40 feet in length, and near
by, it's relatives the Plesiosaurus and the
Telosaurus, strange and uncouth long
necked creatures with pointed teeth, and :,
as strange as anything else, the three-toed
, foot prints of a great bird larger than any
known species, which fossil was exhumed
on the i. 44.ft.'4.3 -asQ
BANKS OF THE CONNECTICUT,
which tells US that in the ages that are past
these monsters of the olden times also
stalked over our own continent.
Leaving the Geological and Mineralogi-
cal Department with this meagre and un-
satisfactory description, for the tenth part
has not been told, we pass into the Zoolog-
ical department. where arranged in cabi-
nets around the room and through it's CEN
tire neatly labelled and carefully graded
and classified are the
sKEL ETONS OR STUFFED SPECIMENS
of almost every creeping, swimming OF
flying thing we have ever seen, heard
; or read Of. We begin with the lowest form
of animal life, the sponge, then the minute
coral trilobite, the delicate shell fish, the
ugly crab, the presty flying fish and thu
, graceful little nautilus, on through the
lizards, snakes, frogs, turtles, alligators
crocodiles, seals, slotes, up another step tt
the birds embracing every variety of the
feathered tribe, from the tiny warbler t.
the fierce bird Of prey, 3 nd still anothe
step higher to the mann aalS where we haY