The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1883-03-10
LIFE IN THE LATER GEOLOGICAL
PERIODS

LIFE IN THE LATER GEOLOGICAL
PERIODS
Was the subject of Prof. Hitch
cocks fourth lecture in the Lyceum.
lie gave short account of the for
nation of petroleum. The theory is
that it is formed by the compression
of gases under the layer of sand
stone, which Is always found when
boring for this substance. Then he
touched on the subject proper of the
evening. Life is divided into old
and new. The old life is that found
in Palaeozoic and earlier times.
From the close of the carboniferous
epoch is dated the commencement
of the new life. The change in at
mospheric conditions caused by the
Coal Age made this change in the
life. Previous to that there were no
reptiles Immediately following that
was the Age of Reptiles. There was
n complete archaeological break at
this time. No species seems to have
crossed that break. This was the
time of the formation of the enor-
nous beds Of gypsum, rock-salt and
other salts. The lecturer then des-
crihed an illustration of life in this
early (Jurassic) period. In the fore
ground were the pandanus, cycads,
pines; these were the forms of vege-
table life in that age. Coral islands
were numerous then. Animal life
was represented by true bird and
celd-blooded reptile bat (the ptero-
dactyl.) Other animals not repre-
sented in the illustration were the
icthyosaurus, the plesiosaurus, and
the different varieties of dinosauri-
ans. At this period we date the
foot-marks found in the Connecticut
River sandstone. They were first
called bird tracks, and were discov-
cred by his father half century
ago. The lecture was here illustrat.
ed by drawings of some of the rocks
with these marks OH them. One kind
was supposed to have been made by
gigantic frogs the size of our present
oxen. A sheet giving repre-
sentation of seven footprints of Il
bird discovered by his father was
shown next, but at that time no one
would believe that any bird had ever
existed which could make foot prints
eighteen inches long. But shortly
after English missionaries sent home
to England bones of g gantic bird.
From these Prof. Owen reconstruct
ed bird much larger than an os-
trich, of which picture was shown.
Since then whole skeletons of these
birds had been found in Madagascar
and New Zealand.
There are 16O or 40 different
kinds of foot-marks in this sand
stone. Some of them showed not
only three toes but, fourth or
hinder toe, and also marks as if
M ,de by tail dragging in the mud.
belonged to the dinosaurus, a
class halfway between reptiles and
bir's. :. Some Of the marks showed
the presence of two hind feet, shap-
cl like those of the present kan
garoo, with marks also of two fore
feet and a tail /; this showed where
the animal had stopped and sat
down. The rlarks made by birds
showed that they took long steps,
while the reptiles took short ones,
The true bird found in this age had
at first been mistaken for reptile
but remains found in Bavaria proved
it to have been bird. 1t differed IN
many respects from modern birds
It's beak had notclled teeth. Its tai
was composed of eighteen joints
with pair of feathers to each joint
and on the shoulder OF the wing
were two fingers. The vertebre wer'
like those of = fish-biconcave. A
picture of the head of an icthyosa,l
rus or fisll-lizard was then shown
i'his animal was often 80 feet long
Its most remarkable popularity wal
that the eye WAS 80 large that 1t has