The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1884-11-29
ANIMALS ATD THtTH MAYS.
~. Y. word !

Among the most remarkable of all ex
tinct animals yet discovered may lie
named the Zugloden. This ancient pal
genealogical creature was once an inhab.
liant of the vast lagoons that once ex-
istcd near the mouth of the Mis- >issip,i
river. He was found in the great lime.
stone beds IN the State of Alabama,
where in solid rock he reposed entombed
for at least thousand centuries. His
great body passed into gases and ashes,
and the mould which was made by his
skeleton filed with carbonate of lime and
became solid. So the celebrated Dr.
Koch, the great German paleontologist,
found this immense reptile or monde.
script. He was not snake, not fish,
not an alligator; but yet he had PARTS
that resembled all these creatures. His
fossil remains (once on exhibition in St.
Louis but finally destroyed in the Chi.
cage firc), which were fac Smiles of his
bones, measured l05 feet from his nose
to the end of his tail There is no living
or extinct animal that had head any.
thing like him. 1t was 10 feet long, the
jaws 7 feet. They were armed with
teeth similar to the Narwhal whale. The
circumference of his body at the thickest
part could not have been less than "a
feet. He was provided with an excuse
for a scapula, or shoulder. blade; to this
was added tumerus upper bone of the
army and small radius and ulna (the
two lower bones of the ARM and two or
three phalanges similar to the bones of
the human hand. This appendage could
not have been Of much use IN propelling
the monster. 7That work was undoubt-
edly performed by his vast eel-like tail
which was quite sixty feet in length. As
4 fighter, this fellow could have certainly
vanquished all corners. He could have
chewed the largest alligator with as much
ease. as sea bass would swallow moss
bunker.
The Mastodon or Missourium was a
huge elephant without trunk, at least
not such a snout as the elephants we
have in this aye He was a grass. eater
and lived in the va prairies which reach
from Western New York directly west
to the foothills Of the R rcky Mountains.
we lind his bones in good state of pre-
aervation only little way beneath the
surface, showing that he is Of recent ori.
gin as compared with those gigantic fos.
sils which are all stone. These animals
have filed their places in nature, and
when their surroundings were no longer
suitable to their existence they became
extinct. So it will he i'll the flight o.
centuries; animals that live now vii
pass away.
1t would be useless to speculate upor
the vast number OF f hes and reptiles o
the saAs that have become extinct, as tn,
oceans present no method by which it
denizens can be petritied or fosslized
but that there have been more fishes tha
have become extinct than there havt
been of animals there can be no question
The peculiar construction of SOM
quadrupeds presents number of prob
lens which, as yet, our greatest compar
alive anatomists have not been able t.
give any solution.
We know Of no living thing that vii
compare with the common flea in strength
and agility. A flea, one-sixteenth of al
inch in length, can jump distance q
twenty inches. This is 32o times it
length. If we should require sx.foo
man to jump 800 times his length, h
would have to land 1920 feet from wher
he left the ground
Our common gray rabbit is one of tn
best Jumpers we have. 1t is very cas-
to measure the strides of this nimble Ii
tie fellow in slight fall of snow. Whe
he is pushed by swift dog his jumps o
level ground are about nine feet clea
In proportion to length, horse, to jun
as far as rabbit, would have to clea
siSty-four feet at a jump. There is l.
quadruped that has such powerful mu
cles in his quarters MS the rabbit, an
none excel him in the muscles of b
ioin and back.