New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1884-12-31
ANIMALS AND THEIR WAYS.
A Remarkable Extinct Specimen Discov-
cred In the south-C Comparative Anat-
Omy With Interesting Incidents.

Among the most remarkable of all
extinct animals yet discovered may be
named the znglodon. This ancient
archaeological creature was once an
inhabitant of the lagoons that once ex-
listed near the mouth of the Mississippi
river. He was found in the great lime
stone beds in the State Of Alabama.
where in solid rock he reposed cntomb-
ed for at least thousand centuries.
His great body passed into gases and
ashes, and the mold which was made
by his skeleton, filled up with carbon-
ate of lime and became solid. So the
celebrated DR.. Koch, the great German
paleontologist, found this immense rep
tile or nondescript. He was not snake,
not fish, not an alligator; but yet he
had parts that resembled all these crea-
lures. His fossil remains (onee on ex-
hibition in St. Louis, but finally de-
stroyed in the Chicago tire), which
were fac SMILES of his bones. measur-
ed 1O5 feet from his nose to the end of
his tail. There is no living or extinct
animal that had a head anything like
him. 1t was ten feet long; the jaws
z feet. They were armed with teeth
similar to those of the narWal whale.
The circumference of his body ut the
thickest part could not have been less
than "a feet. He was provided with an
excuse for scapnla or shoulder-b blade;
to this WIS added tumerus upper
bone of the army and q small radius
and ulna (the two lower bones of the
army and two or three phalanges SINH
lar to the bones of the human hand.
This appendage could not have been of
much use in propelling the monster.
The work was undoubtedly done by his
vast eel-like tail, which was quite sixty
feet in length. As fighter, this fellow
could certainly have vanquished all
Corners. He could have chewed the
largest alligator with as much ease as q
sea bass would swallow a oss-bunker.
The mastodon or Missourium was q
huge elephant, without trunk, at least
not such a snout as the elephant we
have in this age. He was grass-eat-
er and lived in the vast prairies which
reach from western New York directly
west to the foothills of the Rocky
mountains. We find his bones in q
good state of preservation only little
ways beneath the surface, showing that
he is of recent origin as compared with
those gigantic fossils which are all
stone. These animals have filled their
places in nature, and when their sur
roundings were no longer suitable to
their existence they became extinct. So
it will be in the fight of centuries; an
imals that live now will pass away.
It would be useless to speculate upon
tho vast number of fishes and reptiles
of the seas that have become extinct.
as the oceans present no method by.
which it's denizens can be petrified or
{8ssAi2ea: BIT tbat tbafe haYs beeB
more fishes that have become extinct
that there have been Of animals there
can be no question.
The peculiar construction Of some
quadrupeds presents number of prob
lens which as yet our greatest c0mpar-
alive ANTAGONISTS have not been able to
give any solution.
We know of no living thing that
will compare with the common flea il,
strength and agility. A flea, .one-six-.
teenth of an inch in length, can Jump
distance of twenty inches. This is $50
times its length. If we should require
a six-foot man to jump 800 times his
length he would have to land 1920 feet
from where he left the ground.
Our common gray rabbit is one Of
the best jumpers we have It is very
easy to measure the strides of this nini-
bic little fellow in a slight fall Of snow.
When he is pushed by swift dog his
jumps on level ground are about nine
feet clear. In proportion to length,
horse to jump as far as a rabbit would
have to clear sixty flour feet at Jump.
THERE is no quadruped that has such
powerful muscles in his quarters as the
rabbit. and none excel him in the mus
cles Of his loin and back The horse
on the contrary cannot jump more than
twentv.se ven feet. Longfellow jumped
this distance in all his great races. No
doubt the great Miss Woodford can
and does jump twenty-six and twenty
seven feet in her best races Goldsmith
Maid stepped with her hind feet seven
teen feet when.she was going at a 2:15
gait. :
Il is said that Flying Dutchman, q
trotter under the saddle Of the olden
time, stepped twenty-five feet. II Mr..
Bonner should measure the stride Of
Maud s. he would find It not less than
twenty feet.
The gated horse, next to the GALLON.
ing gait, will Be found to be the PAGER. ]
His reach is twenty feet when going his
best. a man, taking his size, outinmps
b So