Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1885-01-21
ANIMALS AND THEIR WAYS.
Remarkable Extinct Specimen Discov-
cred In the South-Comparative Anat-
omy with Interesting Iacldents.

Omy with Interesting accidents.
Among the most remarkable of all
extinct animals yet discovered may be
named the &uglodon. This ancient
meteorological creature was once an
inhabitant of the lagoons that once ex-
isted 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 entomb-
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. Hewas not snake,
not a fish, not an alligator; but yet he
had parts that resembled all these crea-
lures. His fossil remains (once on ex-
bibitiop in St. Louis, but finally de-
stroved 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 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 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 a tumerus (upper
bone of the army and 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 al
Corners. He could have chewed the
largest alligator with as much ease as q
sea bass would swallow moss-bunker
The mastodon or Missourium was a
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 a
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 suita BILE to
their existence they became extinct. SO
it will be in this aight of centuries; an
imals that live now wild pass aWay.
1t would be useless to speculate ARo11
| the vast number of fishes and reptiles
of the seas that have become extinct,
as the oceans present no method by
| which its denizenS can be petritied OF
| fossilhed; but that there have been
more fishes that Nhaye become extinct
that there have been of animals theirs
can be no question.
The peculiar construction of some
ouadrupeds presents a number of prob
lens which as yet our greatest compar'
| alive ANTAGONISTS have not been able tc
give any solution. ,
We know of no living thing that
will compare with the common flea II
| strength and agility. A flea, one-six
teentR of an inch in length, can jump
distance of twenty inches. This is 32(
times it's length. If we should require
a six-foot man to jump 800 times hi
length he would have to land 1920 fee
from where he left the ground.
Our common gray rabbit is one O.
| the best jumpers we have. 1t is very
easy to measure the strides of this MIN
BILE little fellow in slight fall of snow
When he is pushed by a swift dog hi
jumps on level ground are about nine
| feet clear. In proportion to length,
horse to jxmp as far as a rabbit woult
have to clear sixtyxfsagr feet at jump
There is no quadruped that Aas sucl
| powerful muscles in his quarters as thu
rabbit, and none excel him in the mus
cles.of his loin and back. The horse
on the contrary cannot jump more thar
twenty-seven feet. Al4eHgfellow jumped
this distance in all his great races. N
| doubt the great Miss Woodford cal
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 2:1!
| gait.
1t is said that Flying Dutchman, {
trotter under the saddle of the older
time, stepped twenty-five feet. If Mr.
| Bonner should measure the stride O.
| Maud S. he would find it not less thar
twenty feet.
The gated horse, next to the gallop
ing gait, Yill be found to be the PAGER
His reach is twenty feet when going biz
best. A man, taking bis size, !ohtjtmps
a horse. 1t is we'll known, too, that {
man is superior in strength, endurance,
and agility to the horse. AS traveller,
man holds the first place in the ranks
of all animals that move over the sur
face of the earth.
Ground mole eXcels all other animals
in strength, jaw, and shoulder. His
business is to cut roots and dig. He is
put together with reference to the very
kind of business we find him engaged
in. If human beings were organized
and adapted to their occupations as
well as animals are to theirs we would
have more successful people in the
world than we now have. A battle be-
tween male moles generally ends with
the death of both animals, but such
fights are very trifing compared with a
flea fight. These insects strew the
ground with each others limbs. An
examination by the microscope Of a flea
after battle shows what these diminu>
tive creatures are capable of doing.
No theory with which we are &C
quainted accounts for the force we find
in different animals. But it is shown
that size is not the measure of the quail
ity of force.
In referring to animals of peculiar
anatomical construction the s:possum'.'
is one Of the most wonderful, He is of
the marsupal genus. e., with false
belly or pouch, wherein to suckle the
young and also place of safety for
them. The period of CESSATION of the
'possum is not known, for the reason
that it is claimed that the young ones
are yoided directly into the pouch,
where they remain, and literally grow
On the teats of the mother VIZ
were informed by naturalist who
made dissection of female 'pessusa
that he found young ones about two
inches long fastened firmly on the teats;