The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-05-07
The Earliest Animals


OF any living thing are the remains Of
sea-xeed and OF the club-nosses that
grow in wet places. Soon, however, ami
mails appeared, and the layers Of silurian
rock are found in some places 10 be en-
tirely composed of the shells Of animals.
Sometimes these shells are very small,
but some are larger than those of any
animal now in exist ence. Nor is II By
any means certain that small animals
were created first. Little and big seem
to have existed together. We 6nd the
shells of animals so small as 10 be inyisi-
ble, except under the microscope, side by
side with shells four feet broad. The
framework of the tiniest creature which
helped to make up these layers Of rock is
extremely beautiful.
The little coral animals commenced
their busy career during this age, build
ing limestone reefs and making the beau
tiful chains coral which can still be seen
on the limestone cliffs in the Western
States. Another kind of animal, related
to the coral poly, snd called a ''crinoid,
must have greatly added TO the beauty Of
the Silurian seas. We find its remains
in the shape of euriously carved, six
sided body. From each Of five sides
lily-like arm was sent of, and the animal
was fastened to the rock by stem run
ming from the center of the sixth side.
Professor Agassiz called them "stone
lilies
Other layers of rock are composed
wholly of the remains of queer animals
called atrilobites.H They belonged to the
same family as our Holsters, and varied
in size from one-sixth Of an inch to two
feet in length. There were two great de-
pressions running lengthwise in their
bodies, which divided them into three
lobes. They had also the same ring-like
division running around the body as are
seen IN lobsters. They swan on their
backs, and had the power Of rolling
themselves into a ball. Probably this
was done to defend themselves against
some foe. Many were caught IN this
position when the mud was changing
into rock, and kept for US to see. In
other layers Of rock are found fossils of
different animals of the lobster kind.
Nothing ike these old animals is found
now
So many mollasks-that is, soft ami
mails with hard shells, ike the oysters
then swan in the waters, that this age is
sometimes called the "Age of Mollusks-"
They were of all sizes and shapes, and
there were millions aHd millions of them.
There was one, that belonged to the same
family as our nautilus, which was four
feet across. Another resembled a nauti-
lus unrolled 1t was from ten to fifteen
feet long, and measured footin breadth
The remains of fishes are found, for the
first time, in some Of the upper layers
belonging to this period. In Wales. in
the land Of the silures, they claim 10
have found one layer composed entirely
of fish-bones.
Now, there is something we must keep
in mind when We speak OF remains in
geology, or else we shall be disappointed
when we see these fossils. If you should
ever break open stone, and have the
great good fortune to find in it the re-
mains of leaf, what would those remains
be like 4 real leaf? No. nothing, but
the impression Of one. No woOd-no
pulp. Simply picture engraved on the
hard rock. So. also, with the remains Of
a fish,-no body, no bones-only Is an i'm
preston but 50 true one that geologists
can tell even the way it swan, and, in
some cases, the nature OF its food As
you were told before, these remains are
called fossils. What thrill Of pleasure
it must give TO find one yourself-to
think that little bit of world history has
remained sealed up in rock for centur-
les, waiting for you to find it
So far, then, as we have journeyed in
our travels through the back ages, We see
a world Of water, with such plants and
animals as live in water II is true that
little patches of dry land existed, as at
the close of the FIRST period and these
had even been increased a little by the
addition Of beaches. Bot these bits of
land were so small, compared with the
vast expanse Of ocean, that We are justi-
fed in calling it world Of water" 1t
must have been a very thiekly inhabited
'water-world, since whole layers Of rock
were made from the animals which swan
in its depths or padded on its surfrce.-
| 81. Nicholas fer Nay.