Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-06-25
THE EARLIEST ANIMALS,
A Journey Among the Wonders Of this
Back Ages.

r SON5'@0u ANuwA10st &
A Journey. Among the Wonders Of tho
Back Ages.
The earliest traces that can be found
OF any living thing are the remains Of
sea-weed and OF the club-mosses that
grow In wet places. Soon, however,
animals appeared, and the layers of
sllurlan rock are found in some places
to be entirely composed of the shells OF
animals. Sometimes these shells IRE
very small, but some are larger than
those OF any animal now. In existence.
Nor Is 1t by any means certain that
sp.all animals were created first Lit
tie and big seem to have existed to.
getAer. We find the shells Of animals
50 small as to be invisible, 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,
building limestone reefs and making
the beautiful chain coral which can
still be seen on tho limestone cliffs in
the Western States. Another kind OF
animal, related to the coral polyp, and
called 'crinoid," must have greatly
added to the beauty of the Silurian seas.
we find its remains in the shape of
curiouslY-carved six-sidod body. From
each OF five sides lily-like arm was
sent Oft, and tho animal was fastened to
the rock by stem running from the
center OF the sixth side. Prof. Agassiz
called them ''stone lilies"
Other layers of rock are composed
wholly Of the remains of queer animals
called "trilobites." 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 depressions running lengthwise in
their bodies, which divided them into
three lobes. They had also the same
ring-like divisions running around the
body as are seen in Holsters. They
swan on their backs, and had the power
OF rolling themselves into ball.
Probably this was done to defend them
selves against some foe. Many we're
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 like these old
animals is found now.
So many mollusks-that is, soft ami
mails with hard shells, like the oysters
then swan in the waters, that this
age is sometimes called the age OF
Mollusks." They we're of all sizes and
shapes, and there were millions and
millions of them. There was one, be.
longing to the same family as our nau.
titus, which was four feet across. An.
other resembled a nautilus unrolled. It
was from ten to fifteen feet long, and
measured foot in breadth.
The remains of fishes are found, for
the first time, in some of the upper lay.
ers belonging to this period. In Wales,
in the land of the Silures, they claim tc
have found one layer composed entirely
Of fish, bones.
Now, there is something we must
keep in mind when we speak of ire
mains" 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 remains of leaf, what would
those remains be like? A real leaf:
No, nothing but the impression of one
No wocd-no pulp. Simply picture
engraved on the hard rock. So, also,
with the remains of a fish--no body, nc
bones-only an impression; but SD true
one that biologists 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 centuries, waiting fol
you to find it!
So far, then, as we have journeyed II
our travel through the back ages, We
see world of water, with such plants
and animals as live in water. 1t is true
that little patches of dry land existed.
as at the close of the first period; and
these had even been increased little
by the addition of beaches. But these
bits of land were so small, compared
with the vast expanse of ocean, that we
are justified in calling it world Of
water" 1t must have been a very
thickly "water-world," since
whole layers of rock were made from
the animals which swan In its depth:
or padded on its surface -Teresa C
Crofton, in st. Nicholas.
p,,nS TN ,,rn