Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-12

once upor a time covered with water and the
dry land was made by the gradual depositing
from the water of clay and sand and all sorts
Of other materials A layer of such deposits
is spread IS. 900 feet in thickness all over the
United States. One might say that the states
we're made from this layer, only that the thick
ness Of New York or Illinois, for instance. has
never been determined like their length and
breadth The lowest stratum OF the layer and
necessarily the most ancient is composed
largely of what was once calcareous mud. When
the mud was hardening certain animals got
stuck IN 1t and being sealed up Theoretically
by Its forming around them were preserved
Tor ages well nigh countless. In this way 1t
happened aat many of these primitive crust
aceans are found at this day in places where
the stratum OF shelly mud has been exposed.
and to estimate about how long ago they lived
is simply matter of arithmetic.
IRILoBITEs.
These ''trilobites," as they are called, are
taken out of the rock as perfect in every detail
of their shape az when they were inclosed
100000 centuries ago. The very facets of their
eyes are distinct ss in life. though lime has
taken the place Of all animal tissue in their
bodies You can see plenty OF them at the
Smithsonian if you care to. or. if you like, you
may find any number of their direct descend
ants In the horseshoe crabs on the sea beach.
HE horseshoe crab, indeed. may fairly be
called the oldest creature in the world being
but slightly modif I'd trilobite and thus rep
resentlng the very most anci IN: family of the
earth. In comparati rely modern times, only
eighteen million years ago, soma crustaceans
attained great size. Frogs in those days used
TO grow as big as men are now and thought
nothing OF hopping two or three blocks dis
lance at one jump. 1t was the age of things
gigantic, and n lObster-ike creature six feet in
length. called the 'pterygotus," prowled the
watery shadows IN search of prey.
1t Is not so very many years now since lob
sters were captured weighing as much 40
pounds apiece. There is one on exhibition in
the Smithsonian now that weighed Is pounds
when caught. II In a formidable looking beast
with claws bis and strong enough to crush your
clenched fst. A forty-pounder would be fully
three feet long in the body and have a spread
OF claws quite 40 wide. Unfortunately, the
business of catching Holsters has been carried
on for a century Or SD past with such eagerness
that all the big on IS pretty nearly have been
taken and eaten, and one IL inches long is now
considered to be of very fair size.
THE JAPANESE CRAB
To find giant crustacean today You must
go to the eastern shore of Asia, where disports
himself the enormous Japanese crab. which
has claws that spread twelve feet One might
suppose that such a monster would be un-
pleasant to meet; but it is quite harmless and
Its body Is small in proportion to its reach
Even the crabs of Rider Haggards fancy did
not attain the dimensions of this Asiatic
reality. When the Smithsonian gets its new
building there will be placed on view a most
wonderful collection of crabs from all over the
world, which are at present stored away out of
sight. One of the most extraordinary of the
specimens Is a ''cocoanut crab" tremen-