Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-06-28
OESERET EVENING NEWS.
saturday. June rs. 1880.
HISTORY IN OLD BONES.
SOME FOSSIL REMAINS WHICH WERE
FOUND IN FLORIDA.

Big boxes full Of curious old bones
have been arriving at the biological
school Of the University Of Penn
sylvania, pending a resting place
in the working room Of Professor
Joseph Leidy, the famous anatOm-
list. Certain marks have indicated
that they came from Archer, Levy
County, Fla. The specimens have
been carefully wrapped up in Flori-
da moss and other packing to pre-
vent breaking on the way north.
These bones are hundreds Of years
old. They belong to extinct crea-
lures of the quaternsry period. DIR.
Leidy has been hard at work identi-
flying the animals Of which the
bones form a part, and this identi-
fication is now complete. His con-
illusions are now very Interesting.
The chief bones, he says, are those
| Of a rhinoceros, a mastadon, 4
llama, n three tOed horse and a giant
slOth. There are also parts Of tapir,
a small crocodile aud n gar pike.
In 1857, a gentleman living in
Archer, in northern Florida, found
i EtAA4C Al11AA hl4N1 III ANAE Vi Ia YaAAAA
wrote TO the late Professor Baird, Of
the Smithsonian institute, about
them At that time scientists were
not expecting the discovery Of fossil
remains in Florida at all, anu Pro-
fessor Baird, becoming interested,
suggested to DR.. Leidy that he 20
| there and search for more bones.
DR.. Leidy, being unable TO do so,
interested Major Powell, superin-
tendent Of the United States geOlOg-
ical survey, in the matter, and the
latter sent one Of his assistants, Mr..
Dali, to Archer for two weeks.
WHAT THE BONES TELL.
AS result Of this visit two barrels
and six boxes Of bones were sent to
DR.. Leidy to be identified. There
were no further finds there until
Professor Marsh, OF Yale college,
put an assistant, Mr.. Hatcher, 10
work digging in the same clay, di-
recting him to send all the remains
he might unearth to Dr.. Leidy.
Seven more boxes accordingly
reached here. The two cOnsign-
ments, altogether, contained feet
and limb bones, portions Of the jaws
and numbers OF the teeth Of about
twenty rhinOceri, feet and limb
bones and a quantity Of teeth OF the
mastodbn: the claws and ankle
bones Of the giant sloth; the limb
bones, toe bones and teeth OF the
llama; limb bones and teeth OF a
three tOed horse, and other less inn
pOrtant remains.
DR.. Leidy identifies the rhinO-
cerOs As a variety whose skeleton
has never before been found in this
country east OF the Mississippi. 1t
is about the size OF the present In
dian rhinOceros, but has tusks eight
inches long instead OF three inches,
and was probably hOrnless. Ii lived
in Florida in the quaternaTy period,
previous to the appearance Of man.
The msstOdOn whose bones were
found DR.. Leidy calculates to have
been half as large again as the pre-
sent Asiatic elephant and a different |
species from the common mastOdon |
whose remains have been found in |
almost every state in the Union. |
The head Of one Of the arm bones,
which in the man is about one and |
a half inches in diameter, is all that |
one can lift, being as big as the |
human head. One OF the giant |
sloths. pronounced by DR.. Leidy the
megatherium, was also rs large as
the Asiatic elephant. The only |
living siOth known, about the size.
Of a terrier, is tree animal.
EVERY sLOTH HIS OwN SURGEON.
This megatherium, though too
large to climb into trees, fed upon
tree leaves and branches, and used
TO rear up on its hind legs and en-
brace the tree with its short fore legs,
and swaying it from side to side
finally uproot it. DR.. Leidy argues
for this habit from its strong back
legs and tail like the kangarOo'sl,
and from the fact that several skele-
tons of these animals have been pre-
viOusly discovered carrying signs Of
serious fractures Of bones, which
have been practically cured during
life.
The remains IF the three llamas
show that these animals must have
ranged in size from a little larger
than n camel to one and half times
As large. The three tOed horse, whose
bones Were found in Florida, was
probably twO-thirds the size of a don
key. So many teeth of mastOdons
were found rs to enable DR.. Leidy
to trace out a complete history Of
their dentitiOn. Cuvier believed
that in this animal the three milk
grinders and three back grinders
were followed in each case by a sim
gle successor. A few years ago
German investigator announced his
discovery that each of those sets Of
three teeth was succeeded by two
teeth. DIR. Leidy's study Of the
teeth sent to him confirms this an.
nouncement.