The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-13

with teeth for cutting and sharp claws on
the front feet that were evidently designed
for tearing out the ewes of victims or adyer-
saries Hardly less formidable and equally
large was the ''stegosaur' which was
sheathed in armor plates from two T. three
feet in width, and employed as a weapon of
offense its powerful tail, armed near the
end on both sides with sharp spikes two feet
lone. This animal walked erect Also and
one OF its pecuiaritles wa a great ENLARGE.
meHt of the spinal cord at the lower end Of
the back. In fact, this expansion Of brain
material, intended to provide for the way
ging of the mighty spiked tail was I'm
times as b as the brain IL the skull itself
Equally large and dangerous were the
"megalosaur" and the 'dinusaur. their law,
armed with hugs saber-lke teeth. which
went about on their hind legs looking for
something to devour. Against such fearful
foes what chance had the peaceful "cetio-
saurus' and 'elasmosaurs.7 dwelling
in marshes and shadows with
the bulk of six or eight elephants, Never
theless some of the herbiyorous land rem
tiles referred to, like the gigantic horned
and armored "aGathaumus,' could make a
good fight with the carnivores. and were so
we'll able to defend them'eves that they
lived and multiplied In the same regions
with the latter But most Of these vegeta-
BILE feeders had no other means of defense
than kicking, which they could do with
some effectiveness with their hind limbs
fifteen feet or SO in length.
WHEN REPTILES RAN CREATION.
Specimens of all these are included in the
collection that is to be brought here for per
manent exhibition. OF course thew renre-
sent but few of the counties species of
giant beasts that roamed over the earth in
droves during this vanished epoch That
was the age when reptiles rau creation
They walked upon land, swan the seas.
flew through the air. climbed trees, and did
everything that mammals do NOWADAYS
There were bird reptiles and reptilian birds
Some had wings for flying with spread of
twenty-five feet-veritable dragons, in
fact Others, forty feet in length.
had paddles for swimming ike
whales. These latter lived in
the seas, though occasionally they came on
shore. 1t is known from their petrifed
droppings, which are plehtifully found to-
day, that they lived upon fish. One species
dived to great depths In the ocean, and was
most rapacious and predatory. IL had
enormous eyes to see with in deep water
its head resembling an alligator's. Another
kind, with very long neck, Inhabited the
shoals and preyed upon the fishes of the
shadows The first serpents, too belonged
IN the sea and grew to be forty feet long.
They had no poison, but We're constructors
like the boa. There were many kinds of
crocodiles fifty feet from snouu to tail.
whereas the biggest ones now are not more
than fifteen feet. During the same
period lived the birds with teeth.
which were only discovered q few years ago
Biggest of these was the "hesperorn g. y
which stood six feet high and had only ru-
dimentary wings 1t did not fy, therefore
but was simply swimmer and diver. sub
sisting on fish. The "iohthyronis'' was
somewhat similar in appearance and habits,
but not much larger than a pigeon. 1t is
supposed that these strange water fowl we're
wiped out by the giant swimming lizards
eighty feet long and clad In bony armor
plates, which resemble the modern concep-
ton of the sea serpent. The turtles should
not be forgotten, which attained a length
of twenty feet and measured seven feet
in hight.
THE AGE OF FISHES.
1t is not only the age OF reptiles, however,
that is represented by the unparalleled coll
lection described. Before that came the
epoch Of fishes, when they ran the world
and had al creation pretty much to them
selves. OF this era likewise the government
has gathered together a vast quantity Of
fossil relics. The face of ths earth did not
look then at all as 1t appears now. Most Of
what are now called the continents
had not been uphesved above the
ocean; nearly everywhere was sea,
with comparatively small land masses
elevated out of it. The atmosphere was
hot moist and loaded with carbonic
acid so as to be uubreathable In the
waters swan enormous armored fish, such
as the 'dlnichthys," which was fifteen feet
long and had such TREMENDOUS Jaws aud
teeth that it could have bitten man in two
as easily as you would radish. Later on
came sharks of the fleroest type, which
must have been as much as seventy feet in
length at least. The biggest tooth of man
eater OF to-day Is about an inch long, while
the teeth Of these ancient sharks, which are
found In enormous numbers, measure more
than six inches. That was the golden age
OF the scaly tribe.
The giant reptiles that appeared on the
scene in the subsequent epoch were re-
markable for the smallness of their brain
cavities. In some of them the brain was SO
small that it could have passed without in
Jury through all the vetebre of the spinal
column down as far as the beginning of the
tall All of these were wiped out of ex-
istence by the great cataclysm which up
heaved the Rocky mountains, the Alps and
the Himalayas and brought TO a close the
"mesozolc epoch" Then came the age of
mammals, at the end of which we are now,
mau being the last arrival on the scene.
MONSTERS PASSING AWAY.
The age of monsters has pretty nearly
passed away, only few remaining. like the
elephant and the whale Small animals with
plenty OF sense will always survive stupid
giants In the long run, because they require
less food aud know better how to avoid
danger. Observe in illustration how tle
doom of extinction has fallen upon the
gigantic mammals which roamed over the
earth by myriads only so short time ago,
comparatively speaking as the beginning
OF the present era, called the "cenoxoic.n
There was the ''dinOceras,' which lived in
herds about the lakes, as the deposits show
big as an elephant, but in appearance someo
where between the rhinOceros ard the
hlppopotamus. with three pairs of horns on
It's head ami huge saber-like tusks that
ntted into sheaths in the lower jaw More
imposing yet was the 'tinoceras,n some
what similar of aspect and sixteen fees long
Not less impressive was the ''megatherium"
or giant sloth, as large as two elephants,
which attained a measurement Of eighteen
feet and procured the leaves on which it fed
by seating itself upon its mighty launches
and uprooting great trees OF the "dinothe-
rum" no complete skeleton has been dis
covered, but IL was doubtless the biggest
land mammal that ever lived A full
grown skull of this earliest of professionals,
which had long tusks as well as a trunk,
measures FIVE feet from the point of the
lower teeth to the top Of the head. The
"brontops," of elephantine size, had a head
like rhinoceros, with huge horns. Quite
as remarkable was the "sivatherium, " a
beast like the antelope, but big as an ele-
plant, with two conical horns on the front
60 \