Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-04-30
REPTILES OF THE PAST.
Degenerate Survivors of Those Of
the Long Ago.
Monsters Which Walked the Earth and
Swan the Seas Ages and Ages Ago
Some Ancient Phenomenal
Jumpers and Flyerx.

world made their appearance at the
close OF the paleozoic period, when the
coal was In process OF formation They
were all land animals Among them
there were no flying creatures, no
marine swimmers, no gigantic types.
and no especially herbivorous kinds
''At the close OF the conforming
period there occurred q great emergence
of land from the water and reptlian
life rapidly spread and grew. Therep-
tiles which had previously existed were
all of one kind Their remains are
found in this country wherever the de-
posts in lagoons, lakes and estuaries
have been calculated for their preser-
vation- From this point of time, how
ever, began what may appropriately be
called the epoch of reptiles The pale
ozoic period was brought to a close by
a great upheaval, due to contraction of
| the earth's crust, by which the Ale
ghanies and the Ural system were up
| lifted Then began what is called the
| 'mesozoic epoch during which the
| reptiles may be said to have run crea-
ton. That is to say, they were the
F! highest order of beings at that time
alive. What man is now the reptile
was then-that is, lord of all existing
things. Reptiles walked upon land.
navigated the water. few through the
air, and, in short, pursued every avenue
| OF existence that is zoologica1ly con-
ceivable.
Early in the mesozoic epoch there
appeared marine reptiles which, though
derived from land species, became
more and more aquatic through the
necessity of living in water, develop
ing, on that account, swimming organs,
II -, -
velop in huge proportions Why they
grew so big no one knows, but it may
have been because they had no rivals
in the struggle for existence; they had
all they wanted to eat and naturally
increased in bulk. At all events. no
creatures are known to have ever existed
in this world comparable in size to these
reptiles of ages ago.
| ssWhat the mammals are in the scale
of creation to-day the reptiles were in
the mesozoic epoch They swan the
seas, climbed trees, and were most
phenomenal jumpers. Some Of them
even flew. While some were
herbivoroUs, living upon plants, others
1 were carnivorous, preserving existence
by devouring their vegetable-eating
cousins. The vegetarian reptiles were
enormous beasts, often as much as
seventy feet in length. They afforded
food for the carnivorous reptiles, which
| were smaller than the herbivorouS
kind, just as lions and tigers nowadays
are smaller than oxen Though bigger
the vegetarian creatures usually had no
armor nor weapons to defend them
selves with. Their most powerful de-
Tense was kick, which, delivered with
hind leg fifteen feet in length, was
assuredly not by any means to be de-
spised. The herbivorous reptiles of
that epoch were mainly of three de-
scriptions:
''First was the biggest of all animals
known to the world from the beginning
thereof to the present day. Its name
was the scamaraSauruS.' 1t went on all
fours and the vertebr@ compoS.ng its
backbone were hollow-mere shells IN
fact-illed with warm air from the
lungs, Just as is the case with the bones
/ of some birds to-day. Undoubtedly il
lived in the sea, walking along in water
deep enough to cover its back 1t fed
uI,on the vegetation along shore and its
neck was long and crane-like.
''Other herbivorous reptiles of the
same period had enormously long hind
legs en- which they were able to wade
| far out into deep water after sea weeds
and other food. These animals were
particularly extraordinary in point OF
their dental equipment, inasmuch es
each of them had about two Thousand
grinders to chew with, arranged il
MAGAZINES of five hundred each, like
cartridges
Another species OF herbivorous rep
tiles lived upon land, but they were SO
powerfully armed that they were able
: to oppose formidable defense against
attack. Some Of them had huge horns
- on their heads like bulls, while others
= bore similar weapons above their noses
like the rhinoceri of to-day. So wei
able were they to defend themselve:
+. that they lived and multiplied in the
same regions with the most ferociou.
of the carnivorous monsters
ssThus you will understand that there
were three kinds of herbivorous giants
in the mesozoic epoch. There was the
'camarasaurus,' which fed neck deer
along the seashore, its hollow backbone
serving as 4 float and its solid legs and
tail for anchors, next was the kangaroo
! like 'hadrosaurus,' which waded out
j ! upon its hind legs into deep water IN
search of food, and finally, there was
the dangerous 'agathaumas,' with enor
|
1.-The so-ca1led 'mesozoic epoch was
brought to a close by the cataclysm, due
to contraction and consequently crump
ling of the eartE's crust, which up
heaved the Rocky mountains and the
Andes on this hemisphere and the Alps
Pyrenees, Balkans and Himalayas OF
the other side of the world. Incidental
b IL to this tremendous alteration in the
face of the earth all these giant reptile:
were wiped out of existence Thi.
event opened what is called to-day thu
tertiary epoch 1t is in the tertiary
epoch that we live now. At the begin
ming of this epoch the only reptiles
}. which survived were the snakes, lizards
turtles and crocodiles, all of them re
sembling closely those of their kim
which exist to-day. OF the turtles
may be said that they represent tn,
most ancient type of all vertebrates. ne
sembling closely as they do the reptile
of their kind which existed so far bacl
as the mesozoic era
-