Milford chronicle., 1891-08-21
SKELETONS OF GIANTS.
AN AMAZING COLLECTION or PRE-
HISTORIC ANIMALS.

Beasts with Bacisboues Fun Of Hot An
That Used 70 Float in a Marsh Where
Colorado Is NOVA Reptile with .
Brain to was It's Tail.
Professor o. c. Marsh who directed the
gathering Of the government collection,
has mines Of his own all over the west,
from which he can draw to order the most
astonishing variety Of gigantic creatures.
He made the remark the other day that
there was one small valley he knew Of
where relics Of the ancient mosasaurus
were so plentiful that, passing through Il
recently, he noticed the skeletons Of six Of
those mighty swimming lizards, each
eighty feet in length in sight at one time.
Usually these amazing fossils are found
Embedded in solid rock After they have
been roughly quarfied out, the sandstone
or other matrix inclosing them Is carefully
chiseled away from the bones. The latter
receive a coat Of glue to keep out the de-
composing air and any that are broken OF
splintered are bound up with Irvine, after
which they are packed for shipment
When one Of these beasts Of antiquity
died, its carcass being covered up with sed-
iment that afterward became stone, the
with its parts in position, all ready for
mounting IN a museum
A new reptile was found 10 wyoming
the other day in such complete state
which has been named brOntosaurus. It
was sixty feet long, stood fifteen feet high
when alive, and weighed twenty tons Cast
in the rock from which it was taken was Q
perfect mold Of one Of its eyeballs, with
which it looked upon tie world three mil
lions of years ago It had very small
head, a long and flexible neck, short
body and huge tail
In the same neighborhOod, also, has been
discovered recently another reptilian mon
ster called the triceratops, which had an
enormous bony frill around the back of its
neck. This surprising development, meas
uring six feet across, was intended for the
attachment Of great muscles that We're
necessary for holding up the huge head
The animal, though tremendously massive,
was only thirty feet long, but It was GOV
cred with plates Of armor and had sharp
and horny beak, not to mention horn on
its nose and another on its forehead, the
latter two and half feet In length.
MINE OF HUGE SKELETONS.
In Colorado have been found great de-
posits Of the bones Of titanosaurs, the big
aC1t AAtlAu alAAlAA1 lAAtAk eANA N4-AAe@Ns nv
grew to be sixty-fye feet long and stood
forty feet high when erect upon their hind
legs. Instead Of browsing, as did the bron-
tosaur and tiiceratops, upon the luxuriant
aquatic vegetation around the lake Dor
ders, they fed upon the foliage Of trees on
the mountain sides. Likewise did the
iguanOdon, several times as heavy as the
which had a nipping beak like
turtles and also walked erect, using its
huge tail for a support and towering to
The height Of forty or fifty feet.
In the mesozoic epoch or age of Rep |
Hes" when these creatures lived, these /
md other similar herbiysfou animals /
we're the higgsst zasns beasts. One of |
Them, che atlantosaur was 100 feet long, |
It's thigh bones, many Of which have been /
found, measuring eight feet in length and |
twenty-five inches through.
They had various methods Of pursuing 4
existence. Some went on all tours and |
had back bones that were mere shells flied /
with warm air from their lungs, which |
5erYed them as floats while they walked in |
The sea shadows in water deep enough to |
cover their backs. extending their long |
neclIs to crop the vegetation alongshore. |
Of this sort was the camerasaurus, eighty |
feet in length.
On which they were able TO wade out far |
Into the ocean after seaWeed, and were
provided with not fewer than 1900 teeth
Tor grinding their food Such was the
mighty kangaroolike hydrosaurus. Yet
lther species dwelt on land, ike the tri-
,eratops, and these were provided usually
With armor and horns for defense.
A FORTY-FOOT KANGAROO.
Il would seem as if such monsters as are
need have feared no living foes,
but in fact they were a common prey to
great numbers Of frightful carnivorous
reptiles, smaller 10 size, but of tremendous
and ferceness, which fed upon
.hese unwieldy vegetable eating giants.
Most terrific Of all, perhaps, was the in
.redibly ferocious laelaps, which was forty
Get long, stood twenty-five feet high on it's
lind legs, and was built like kangaroo.
Z was the most astonishing jumper that
Iver existed, with teeth for cutting and
harp claws on the front feet evidently de-
igned for tearing out the eyes Of victims
" adversaries.
Hardly less formidable, and equally
arge, was the stegosaur, which was
heathed in armor plates from two to three
eet in width, and employed rs a weapon Of
hense its powerful tail, armed near the
nd on both sides with sharp spikes two
Get long. This animal walked erect also,
nd one Of its peculiarities was great en-
argement Of the spinal cord at the lower
nd OF the back.
In fact, this expansion Of brain material,
Intended to provide for the wagging Of the {
nightly spiked tail, was ten times as big 4
s the brain in the skull itself Equally
arge and dangerous were the Tnegalosaur
nd the dinosaur. their jaws armed with
uge saberlike teeth, which went about {
n their hind legs looking for some II
hing to devour Against such fearful
pes what chance had the peaceful cetio {
aurus and elasmosaurs, dwelling in Z
marshes and shadows with the bulk Of six
r eight elephants.
Nevertheless some OF the herbivorous {
and reptiles referred TO like the gigantic {
orned and armored agathumas, could I
lake a good light with the carnivores,
nd were so well able to defend themselves
hat they lived and multiplied in the same 4
sgions with the latter But most Of these Z
egetable feeders had no other means of !
efense than kicking, which they could do /
nth some effectiveness with hind legs If {
zen feet or so in length.-Rene Bache in c
lew York Sun.
History Repeating.
There was a battle in Dey street between
q Italian and half dozen newsboys the
ther day, caused by an alleged raid on the