The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-12
REPTILES OF PAST AGES.
MONSTERS WHICH WANDERED
AROUND CENTURIES AGO.

From the w 0Shlngtou Star.
"Reptiles as they are found in the world
At the present day are but degenerate sur
rivors of their kind as they existed in
,nochs long ago." said Prof. Cope to a
writer for the Star. 1.-THE first reptiles Of
he world made their appearance at the
,lose of the psleozoic period, when the coal
vas in process of formation. They were all
and animals. Among them there were no
Hving creatures, no marine swimmers, no
gigantic types. and no especially herbivor-
ous kinds.
SAT the close Of the conforming period
there occurred great emergence of land
from the water and the reptilan life rap.
div spread anG grew. The reptiles which
had previously existed were all of one kind.
Their remains are found in this country
wherever the deposits In lagoons, lakes and
sstuaries have been calculated for their
preservation.
"From this point of time, however, be-
gan what may be appropriately called the
spoch of reptiles. The paleozoic period was
brought to a close by great upheaval, due
30 contraction of the earsh's crust, by which
the Alleghanies and the Ural systems were
upifted.
"Then began what is called the 'mesozoic
epoch during which the reptiles may be
said to have run creation. That is to say,
thew were the highest order of beings at
that time alive. What man is now the
reptile was then--that is. lord of all exist
ing things. Reptiles walked upon land,
navgated the water flew through the air,
and in short, pursued every avenue of ex-
lstence that is zoologically conceivable.
early in the mesozoic epoch there ap-
peared marine reptiles which. though de-
rived from land species, became more and
more aquatic through the necessity of living
In water, developing on that account swim
ming organs, etc.
huge proportions. Why they grew 80 big
no one knows, but it may have been because
they had no rivals in the struggle for exist
ence; they had an 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.
What 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 few. While
some we're herbivorous, living upon plants,
others were carnivorous, preserving exist
ence by devouring their vegetable-eating
cousin.
THE vegetarian reptiles were enormous
beasts, often as much as seventy feet in
length. They afforded food for the carniv-.
Gus reptiles, which were smaller than the
herblvorous kind, just "a 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 defense
was kick. which, delivered with hind
leg fifteen feet in length, was assuredly
not by any means to be despised. The her
bivorous reptiles of that epoch were mainly
Of three descriptions:
Il. First was the biggest of all animals
known to the world from the beginning
thereof to the present day. Its name was
the 'camarasaurus.' 1t went on all fours,
and the vertebr8 composing its backbone
we're hollow-mere shells, in fact-f1lled
with warm air from the lungs, Just as is
the case with the bones Of some birds to-
day. Undoubtedly it lived in the sea,
walking along in water deep enough to
cover Its back. It fed upon the vegetation
along shore, and It's neck was long and
crane-like.
Other herbivorous reptiles of the same
period had enormously long hind legs. on
which they were able to wade far out into
deep water after sea weeds and other food.
These creatures were particularly extraor-
binary in point of their dental equipment,
lnasmuch as each of them had about two
thousand grinders to chew with, arranged
in magazines OF 500 each, like cartridges.
Another species of herbivorous reptiles
nved upon land, but they we're SO power
July armed that they were able to oppose
aformidaole defense against attack. Some
OF them had huge horns on their heads like
bulls, while others bore similar weapons
ABOVE their u ses. like the rhinoceri of to-
day. So we'll able were they to defend
themselves that they lived and multiplied
In the same regions with the most ferocious
OF the carnivorous monsters.
Thus you will understand that there
were three kinds of herbivorous giants in
the mesozoic epoch. There was the CANA
rasaurus, which fed neck-deep along the
seashore, its hollow backbone serving as a
noat and its solid legs and tail for anchors.
Next was the kangaroo-like hadrosaurus,
which Waded out upon its long hind legs
INTO deep water in search of food, and,
nnaliy, there was'the dangerous 'agathau-
mas, with enormous horns.
The carnivorous reptiles of that won
oerful age were more uniform in their
structure. They were mostly built in the
Aangaroo style and of lighter frame. Early
~ thelr history there we're some of them
win hollow bones, which were probably
we greatest jumpers ever known among
sseEteorates. Certain varieties of these
developed flying powers. with spread of
wing, II such it may be termed, of twenty
teet from tip to tip. Some Of these latter
nau teeth, while others were provided
merely with beaks like those of birds, div
iing IN the water for the fish on which they
aVeu' thus, you observe, there were land
0'.u.rIIsans, water saurians and air saurians.
lne so-called 'mesozoic epoch was
brought to close by the cataclysm, due to
tttontraction and subsequent orumpling of
S9e earth's crust, which upheaved the Rocky
mountains and the Andes on this hemis-
puueIe, and the Alps, Pyrenees, Balkans and
ii1iIiislaVas on the other side of the world.
:; anoottuentally to this tremendous alteration
. ~ tae face of the earth, all these giant
aep1iies were wiped out of existence. This
GGYeue opened what is called to-day the
, Sui uary epoch 1t Is in the tertiary epoch
wat we live now. At the be-
stLhhing OF this epoch the only reptiles
. "uich survived were the snakes, lizards,
S sIi ues and crooodiles, all of them resem-
" Jug closely those of their kind which exist
t.ST-uay. OF the turtles it may be said that
icy icy represent the most ancient type of all
tti9I mr. resembling as they do the rep
a. ,.V !. Vi their kind which existed so far back
S d. Une mesozoic era. There were sea tortoises
t tu.ing that epoch which measured twenty
It'll; No. N spread Of fippers, while some ter
ra aiy sortoises were not less big in body,
''oo.1SSurlng twelve feet from head to tail.
- neptlIes have not changed much since
ne ne opening Of the tertiary epoch Perhaps
, NC most marked feature of their Develop