The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-29
liant CATS Of LONG AGO.
he Monster Fslines Who Lived In
This Country 100000
Years Ago.
Tut Only the Bones Are Loft to
Tell the Story
Now.
N AMI thA I0lAt and t1,A 4 sNunv0,nat -
10 Habits. the Diet and the Approximate
Age - Told by the Teeth
Found.

There used TO b cats In North America
1000 years ago." said q palsoutologist TO
reporter OF the Washington Star. ''Gssat
arnivorous feline creatures OF the tribe
banned over this country then In enormous
umbers. They are all extinct, and have
~ only their bones behind to tell the story
how they lived and what they fed upon.
me often reads of tho art by which the
aturalist 10 able to restore the skeleton Of
n animal from I single bono. and In fact :
God many mistakes have been made
trough ovsroon6dsnos on the part Of
earned gentlemen in reoonstructinR fossils
' theory from insufficient material. But
here 10 no possibility of m~istaking tho tes-
(mony afforded by the teeth. They tell all
bout the manns Of existence led by their
primer owner, giving accurately the habits.
let and Approximate age of the beast.
'Thus it is very fortunate that tooth last
pnRer that any other objsot in nature. Al
his day are found in a ! erfsct state Of pre-
ervation the molars and incisors which
Rere used to ctew with by the mighty rep
lies of millions Of years ago. 1t 10 from
10 dentition that science declares man to
. carniverous only by habit, and not by
ature. l spoke Of that the Other day to a
oung man in search Of information, who
splied impolitely: so 10 = hon. When l
sked him what he meant by that he said
hat the dentition Of q hen would certainly
ct indicate that it was carniverous by ma
nre. and yet it evidently was so, judging
Fom its addiction to worms and preference
pr flesh in general. However. as I was 60
|ng to remark, the piercing and cutting
eeth of these cats of long ago are the most
perfectly adapted instruments for cutting
urp oses that ever were seen, being I'M
qualed by n manufactured tools for such
hses.
For example. there was the Romphodus.
bhich was as big as the largest panther and
al two teeth in its upper jaw resembling
|apRers. each five inches in length. AZ
Geapons for penetrating flesh they are I'M
walled among carnivorous animals, recent
|r extinct. they are rather like the teeth
y some hugo fesh. eating dinosaurs, the
|errible reptiles of the mesoZoic epoch,
Fhich had cutting tie IN that nothing could
|esist. Doubtless this c enture WAS incon-
|elvably bloodthirsty. Quite rs fierce,
and even more formidable by rea-
|on OF ito greater size, was the contsmpo-
lazy %poQonodon, which was as large az the
biggest iaguar. There were two species of
Ibis animal which held the field in Oregon
uting the period speak Of against all RI
falls. It was undoubtedly a great destroyer
u life among the herbivorous beasts.
"Our knowledge Of one of these species
j due TO . very fortunate chance. Some
ears ago An exploring party was sent into
no John Day river valley in Oregon for the
Of looking for fossils. That 10 a
region for such treasures, water
nd ~ AsNk ~ A1S~An ~ - L:-I
vero formed originally by dstritus deposited
Turing myrlads OF years. 1t happened that
he attention of one member Of tue expedi
was attracted BY something that looked
ike a skull, half projecting from the sum-
nit Of a pinnacle of a craQ. 1t was. in fact,
skull. and the shining Of the great teeth
.as what caught his eye. He climbed up
iHoulty and danger to lite and limb. 1t
'as the Uranium Of q once formidable
o%gonodon.
"During this same epoch there were
umerous other species of cats, all Of them
ince extinct, which varied in size all the
'ay from that of a household pussy of to.
ay to the huge sabsr.toothed tiger. Not a
o~rrsspondingly destructive. The teeth
hey have left behind tell the story of the
'sy they lived, describing, as we'll o. words
do 1t, their extreme forocity. They
ttained the climax of their type in the
tigers, bigger than either tho
on or the tiger Of to-day, which had
anines . foot in length n shaped like
1rved knives with saw-like edges. They
the continent in the tune of the
sloths, such az the meQatheria. and
oubtless did much to extsrminate the
liter helpless and vegetabls-eatinR beasts.
hey were plentiful in Texas, where the re-
,ains of a good many have been dug up.
TT is interesting to conslder the fact that
aese saber- toothed tiQets-like the cave
BARS, which were twice as heavy ss Rriz-
lies and probably quite as ferocious-wsre
ontemporary with human beings on tho
nth. and tho latter were obliged to fight
,em. Their bones sre found in consider
bic. numbers in tho caves Of southern
rance. which were the residences of pri.
'eval men and women in the ancient stone
ze. 100000 years and more ago.
During the period When tho wonderful
IT. we're 80 plentiful in North America
lere we're numerous dogs and doalike
sasts also. all of which have since become
,tinot. The biggest species was az larqs
a good sized boar. In that part of the
'untry which 10 now called Colorado and
akota there were several kinds of doQ-like
limals about the size of foxes, which were
2cturnal in their habits, having very large
'ss with which to see in the night time.
hey had great ears. also, md short, SHARP
,ses. All these things can be told from
cir skulls"
Venus ssen by Day.
Many people who have been reading
,out Mars foil into the very natural error