Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-06
Novelties Added to the Collection Of
the National Museum.
The FAMOUS FABLER0C
The Biggest Pair Of Teeth in the
World,
THE RMIT OYST TER


British Museum-of the tusks of a mann
moth. Each of them is ten and a half feet
lcng. An elephants tusk six feet in length
would be considered astonishing 1t is diff
ficllt to see how the beast, which was
probably not much greater in size than
Jumbo, could have carried about with conf
fort such weapons, both of which together
must have weighed quite 300 pounds. The
skull of the animal entire, in plaster of
Paris, painted to initiate bone. with the
tusks attached, was hung up last week in
the hall of fossils.
The hall of fossils is at present undergo
ing reconstruction, with the addition of
certain novelties, the intention being TO
have it ready by April Is, when the Ma
tioral Academy of Sciences meets here.
Man has been contemporary on the earth
with fauna very different in numerous
respects from that which now occupies the
surface of the globe. 1t is likely that he
had chance to hunt such giant beavers
as now are found-ther remains, that is
to say-in the lake deposits of New York
and Michigan. One of the most interest
ing curiosities in possession of the National
Museum is the skull of d marsupial lion
from Australia. 1t was doubtless a ire
meLdouSiy fierce carnivorous creature,
carrying its young in pouch like kan
gaIco The name lion" has been given. TO
it in purely figurative sense, on account
of it's formidable teeth and presumed
habits as beast of prey.
They Were All Geese
From New Zealand comes skeleton of
an extinct and very peculiar kind of goose
Ii was about the size of an ordinary goose,
hut could not fly at all, having no wings
That is a famous country for flightless
birds such IS the apteryx, which has sur
vived, but is nearly eXtermnated The
scientific history of this winGless goose is
rather funny. When one of its thigh bones
was dug up a few years ago Sir Richard
Owen declared that it belonged to a small
species of moa. Subsequently a breast
bone turned up, and another famous nat
uralist. Parker, asserted confidently that it
pertained to a kind of rail. Blu; the dis
ccNery of a complete Skeleton proved that
the animal was a gpose-not to apply any
such derogatory eniehet to either of the
experts named. the Dld-time notion q
storing a fossil crea ture from bone
or two has given rise ito many ridiculous
mistakes. fi.t,
The National Museum possesses no bones
Of the roc of Sinbad the Sailor. though 1t
ought to have them. They are rare, but
more or less incomplete skeletons have
been secured. and are now preserved
abroad In early days Arab traders made
their way to Madagascar and brought
back with them stories of gigantic fowl
which they called the roc or rukh These
tales were eventually embalmed in roman
TIC legends 1t was not until the early part
of the present century, however, that
Eatives of Madagascar, coming to Maui
ritius to buy rum, brought with them some
astt niShlng eggs to serve as reCe ptacles.
Two such eggs We're fetched to Paris in
LS5l by Capt Abadie. Each of them
| n ensured thirteen inches in length and
thirty-four inches in circumference, haV-
| ing capacity of about 40 hens eggs and
a shell nearly one inch thick. Each of
| them would hold about two gallons The
lirds that laid these eggs had been long
extinct They were certainly not so big
as the wingless moas of New Zealand, the
last of which persisted at least a century
1 ego. The largest moas attained a height
| of twelve feet and a weight of l COO pounds.
Some Interesting Fossils.
Mastodons must have roamed over this
| country In herds at one time. judging from
| the quantities of their teeth and other re-
mains that have been found. Camels used
| to be very numerous in North America, as
| is shown by fossil deposits. In the re-
constructed fossil hall will be exhibited a
| series of fossil horses, showing the develop
| ment of the beast from the primitive
| hyracotherium. which had five toes. Next
| comes the anchitherium. with four toes,
| succeeded by the hippotherium. with three
| tees The horse of today walks upon its
! middle toe. two other rudimentary toes APP
| pearing above in the shape of little splin-
| tiers of bone beneath the flesh.
The most StupendouS skeleton in the hall
| of fossils will be that of a megatherium.
| This giant sloth, which was as big as two
| elephants, was rather a common beast in
| North America during the tertiary epoch.
| 1t attained a length of twenty feet. was
! extremely sluggish in its movements, and
| had an enormous development of tail. The
| foliage of trees furnished its chief food
| From South America comes specimen of
| the huge glyptodon, which looks somewhat
| like an enormous tortoise. but was related
| to the armadillos. 1t is nine feet long. The
| remains of these queer creatures are found
| plentifully in the Pampas region of the Ar
gentine Republic. They date back only to
the quarternary-the latest of the geologic
| periods.
The National Museum has secured a cast
| of the most celebrated fossil ichthyosaurus
| in existence. 1t represents the head only
| of that gigantic and predatory fsh-eating
| l1Zard-somewhat resembling in profile that
of an alligator much nagnfied-but, though
| millions of years must have elapsed since
| the creature was alive. it is wonderfully
perfect. even the sclerotic plates Of the eye
| being preserved. The eye Is about eight
| inches in diameter 1t was so constructed
as to alter it's form and serve as a telescope
or microscope. at the will of the owner
| One finds in the fossil hall slabs of rock.
on which are preserved ripple-raarks that
| were made by the waves of ocean millions
of years ago. These slabs are from ancient
beaches. upon which flowed and ebbed the
! tides of seas that dried up and vanished in
| forgotten ages. On the same slabs are
tracks that were made by trilobites-crus-
| tao cans long extinct. which We're the an
|
| The Hermit Oyster.
Only few species of oysters survive to-
day, whereas during the great chalk-form-
ing epoch there were thousands. Some of
them were very queer indeed. One was
shaped like a rams horn. while another
bore resemblance to a boat. Yet another
had queer-looking beak above the hinge.
Handsomest of all was a species whose
shell had the form of a ROSTERS comb. 1t
was a Kermit oyster, nor dwelling in a bed
with others of its sort. Consequently, it is
only rarely that specimen is found. 1t
lived in very deep water. Certain shells of
ancient oysters that occur in Texas bear a
| strange resemblance to the upper part of
the human Uranium. People in that region
call them Skulls"
At the time when these oysters lived the
state of Texas was under water, and "a
great part Of its area was covered with
| oyster beds. The shells which the mollusks
left behind form continuous sheet, twenty
feet thick. and extending half way across
the state. The deposit, which has been
transformed irto limy rock composed of
shells loosely cemented together. has been
reckoned to be equal in bulk to the coal
| seams Of Pennsylvania.