Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1895-04-23
uNcLE.sAM's FOSSILS.
NOVELTIES ADDED To THE COLLECTION
OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM.
Washington star.l

The National Museum has just pur'
chased the biggest pair OF teeth In the
world-in fact the largest ever known te
exist. They are casts-the original be
ing In the British Museum--of the tusks
of a mammoth. Each of them Is ten and
half feet long. An elephants tusk SIX
feet In length would be considered as
tonishing. II Is difficult to see how the
beast, which was probably not much
greater In size than Jumbo, could have
carried about with comfort such weap'
ons. both Of which together must have
weighed quite 5000 pounds. The skull
of the animal entire, In plaster Of Paris,
PAINTED 10 initiate bone, with the tusks
attached. was hung up last week In the
hall Of fossils.
Man has been contemporary on the
earth with fauna very different IN nu'
merous respects from that which now oe'
cupies the surface Of the globe. Ii i
likely that he had chance to hunt sueh
giant beavers az now are found--their IT,
mains. that Is TO say-in the lake depos-
It's Of New York and Michigan. One oil
the most interesting curiosities In posses
sion OF the National Museum IL the skull
of a marsupial lion from Australia. III
WAS doubtless tremendously fierce car.
niyorous creature, carrying It's young
In a pouch like kangaroo. The name
.slion" has been given TO 1t In purely
figuratiye sense on account OF its for
midable teeth and presumed habits as
beast OF prey.
From New Zealand comes skeleton
Of an extinct and very peculiar kind oil
goose. II was about the size OF an or
dinary goose, but could not fly at all,
having no wings. That is famous
country for having fiightless birds such
as the apteryx, which has survived, but
IL nearly exterminated. The scientific
history of this wingless goose Is rather
funny. When one OF its thigh bones was
dug up few years ago Sir Richard Owen
declared that it belonged TO small
species Of moa. Subsequently breast
bone turned up, and another famous nat
uralist, Parker, asserted confidently
that IL pertained TO kind OF trail. But
the discovery Of complete skeleton
proved that the animal was a goose-noi
TO apply any such derogatory epithet to
either OF the experts named. The old
time notion of "restoring" fossil
creature from bone or two has given
rise 10 many ridiculous mistakes.
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 NADIA
gsscsr, and brought back with them
stories Of gigantic fowl which they
called the roc or rukh. These tales were
eventually embalmed In romantic
legends. IL was not until the early par.
OF the present century, however. that
natives Of Madagascar, coming TO Mauri-
thus 10 buy rum, brought with them
some astonishing eggs TO serve as re-
ceptacles. Two such eggs were fetched
to Paris In 1851 by Capt. Abadie.
Each OF them measured thirteen inches
In length and thirty-four inches In cir
cumference. having capacity OF about
l50 hens eggs and shell nearly one
inch thick. Each Of them would hold
about two gallons. The birds that laid
these eggs had long been extinct. They
were certainly not so big as the wingiess
moas Of New Zealand, the last OF which
perished a least at century ago. The
largest moas attained a height OF twelve
feet and weight OF 900 pounds.
Mastodons must have roamed over
this country in herds at one time, judg-
ing from the quantities Of their teeth and
other remains that have been found.
Camels used TO be very numerous In
North America, as is shown by the fossil
deposits. In the reconstructed fossil
hall will be exhibited series OF fossil
horses, showing the development OF the
beast from the primitive hyracotherium,
which had five toes. Next comes the
anchitherium, with four toes, succeeded
by the hippotherium, with three toes.
The horse OF to-day walks upon its mid
die toe, two other rudimentary toes ap-
pearing above in the shape OF little
splinters Of bone beneath the flesh.
The most stupendous skeleton In the
hall of fossils will be that OF megathe-
rum. This giant sloth, which was as big
as two elephants, was rather common
beast in North America during the
tertiary epoch. 1t attained length OF
twenty feet, was extremely sluggish in
its movements. and had an enormous de-
velopment of tail. The foliage OF trees
furnished It's chief food. From South
America comes a specimen of the huge
ylyptodon, which looks somewhat like
an enormous tortoise, but was related TO
the armadillos. Ii is nine feet long. The
remains Of these queer creatures are
found plentifully in the Pampas region
of the Argentine Republic. They date
back only to the quaternary-the latest
of the geologic periods.
The National Museum has secured a
cast of the most celebrated fossil
icbthyosaurus in existence. 1t repre-
sents the head only Of that gigantic and
predatory fish-eating lizard-somewhat
resembling in profile that OF an alligator
much msgnified-but, though millions
OF years must have elapsed since the
creature was alive, 1t Is wonderfully per-
feet, even the sclerOtic plates OF the eye
being preserved. The eye Is about eight
inches in diameter. 1t was so construct.
ed as to alter its form and serve as a tel
escope or microscope, at the Will OF the
owner.
One finds In the fossil hall slabs OF
rock. on which are preserved ripple
marks that were made by the waves o1
ocean millions of years ago. These slabs
are from ancient beaches, upon which
flowed and ebbed the tides OF seas thai
dried up and vanished 10 forgotten ages
On the same slabs are tracks that were
made by rilobites-crustaceans long ex
tinct. which were the ancestors OF mod
ern Holsters and crabs.
Only few species Of oyster survive
to-day, whereas during the great chalk
forming epoch there were thousands
Some Of them were very queer indeed
One was shaped like rams horn, while
another bore resemblance TO 00at
Yet another had queer looking
beak above the hinge. Hands0mest o.
all was species whose shell had TIN
form of a ROSTERS comb. IL was her
NIT oyster not dwelling In bed witt
others of It's sort. Consequently, it y
only rarely that specimen Is found. !!
lived in very deep water. Certain she'll
of ancient oysters that occur In Texa
bear a strange resemblance to the uppe
part of the human Uranium. People u
that region call them s'skulls."
| At the time when these oysters livet
the state of Texas was under wster, IN.
q great part Of Its area was coyeeed VIII
oyster beds. The shells which the mol
llusks left behind form . conttnuou
ishset, twenty test square, :