The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-07-18
BIG SEA sERPENTs
SCIENTISTS coNCEDE THEY MAY NOT
! BE ENTIRELY EXTINCT.

Discovery OF tho Remain of Ocean Mon
sters-Yaio Colleges Collection of Bones
OF Huge saurians Of Preadamits Ages.
The Ago Of Chalk.
Do sea serpents existp
Perhaps. AT all events, science does not
deny it. In fact, scientific men of late
have come to admit that such monsters
may prowl the seas.
That there were actually sen serpcnts In
days gone by is certainty They existed
in enormous numbcrs-real marine snakes
of gigantic size corresponding in all i'm
portant respects to the modern monsters
Of news reports. How is this known
Simply because their skeletons have been
dug up in great numbers.
In the Peabody museum at Yale college
are the bones of |, 400 Of these sea scrpents,
some Of which were as much as 80 feetin
length. Most Of them were collected by
Professor 0. G. Marsh. In parts Of the
west the remains of these reptiles occur In
astonishing quantities In one valley
Professor Marsh came across seven Of their
skeletons lying close together. When the
animals were alive, the interior basin of
flourished during the chalk forming or
cretaceous epoch. In the seas of that dis
tant period they fairly swarmed. Excess
lively voracious and predatory, they held a
sway that must have been undlsputed.
That was the age Of monsters, but they
were, of all, the most formidable.
This was the epoch at which the Rocky
mountains were beginning to emerge from
the waters. 1t has been said that the crea-
lures described were masters of the seas
And why notY What more formidable ami
nal can be imagined than a fierce, carniv-
erous snake so feet in length, able, by
means of its swimming paddles to make
its way through the water with tremen-
dous yelocityS Such was the character of
the masasaurs Of the ago of chalk Their
lower jaws were provided with an attach
mcnt of cartilage by which they were en-
abled to open their mouths to an enormous
extent, In the same manner as modern
snake Many species Of them existed, to
some of which the name tylosaur, lesto-
saur and edCs-saUr have been given by
scientists who have dug up their remains.
No fewer than ten species of mosasaurs are
known to have inhabited the United
been found in New Jersey.
The typical mosasaur was in truth per-
feet realization of the SEA- serpent of modern
fancy-if the latter be fancy and not fact.
1t had only one pair of paddles, which were
in front, but these were very powerful. Its
head was fiat and pointed, the jaws being
armed with largo and fierce teeth. The
enormously long tail was flat and deep like
the tail Of great eel, forming n trcmen-
dous propeller. From what is known of
this formidable reptile there Is no difficulty
in pcturing to the imagination's eye MS
rapid progress through the water, its 1.-THE
movements over the land when it chose to
venture upon terra flrma, its ready coil its
rapid stroke and the elevation Of its head
and vcrtcbral column-litcrally living
pillar towering above the waves or tho
brush of the shore swamp5. By thus lift
Ing its head on high by means Of its long
neck it was able to decry its prey at dis
tance.
Now and then it happened that one of
those mighty snakes died under Circum-
stances which caused its body to become
buried in mud, probably in shallow water
Eventually the mud hardened and was
transformed into stone, so that the skclc-
ton of the creature was preserved through
the ages, Today, millions Of years later
tho scientist seeks for such remains in the
mountains which have been uplifted out of
the depths of the vanished seas of long ago.
A famous hlylting ground for fossil rep
lillian monsters is along the slopes of the
Rocky mountains. Through region of
this kind the scientific explorer travels
with his eyes wide open. If from the face
Of cliff lie chances to see projecting what
looks like a bone, exposed by the action of
water that has cut away tho hillside, he
setsa party of men to quarryug with drill,
blast and pickax until whatever is there in
the way of remains has been taken out.
Now and then great deposit Of untcdi-
luvan reptiles is struck in this way, in
which case the '1ind' is kept as secret as
possible, being regarded by the discovcrcr
MS his private mine. If he gave it away,
rival scientists would rush to the spot aud
dig ont all the animals for their own study
and glory
The SEA scrpcnts of tho age Of chalk were
rendered additionally formidable by tho
coats OF mail which they wore. They were
clnd from snout to tail in bony armcr
plates. Apparently they were far more
numerous on this side of the world than
In the eastern hemisphere, for it is very
rarely that II fossil monster is discovered
IN Europe. In Belgium about century
ago they came across n skull Of one, which
was regarded AS such IL precious curiosity
that Napoleon, bcscging town on u
historic occasion, ordered his gunncrs to
avoid shelliEg n museum where the already
famous rcPtilian Uranium was known to
be stored. 1t was subsequently, conveyed
to Paris and when that city was surrcn-
dcrrd to the allies II special clause was in
serted in the treaty providing that the
skull should not he given up. OF course it
wa not until long aftcrwurd that fossil
hunters came across such numbers of Skel
ctOnS of ancient sea scrpcnts In the new
world
Science does not assert that some mosa-
snurS may not still exist in the oceans to-
day, If they do, proof Of the fact has not
yet bCcn obtained. The best evidence goes
to show that all of the numerous tribes of
giant reptiles became extinct long ago
Nevertheless, 1t Is quite conceivable that
muny Of the old time monsters dwell even
now in the depths of the seas. Whit huge
and irlghtful creatures may not Turk unsus-
pcctrd i'll such marine abysscs us those
which occur in the Atlantic a short dis.
lance north Of Cuba and In the Pacific
close by the eastern shores of Japan six
miles or more beneath the surface of the
~atcrS-St. Louis Globe Dcmocrat