Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1896-05-20
A FOSSIL HUNT.
OLDEST GAME EXPEDITION IN
MODERN TIMES.
Only Scientists in the Party-The
Strange Creatures Which They
Are After All Lived
Ages Ago.
X MONSTER hunting expedi.
n tion has just been sent out by
NJ Princeton College. 1t is

party, according to the New York
Journal, expect to make notable ad-
ditions to the specimens OF pre-his-
toric creatures now in this country.
In Patagonia have been dug mp re-
mains Of extinct birds whose leg bones
were bigger than those of a horse.
The gigantic fowls were massively
built, and probably weighed as much
as five hundred pounds when full
grown, They had enormous heads,
which in some instances measured
nearly two feet from the back of the
skull to the tip of the huge back.
Undoubtedly they were carnivorous,
and, it is believed, waders, resembling
herons in their habits. They could
not fly at all.
This strange country of Patagonia
was the home of vast numbers of gi-
gantio sloths, representing numerous
species. Some Of these queer animals
were as big as two elephants, but ex-
tremely sluggish. They were very
stupid, having nearly the smallest
brains of any known mammals in pro-
portion to their size. Their food was
vegetables wholly, and it was habit
of theirs to pull up trees by the roots
for the purpose Of getting at the foli-
age. For this purpose the monster
would squat on its launches, its mas
siye hind legs and huge tail serving as
sort of tripod, while it grasped the
tree trunk with its forearms and
dragged it out of the ground.
Not less strange than the sloths were
the colossal glyptodons precursors of
the modern armadilIos. Though bear
ing some sort OF resemblance to tor
toises, they were mammals. They had
skeletons on the outside of their
bodies as well as on the inside; in
ether words, they were clad in an i'm
penetrable armor of bone from nose to
tail. This armor was solid, and not
flexible like that of the armadillo.
Full-grown specime rs attained length
of ten feet and weight of over ton.
In those days there we've multitudes
of huge creatures in Patagonia, which
resembled modern ant-eaters, Of the
genus sloth and fully twelve feet long.
Over the plains OF Patagonia 100, 900
years ago roamed herds of animals re-
lated to the modern llamas, which are
cousins to the camels of the Old World.
Some of them were far larger than any
camel, as is shown by bones that have
been dug up. The whole country is
full OF the fossil remains of astonish.
ing creatures, whose species have long
since passed away.
The modern fauna of Patagonia is
hardly less remarkable than that which
is extinct. At the southern extremity
OF that country the guanacos - animals
of the camel tribe have "dying
place." 1t is spot to which all OF
these beasts inhabiting the neighbor-
ing plains repair at the approach of
death to deposit their bones. Darwin
first recorded this strange instinct OF
theirs, and his observations have since
been fully confirmed by others. Ac-
curately speaking, there srs several Of
these dying places, the best known be-
ing on the banks of the Santa Cruz
and Gallegos Rivers, where the valleys
are covered with dense thickets of
bushes and trees OF stuhted growth.
There the ground is scattered thickly
with the bones of countless dead gen.
erations, the animals in most cases
having crswIed before dying beneath
and among the bushes.
The strange armadillo, one of the
most ancient OF surviving creatures,
figures conspicuously in the fables cur
rent among the natives of Patagonia,
being represented as an animal fertile
in e1pedients and duping other beasts,
especially the fox, just as Br'er Rabbit
does. Snakes, venomous or other
wise, are its favorite prey, and it kills
them actually by saving them in two
with the serrated edges of it's sharp,
bony shell. The armadillo seems to
be proof against the venom of the
serpent. In the same part of the
world is found q venomous species OF
toad, the bite of which is often fatal.
It IS extremely hideous, and bigger
than mans fist. It snaps saYagely
at anything that comes near, hanging
on with the tenacity Of bulldog.
When teased, it swells itself to such
an extent as to appear as if about to
burst.
There is species of frog in Pata.
gonia known as 'wrestling frog"
which does not hesitate to attack hu-
man beings. DR.. W. b. Hudson, the
naturalist, tells of an adventure he
had while out snipe shooting one day,
when, peering into the disused burrow
of some rodent animal, he SOW burly
looking frog sitting within it. "Though
it watched me attentively," he says,
"the frog remained perfectly. motion.
less, and this surprised me. Before I
was sufficiently near to make grab,
it sprang straight at my hand, and,
catching two of my fingers with its
fore legs, administered hug SO sud-
den and violent as to caused an acute
sensation of pain. Then it released
its hold and leaped away"
The supposition is that this frog re-
lies on its hugging power to astonish
an adversary, and in the confusion
which follows 1t escapeS.