The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1898-02-01
DEvoN1AN PERIOD.

few plants, but in the Devonian,
we find quite a forest vegetation.
The Devonian forest consisted
of the highest cryptogams, and
lowest order of phenogams.
Ferns, lepidodendrids, sigillar-
ids great club mosses); calimites
giant equiset@) and conifers,
allied to the yew family, all
these came to their best develop
ment in the Carboniferous, so
we will not speak of them fur
Their till then.
Administrators are few if
any changes in the forms of ami
mails since the Silurian, other
wise than the diminishing of the
Orthoceratites, and a few new
forms of shells. But here are
fishes to think of, three kinds,
Ganoids, Placoids and Telosts.
Examples of Ganoids are found
in garfish, sturgeon, etc. Plac-
ODDS, in sharks. Telosts in ord
mary fishes of the present day.
The Devonian fishes when first
they appear, are of the lowest
order, without bone or scale, )but
they develop, under the climatic
advantages with great rapidity.
In the latter part of the series
the fish family are the leading
family of the world. One Zero
cius shark, Squaliadont, Qawless
tooth), was the king of the seas.
This fish was of gigantic size,
sometimes IA to 16 feet in length
and his jaws were armed with
double rows of teeth on the low
er jaw, and triple rows on the
upper. Some of these teeth that
| have seen are Al inches in
length. There are a few antici-
pations of the Carboniferous in
the latter part of the Devonian.
For instance There has been
found the remains of the first
lizards, (Archogosaurers) a lab
rinthatont, of unusual size, but
as the Carboniferous is the Age
of these animals, and the plants
before mentioned, we will speak
of them in the part devoted to
the
CARBONIFEROUS.
This lie one of the three divis-
ions of the Paleozoic, the last.
It's chief characteristic is coal
measures, found in it's stratas.
Coal is supposed to be the &C.
cumulated bodies of plants which
have become decayed, and after
wards become covered up by
sediments, when they turn to
coal. In thick stratas Of coal
in the shale lying Immediately
under, may be found the roots
and stumps of trees. Many kinds
of plants fourished in these
times.
Plants. Ferns were here in
great profusion, some of them of
gigantic size. Leaves have been
found that were 40 feet in length
and there we're 100 or more var
ieties. Sigillarids (club mosses)
are one of the characteristics oil
the coal measures. These trees
grew in vast forests. Their ma.
ture was the same as our modern
toadstools. They sprung into
existence in a day, lived but q
few hours, and withered away.
Calimtes-(reed -liee), was long,
slender plant with branches al
intervals along the body of the
tree. The trunk was jointed, g
great deal like the bullrush OF
today, but these trees often grew
to the height of 100 feet, and
they were hollow and had pith,
Animals. -Amphibians were
the lords of Creation at that
time, and many curious forms OF
animal life were in existence
great animals, part fish and part
reptile that could live equally as
well in water as in air, were in
habitants of these coal forests.
The Icthgosorus, that monster
of prehistoric times, sported
and run riot in the quiet Carbon
ferrous pools. He grew to the
length of 100 feet. There was
another giant, the Pleciosaurous,
with long prehensile neck, thai
enabled the animal to crop the
buds and leaves from the ferns
without coming out of the water.
This animal was sometimes &c
feet in length. There are many
others that we would like to
speak of at length. but the
devil" has shut US down to so
much space and we can go no
further. Calhoun
CHALLIs, ID, Jan. 81, 1898.