The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-12-11
ENEMIES OF AGES PAST.
sroRY or 4 BATTLE TOLD BY THE
BoNES OF TWO MONSTERS.

EortysIOn DlnOAhuT AnNt ANNbCkeu ~
Hundred-Ton Dinosaur In Geological
Times-Marks Of the Combat still to he
s.en on the skeletons In tho Museum.
ryidences OF a mighty battle which took
r,,ce 2,OOu.0O0 wears ago or so have just been
,eceIyed at the American Museum Of Natural
uis,orv In New York. IL was fought between
,ro OF the biggest animals that ever lived.
ops a herbivorous dinosaur terrible lizard.
.hout ninety feet long. and the other a flesh
eating dinosaur. probably twenty five or
thirty feet long and weiChinR thirty or forty
tons. The details Of this battle are as clearly
Known as II II had happened yesterday, and
the body OF the monstrous victim lies out
.,rstohed in Central Park. For DIR. Workman.
Who has CHARGE OF the Museums field work in
p.leontoloGy. has read the story of the fight in
the skeleton which he unearthed and brought
b New York. a part OF a shipment Of two whole
carloads Of huge bones.
The fight took place In what Is now the
State OF Wyoming. but then the shore OF a
treat inland sea which extended In a northerly
and southerly direction through the centre of
The United States. Here among the tropical
grass and palms these huge ANIMALS lived and
vaded. and here those that ate flesh preyed
upon those that fed on vegetation. When the
hinge dinosaur, the skeleton OF which DR.. Wort
man has found. was killed. 1t sank down in the
soft ooze and there. as the sea receded, 1t
slowly p%etrined and lay for uncounted years.
And there 1t was unearthed and photographed.
Along its enormous tail bones DR.. Workman
has found deep ridges showing where its en-
emy's claws struck Town and stripped Off
the flesh. and some Of the lower vertebr@ are
entirely broken of. giving some idea OF tho
violence OF the attack.
The fesh-eating dinosaur. which was some
thing the shape OF an enormous kangaroo.
must have crept up from behind and taken its
prey by surprise. as a tiger falls on an OK. and
BY the lerceness OF the onslaught overcame an
animal twice its size. Inasmuch as there is
no evidence of the bones having attempted to
mend themselves. the attack must have caused
the death OF the herbivorous animal.
The dinosaur. brontosaur. morosaur. diplo-
docus. and others of the same order lived dur
ingthe Urassic and the late Triassic ages. Some
otthem were only as large as the common rab-
bit $otherS reached the great length OF seventy.
eighty and ninety feet. Occasionally fraR-
mentary skeletons have been found in Eu
rpe. Asia, Africa and even Australia. but the
greatest number and the most perfect re-
mains have been found in the Americas. The
Bad Lands of the West are found in places to
be literally underlaid with the bones OF dino
saurs. They are of such curious shape and
odd formation that biologists are enabled by
UtduS VI lllcln " uluW ~ uDNCILl'n DIsluIo
Of the conditions which existed on earth dur
ing these early ages, From the teeth they
are snI9 eaa2 Iieed 70 oS say t }ose T fbe sb Kane 81 i tSe f tne
they ran state the kind of ground he trod upon.
From another fossil they are enabled to state
Is. a carnivorous species killed and ate a her.
hivorous species. The work OF finding. trans
bones is highly Interesting. Special inches
have been made in the american Museum to
hlpta kEalafnn nf the nauadinnQatIr will walsh
probably: 10000. pounds. Compare such q
monster with. the skeleton Of a mastodon,
the mention Of great steel Glrders to hold it
In position will not seem snpertuous.
used to be discovered In Connecticut and in
other New England States. curious marks in
the rocks which were said to have been made
were very large and 1t followed that II they
we're made BY z bird II must have been gigan.
whereby an anatomist. takes a single bone and
builds up q skeleton from 1t some scientists
Stts%p, syid tro% t anneo f9Gtpri nj tic to s !bi9S: tb fhs
harm q ths long; run. ior it stimulated re,
In 1s47 a few bones were found near upper
some very large animal. Later a great upper
Jaw with teeth evidently from this same ami
ada In Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Mexico
and in other places skeletons or parts Of skel-
etons were found. and finally by the old pro-
70 be recognized that at one time there must
have lived a great, reptile like creature which
is bones for the enlightenment OF posterity.
The bird tracks mentioned above had now
been discussed to5 half a century. till one Jay
when the feet, OF the great reptile were pieced
out i was suddenly found that they would At
new infereHces. It strengthened the clues
for research and enabled biologists to PRO-
bones which had been discovered.
es Of Generalizing evidence that North
reached from the Gull, OF Mexico to the Arctic
Ocean. It's eastern shore lay along the line
ern shore was as far west as Utah. II was salt
and had tides and current the same as the At
E la5IiS Ocean Dc, M In later ages the gradual eIe.
northern and southern outlets of this sea.
changing it into a lake, in which the water
Gene times the lake reached from the Dakotas
through South Dakota, Nebraska. Kansas.
U UsSa and Texas, where the shore line
crane GTSNds a .n great Loop Ipst north !, Of the Rio
Dakota; Cheyenne: G6adroGir Sidney. ,oberlin
now situated on land which once was under
SSater. The White. the Platte. the North
Lilatte, me Arkansas. the Canadian. and other
htfC
TIaised bed Of this old-time sea, In. later ages
u dried up on the south. and part of its north
en edge %oyeriowed. getting finally into North
OaHota and taking in more OF Wyoming. Later
sun u dried up. entirely. and the ground be-
came elevated far, above what it was. But
while II lasted it dominated the character OF
animal life in its vicinity. 1t was quite tropi-
cSal; and during lower Miocene times its banks
i2etered many animals which now live around
ne equator. such as llamas, monkeys. tapirs.
tne rtilnoceros, large peccaries and rodents.
e. another period its banks harbored the short
bh nrs rhInoceros. mastodons. three-toed
nolses, small camels, wolves and sabre toothed
ueers. It's, aquatic animals were numerous,
iorits beaches were shallow a long way out.
In the mass Of fossils obtained from Its
S9oTes were found the bones OF many species
vi dinosaurs. the animal. whose bird-like foot
RIints hadTbeen attracting attention in the
ttsIetor hall a century. Not only were these
sheietohs found. but they were fouad in such
abundance and variety that many interest
mg aacls could be conjectured concerning their
nepPSeatance and habits. Among others Prof.
- Marsh Of Yale College has done much In
FFS rn the external form OF these animals.
bbroh 9 set OF bones somewhat incomplete,
tfoI Marsh made a restoration Of a complete
fheIeton, and q fierce looking animal 1t was.
! am s~peaking now Of the largest species. But