Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-01-01

MONSTERS DOMINATED EARTH
Animals rhat GREW so tho Enormous
Length orNinety-nve Feet, Walk cd
'ho Earth, Llyed and Died ana
Gave Up Homes for tho Enii.hs~
ment of Postcri,y-w where they are
found.

took place 1000 600 years ago have lust
been received at the American Museum
OF Natural History in New York. Ii
was fought between two of the might
lest animals that ever lived, one a her
bivorous dinosaur (terrible lizard
about 90 feet long and tall enough to
wade across the Hudson river at
Grants tomb without wetting his head,
and the other flesh-eating dinosaur.
probably twenty-five or thirty feet long
and weighing thirty or forty tons.
The details of this battle are as clear
ly known as IL it had happened yes
terday, and the body of the INDUSTRIOUS
victim lies outstretched in Central
park. For DR.. Workman. who has
charge OF the museums field work in
paleontology. has read the story of the
fight IN the skeleton which he unearth-
ed and brought to New York. part OF
n shipment of two whole carloads of
huge bones.
FIGHT TOOK PLACE IN WYOMING.
The fight took place in what is now
the State of Wyoming. which was then
the shore OF u great inland sea which
extended in northly and southerly di-
rection through the center of the
United States. Here among the tropi-
cal grass and palms these huge and
terrible animals lived and waded. and
here those that ate flesh preyed upon
those that ate vegetation, just rs the
lesser animals do to-day. When the
uI
DIR. Workman has found. was killed
1t sank down TO the soft ooze and there.
rs the sea receded, 1t slowly pctriiied
and lay for 2,000,0 G0 years. And there
il was unearthed and photographed.
Along It's enormous toll bones Dr.
Workman has found deep ridges. show
ing where an enemys claw struck down
and stripped off the flesh, and some OF
the lower vertabre are entirely broken
off, giving some idea of the awful vio-
lence OF the attack.
CRE,PT UP FROM BEHIND.
The flesh-eating dinosaur. which was
something the shape OF an enormous
kangaroo. must have crept up from be
hind and taken its prey By surprise,
ns n tiger falls OH an OK, and by the
nercencss nr the onslaught overcamc
an animal twice its size. IN2sHuch "a
there is no evidence Or the Zones ha"-
ing attempted to mend themselves. the
attack must have caused the death of
the herbivorous animal.
TEN TIMES THE SIZE OF A MAS
TODON.
The dincsaur, brontosaur. morosaur.
tiplodocus and others Of The same or
der lived and dominated the earth dur
ing what are known as the Jurassic
and the late Triassic ages. Some of
them were only as large as our COM
mon rabbit; others reached the great
length OF seventy, eighty and ninety
feet. Occasional fragmentary skeletons
have been found in Europe, Asia AZ
RIGA and even Australia but the great
est number and the most perfect re-
mains have been found in the Ameri-
cas-. The Bad Lands of the West are
found in places to be literally TO be
undcrlaid with the bones of dinosaurs
They are of such curious shape and
odd formation that biologists are en-
abled by means of them TO draw no
uncertain pictures of the conditions
which existed on earth during these
early ages. From the teeth they are
enabled to say just what kind of food
the animals lived on; from the feet
they can state what kind of ground
he trod uponi from another fossil they
arc enabled TO state that the animals
had cannabalistic traits--that is, n car
nivorous species killed and ate n her
hivorous species. TIC work Of tiTIrttIIg,
identifying, transporting mounting
and studying these great bones Is high
ly interesting. Special inches will have
TO be made in the American museums
to receive the mounted skeletons. The
complete skeleton of the new dinosaur
Will weigh probably twenty thousand
pounds. Compare such n monster with
the skeleton Of Il mastodon. which will
weigh. probably two thousand pounds.
and the mention of great steel Orders
to hold it in position will not seem SUI
perfluous.
FIRST THOUGHT TO BE BIRDS.
"Some years ago" said DR.. Wort
man, there used 20 be discovered in
Connecticut and in other New England
States curious marks in the rocks which
were said to have been made by the
feet of fossil birds. These footprints
were very large. and 1t followed that
If they We're made b. n bird il must
have been gigantic Ply n little stretch
Ing of the process whereby an anato-
mist takes single bone and builds up
n skeleton from II, some scientists at
tempted from these footprints to sug-
eest the whole external appearance of
the bird that made them Perhaps.
the process did no harm in the long
run, for it stimulated research for this
monster bird. This was about 1895
For years the belief gained advocates
In 1877 few bones were found near
upper Milford. Pa, which proved the
pre-existence of some very large ani-
NAL. Later great upper jaw with
teeth, evidently from this same animal. !
was found in Prince Edward island !
Canada. In Pennsylvania New Jer-
sey, Mexico and in other places skele- !
tons, or parts of skeletons. were found, |
and finally by the old process of put
ting twos and twos together 1t came !
TO be recognized that at one time there
must have lived a great reptile-llke Gre |
aturo which walked the earth. lived
and died and gave up its bones for the |
enlightenment OF posterity. The bird |
tracks mentioned above had now been |
discussed for half n century. till one day |
when the feet of the great reptile were
pieced out 1t was suddenly found that
they .would fit the bird tracks exact |
~ The connection destroyed an old |
theory. but it paid for this with new
differences. 1t strengthened the clews |
Tor research and enabled biologists to |
artaf i'll,