Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-12-24

tr1ceratops from the cretaceOuS strata
of the Rocky mountains. This great,
uncouth monster, therefore, flourished
in America at the same time that Eng
lish chalk was being laid down Gas
soft ooze) in the cretaceous sea. The
beast, which was 25 feet long, is so
named because it had three horns on
its face. It's skull was truly enormous,
being over feet long.
Flying Reptiles.
Among the reptiles of what geolog-
lists call the earth's Secondary Era
were the pterodactyls, an order which
actually acquired the power of flying.
These wing-fngered creatures had a
thin membrane stretching over their
fingers but the outer or little finger
was very much longer than the other
three, because it supported the outer
rim of this flying membrane. This
organ was not wing in the scientific
sense of the word any more than is
the wing of a bat. Both are simply
flying membranes"
These extraordinary, dragon-like
reptiles differed very much both in
size and in shape; some were no big
ger than sparrows while others ap-
parently-to judge from fragmentary
emains-measured 25 feet across
when the flying membranes were fully
stretched out. The first skeleton Of
1884 greatly puzzled Collini, who
thought it might be an amphibian. But
it came into Cuvier's hands in 1909
His genius told him that the bones be-
longed to a reptile endowed with pow
ers of flight, and it was he who chris
tened the beast pterodactyl.
Until the oracle at Paris was CON
suited the greatest uncertainty pre-
vailed, one naturalist regarding it as
a bird, another as bat. Cuvier
thought, from the magnitude of their
eyes, that pterodactyls were of noe
turnal habits. with f1ocks Of such
creatures flying in the air and shoals
of no less monstrous ichthyoosauri
and plesiosauri swarming in the ocean
and gigantic crocodiles and tortoises
crawling on the shores of the primeval
lakes and rivers, air, sea and land
must have been strangely tenanted in
these early periods of our infant
world he says. Some had sharp teeth
and others none at all.
The Megatherium.
But we must leave these and many
other strange types of bygone days
and pas on TO the Tertiary Era, when
mammals were the reigning type, as
they are now. In the Natural History
Museum, London, may be seen the
cast of a skeleton standing nearly
erect and grasping tree. 1t meas
ures Is feet in height and the bones
are more massive than those of the
elephant. The thigh bone, for in
stance, is three times as thicl- as that
of an elephant. All the bones are i'm
mensely strong and especially adapted
for the firm attachment of powerful
muscles.
The megatherium, for such is the
name of the monster, was a great
ground sloth At the present day
sloths, as we know them, are no
larger than monkeys and live in trees,
but this one lived on the ground,
haunting South American forests. 1t
was probably a contemporary with
man. So great was it's strength that,
as Owen showed by process of mas
terly reasoning, it could pull down
big tree and then proceed to devour
the leaves at it's leisure.
But no prehistoric monster holds
greater fascination for the public
mind today than the mylodon-an-
other member of the sloth family and
contemporary of the megatherium
For the astounding theory has recent
ly been put forward that the mylodon
still exists in South America.
DR.. Moreno's Recent Discovery.
South America has always been IA
vorite hunting ground for palaeontolo-
gists and many interesting deposits of
fossil remains have been brought to
light. 1t was while exploring in Pata-
gonia, practically unknown land,
that DR.. Moreno, of the La Plata Mu-
scum, made discovery which may
prove one of the most astounding of
recent times.
Near the entrance to huge cave
he found piece Of dried skin hanging
on a tree which was quite unlike the
skin of any other animal he knew. 1t
was covered with coarse, greenish-
brown hair and contained several
small bones. A search in the cave
brought to light much larger frag-
ments Of the skin, together with
bones, skull and teeth; relics, prob
ably, of the same animal.
Neighboring natives suggested that
the remains were probably those of
some enormous seal, while others
thought that the skin was the skin of
a cow. But DR.. Moreno, after exami-
nation, came to the conclusion that it
could not belong to any animal known
to be living, and the precious relics
were finally classified as those of the
giant sloth. The skin is now in the
To41