New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-08-06
FINDING FOSSIL FISH.
THEY DATE BACK FOUR MILLION YEARS
NEW-JERsEY WAS THEN SUBMERGED.

THEY DATE BACK FOUR MILLION YEARS
NEw-JERsEY WAS THEN SUBMERGED.
The scientific world has been greatly interested
of late In the geological discoveries made by Pro-
fessor John Hays Smith. teacher of geology and
chemistry In the Montclair IN. j. High School.
In the blue shales of a valley few miles from
Montclair were found fossil fish of kind which is
almost extinct, only three specimens surviving
They belong the order of ganoids which pos
seszeit mo anterior bJny skeleton but only an out
side covering of bOny cartiaginous plates They
the earliest known vertebrates. A number
of excellent specimens IN the possession of Pro-
fessefs Smith show distinctly the shining. bony
scales pt this peculiar species OF fish which,
cording 10 geologists, must have existed ages ago.
The term ganod applied because of the form
of the scales, which in most species are angular,
square rhomhodal. seen in the common gar
pixies. In prehistoric times ganoids numer-
In species, genera and families and they, with
sharks were rulers of the sea. To visitor last
week Professor SIXTH said:
The Jersey City Water Supply Company while
ley opened up beds Of red and blue shales Be
crate, and beneath this stratum are more shaies
In thin layer of blue shales, averaging about
specimens OF ganods. and although the opening is
ap being ' ae3 out o tbougS fragments Of
ganoids OF greater size have been found. these
being larger than fourteen Inches in length There
has also been found another species, which looks
like the modern swordfsh.
Were they like modern fsh?' the visitor asked.
Professor Smith smiled, and replied:
Unlike modern fish, they possessed no interior YER
ebral skeleton; in other words they had no bones.
plates dramatically arranged like fish scales, but
in one another. and YET permitted great Hexbiiity
Of the body. The ganods developed from unverte-
ser Tey both lungs nd g
liar to modern fish. the tai was unsymmettrical.
body extending into the larger portion OF the cauda
They lived during the latter part of the Jura-
Tras period. which is placed Mt 4G00OO years ago
At that time the entire State of New Jersey, eX-
cept a strip of highlands in the northern part, was
Atlantic States were all under water.
The scales Of the s99oids %eT + bright and shin
few imperfect specimens have been found IN
bordered the sea in those times. At that time
this region was a place of great volcanic activity
the earth and rolled down into the sea. forming
the Palisades of New-Jersey and the Orange Noun
on ocean beach it gathered up the pebbles and
giomerate rock layer Of this congiomerate is
found in the shales which contain the fish, thus
State Of volcanic activity. i is highly probable
that this was ,7, time Of mighty earthquekes and
earthquakes. Almost all the specimens taken out
lent death. The fins widely distended and the
bodies found twisted in every possible FORM as
If the fish had died In great agony.
A large layer of shale about thirty by a hundred
feet which has been found carefully uncovered
shows on its surface the tracks of gigantic birds
which at this time stalked the shallow mud
fats in this region The markings three toed
and OF about the size of mans hand. From the
fact that the right and left footprints are about
three feet apart the huge size of this bird can be
readily inferred. The slab of rock is crossed and
recrossed in every direction with the tracks OF
these birds which evidently walked leisurely about.
as the equal spaces between the footprints attest
Professor Smith was born in Pittsburg August
8, 1878 He obtained his early education In his ma
tive city and was graduated with the highest honors
rom me Pittsburg Central High School. He
seholarships for his work in mathematics Later
he took three years postgraduate course deyot-
ing his studies principally to geology and physics