Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-05-09

The teeth show that it was a vegeta-
bic feeder. The spinal cord near the
hind legs was greatly enlarged, fact
which is not easily explained unless
we may suppose that the movements
of the tail were directed from this GEN.
ter. The last, and in some ways the
strangest, of all the dinosaurs wa, the
triceratops from the cretaceous strata
of the Rocky Mountains. This great,
uncouth monster, therefore, hourlshed
in America at the same time that Eu-
glish 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 enor-
nous, being over feet long.
Among the reptiles of what geolo-
gists call the earth's Secondary Era
were the pterodactyla, an order which
actually acquired the power of flying,
These wingfngered 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 bat Both are simply
flying membranes"
These extraordinary, dragon-hke
reptiles differed very much both in
size and in shape; some were no big
ger than sparrows, while others aPpar-
ently-to Judge from fragmentary re-
mains-measured % feet across when
the flying membranes were fully
stretched out. The first skeleton OF
1884 greatly puzzled Collini, who
thought it might be an amphlblan.
But it came into Cuvier's hands In
1909. His genius told him that the
bones belonged to reptile endowed
with powers Of flight, and it was he
who christened the beast pterodactyl.
Until the oracle at Paris was con-
suited the greatest uncertainty pre-
vailed, one naturalist regarding it as
bird, another as a bat. Cuvier
thought, from the magnitude of their
eyes, that pterodactyls were of noe
turnal habits. with focks Of such
creatures flying in the air and shoals
of no less monstrous ichthyosauri and
plesiosaurl swarming in the ocean and
gigantic crocodiles and tortoises crawl
ing 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.
But we must leave these and many
other strange types Of bygone days
and pass 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 skeleton standing nearly erect
and grssping tree. 1t measures le
feet in height and the bones are more
massive than those Of the elephant
The thigh bone, for instance, is three
times as thick as that Of an elephant
All the bones are immensely 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, a. we know them, are no larger
than monkeys and live in trees, but
this one lived on the ground, haunt
ing South American forests. 1t wal
probably a contemporary with man
So great was its strength that, as 0 wer
showed by process of mastery rsas
oning, it could pull down big tre'
and then proceed to devour the leave
at its leisure.
But no prehistoric monster holds I
greater fascination for the public minc
today than the mylodon-anothe
member Of the sloth family and con
temporary of the megatherium. Fo
the astounding theory has recent.
been put forward that the mylOdOl
still exists in South America.
South America has always been
favorite hunting ground for paleon
tologists and many interesting deposit
Of fossil remains have been brought t
/ light. 1t was while ezplOringi in Pat
+ agonia, practically unknown land
that DR.. Moreno, of the La Plata Mu
scum, made a discovery which ma.
J prove one Of the most astounding O