The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-10-09
FINDING A UNIQUE FOSSIL.
Nearly Complete GIyPtodont E1
humed in Texas


NEW YORK. Oct g-Nhat is probably
the most valuable find Of the American
Museum Of Natural Hist0ry's fossil hunt
ers this year is practically complete
specimen belonging 10 the family Of gIyp-
tOdOHts. which was exhumcd in Texas
GlyptodOnts. like the ground sloths. were
abundant in South America early I'm the
quateruary period Of geologic history.
but they were less numerous In North
America. At any rate. very few remains
have been found in this half Of the con-
tinent. Mexico has in her national muse
UNI a fairly complete specimen And in
Texas and Florida few teeth. pieces Of
skin and other fra gmeuts. most Of them
Of an exceedingly dubious character. have
pointed TO the existence Of clvpt0donts
as FAR north as those parts Of the United
States The discovery -Of a specimen
which lacks nothing but head. therefore
gives the Museum Of Natural History
unique treasure.
The EIy2todont was often three or four
feet long. and wore a she'll. OF carapace.
ike that OF a tortoise. The tortoise.
though. lays eggs. whereas the gIypto-
don't was "A mammal The latter differed
from the armadiIo. which 1t somewhat
resembles, in the continuity and Hgidity
OF its armor An armadiIlO'5 she'll. both
in the fossil and living types has one or
two vertical Sits near the middle Of the
body. so that the animal could curl up
as the porcupine does If he wished 70 do
So The glyptOdOnt could not There was
another reason for this incapacity This
spinal column was about as stiff as q
TdmTOd OF section Of gaSpipe, the yer
tebrae being cemeuted 10 each other ex-
Cept at the neck. where a complex hinge
existed. The tail, too, was almost equally
TiSid; beng enclosed In a bony sheath.
which sometimes was altogether devoid
Of Joints. The family takes its name
from one OF It's genera. glEpt1dDu. The
word itself signifies 'grO0vCd tooth" and
refers % another popularity of the crea-
ture- FINALLY il may be remarked that
the glyDJ1iOuts ali had strong. short legs
Z and divided feet that looked like those
rt elephants.
The carrace Of a glyptod0ut was made
up Of large number of sections or scales.
+ The duatumist calls them "=eutaS-" These
We're much smaller. relatively. and more
Z numerous than those OF turtle. and
were often connected hy that peculiar
s-amllke JointinE- a suture. In the dif-
frreut genera the markings differed no.
Scutes were OTuamented by one style OF
I sculpture OF another IN one genus the
I decoration looked ike a rosette- for in
stance. and In another IL was made up Of
lines radlatlug from central point Prof
Osborn Is inclined 10 assign his specimen
| 10 the genus HoplophOTus one Of whose
U
scales. He saws that there is a pretty
| close resemblance between the shell pat
. tern OF thu North American and South
American species Another characteristic
/ Of the EtoplophOrus was the presence OF
| conspicuous rings around the tail sheath
[ The paleOntOlOgtsts who eXhumed and
studied the South American remain, We're
/ greatly bothered. when they found a lot
/ OF fragments. 90 associate the right tails
I and carapaces. and thus had difficulty i'm
J making their classification But no such
problem is presented by the magnificent
/ specimen found in Texas this year Its
cdrap3ce. by the way. is fully four feet
4 long. and there are two feet OF tail All
| 81 the skeleton belonging inside the smell
has also been recovered.
1 The Texas glyptodout seems 90 auted4ta
; its best-kuown South American relatives.
These were obtained i'm cane deposits ig
Brazil ana river deposits near EuerDs
| Ayrcs which have been assigned Co The
pleistoceue period, comparatively recent
/ era The PI0ceue, which the Texas s1pc-
/ linen represents. in the latest of rhUs.
! subdivisions of the tertiary period
/ Hitherto the only remains eXhumad 81
3 the United states which could Ia safely
regarded as belonging t0 gIyHJJd0ufs ver.
teeth recorded by Cope in 1883 lssCured E-
/ southern Texas. and Dos L,idE thr yeaI
I following touud in Florida. In one OF
Leidys papers lac mentions some frag
m,uts discovered near Peach Creek and
I resembling Brazilian bone cavern -n-
mains. which land bad cauad fossil ar
[ madiiIoes. There were also five bits Of
sku-"d,rMal plates" he called them
which coTrespouded with Lupd's dcs-ri--
I ton of Tho H0piophnrls- But I.iiy made
! the announcement ia go confident tone.
And even Wtra his FUUuDSitiJgs correct
the amount OF material WAS insignificant
/ The Texas discovery. therefore. posse sses
| a worldwide interest