The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-12-12

Mice Found-Speeinen OF Hugo Liz
ard Discovered.
That wyoming was once lilliputian
world occupied by pygmy animals III
the likeness Of animals on earth today.
IS the scientific fact which paleontolo-
gists Of the Wyoming State university
are preparing to give to the world.
says a Cheyenne (Wyo) special dis
patch to the Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune.
Horses no larger than modern fox,
beavers the size Of mice, dogs as small
as coyotes and other animals built up
on the same miniature lines are now
known to have existed in the noun
tains of Wyoming millions Of years
ago, and their skeletons are now being
set up in the museum Of the State uni
versity by Professor w. II. Reed, pale
ontologist Of the university and curator
Of the museum Of natural history Of
that institution.
Professor Reed spent the entire
summer in the great fossil beds OF
central wyoming and says his dis
cover1es therein are among the most
important ever reported to science. In
the past the discoveries In those beds
have been confined to animals built up
on tremendous lines, monsters Of pro-
digious size and ferocity, but the dis
coveries recently made public by
Professor Reed prove that the con-
trasts between the animals Of that
ancient time were as great as between
those Of Lilliputia and Brobdingnag.
In fact, If Dean Swift had happened
into central Wyoming in those days he
might have believed he had actually
reached Lilliputia.
By the securing Of the fossil OF the
little horse Professor Reed confirmed
the surmise heretofore held that Wyo-
ming was the real birthplace Of the
horse. He has an almost complete
skeleton Of the antediluvian horse,
showing that animal to have been no
larger than fox Of the present day,
but with every bone Of the present
horse and in much the same shape.
The little animal was evidently a
hardy grazer, capable Of much hard
ship in securing its food, and even in
that early day the horse showed great
swiftness Of foot and possessed speed
sufficient to enable it to keep out Of the
clutches of flesh eating animals.
But Professor Reed attaches more
importance to the fossil beaver than to
the horse even. The beaver Is from
the aligocene tertiary age, one Of the
Oldest in which fossils are found, and
shows that that animal fourished at
that early period in the earth's exist
ence. The specimen IS perfect skull
and upper jaw Of the rodent The
skull is less than half an inch long and
shows the beaver Of that age to have
been even smaller than an ordinary
mouse. The molars are only an eighth
of an inch long and the tncisors not
much longer.
He was also fortunate enough to Sc
cure the complete skeleton Of dog OF
the aligocene tertiary age, not bone
being missing. The skeleton is about
the size Of a coyote Of the western
plains.
But If some of the animals discover
ed by Professor Reed were small 9TH
ers he found were big enough to make
the average large. An important find
was the almost complete skull Of calf
titanotherium, monster OF that DAY
which was extinct long before some OF
the Oldest fossils heretofore found were
even created.
Not the least interesting Of the finds
was the tusk of monster bear, the
big tusk indicating an animal weigh
ing about 1900 pounds. The tusk Is
complete, but is in three pieces, and
shows an animal which must have been
terror to the other animals In that
age.
A fossil of one Of the great lizard
family was discovered In sandstone
cliff, where It can De seen suetcneo
out to its full length, high up on the
face Of the bluff. Nearly seventy-fve
feet of the great reptile can be seen,
preserved in solid rock.
Professor Reed says the field be WIS.,
tied, called "Helrs Half Acre." is the
most remarkable fossil quarry in the
world. It abounds in fossil remains
Of great value to science, and every
year all the large eastern universities
send field parties there to excavate and
to add to the museums.
The fact that so many fossils are
found in the "Half Acre" has led SCI
entists to believe that the whole sur
face Of the earth was changed by some
mighty convulsion Of nature and that
place was left as a high point, the an
imals gathering there to escape the
devastating floods.
Another theory is that when some
great famine came upon the land this
spot was left the one Of all others
where food was plentiful, and all an
imals Of that day and time were at
tracted there to die in some cataclysm