, 1907-09-05
A BEAVER OF
EARLY DAYS
PALEoNToLOGIST OF uNlvER.
SlTY OF WYOMING MAKES
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
Skull Of Animal Which Has Changed
Only in Size in Several Million
Years-Satisfied That Horse Had
Its First Home in This state, and
That Dogs Also Roamed Here.

That Dogs Also Roamed Here.
Prof. w. II. Reed, paleontologist of
the University of Wyoming and cura-
tor of the museum OF natural history
Of that institution, who returned re-
Gently from Natrona county, Wyo., is
now at work preparing for classified
ton and exhibition the archaeological
| specimens he will add to the museum
this year.. The find was n Of the
most important ever made by Mr..
Reed, and, in fact, n of the most i'm
portant aver reported to the science.
He secured at least n specimen new
to geology and confirmed the surmise
heretofore held that Wyoming was the
birthplace Of the horse. He discovered
and has in his possession an almost
complete skeleton of the horse, show
ing that animal to have been in that
distant age no larger han a fox of
the present day, but with every bone
of the present horse and1S much the
same shapes. The animal was evil
IDENTITY a hardy grazer, capable OF a
good deal of hardship in securing its
food and with a leetness of foot that
made it secure from the attacks OF
hesh-eating animals to a considerable
extent.
Only One in Existence.
Prof. Reed attaches most import
ance, however. to the fossil skull of a
beaver. This fossil is from the aligo-
Gene tertiary age, one of the Oldest in
which fossils are found here, and
shows that the animal fiourished at
that early period in the earth's exist
ence. The specimen is the perfect
skull and upper jaw Of this rodent.
1t is Enthusiastically that of a beaver,
as none Of the other rodents have four
molars on each side, others having
three, five or more. There is the fos-
sill of a couple of incisors, again mark
ing the beaver. One remarkable fact
about this skull is the size, showing
that the animal in life was smaller
than an ordinary mouse, the skull be-
ing less than half an inch long, he
motors being about an eighth of an
inch long and the remains of the in
cisors not much longer.
Fossil of a Weasel.
Another fossil from the same local
ity is that of a weasel. This is not so
rare as the beaver, and Mr.. Reed is
not sure that it had not been de-
scribed in the text books. The beaver
he is sure has not, he feeling confident
that he has the only skull of hat age.
The weasel was perhaps about the
size of the weasel of the present day,
the portion of the skull he has show
cousin of the animal of the present
era.
Skeleton Of Dog.
Mr.. Reed was fortunate enough to
secure the complete skeleton of a dog
of the a%ligocene tertiary age, not a
bone being missing. This skeleton
was of an animal about the size of the
present day dog, the teeth showing
that it was more fierce and a greater
hunter thar its relative of a few mill
ion years later. 1t was about the size
Of the coyote of the western plain.
1t will be mounted complete for the
museum of the university.
Another important find was the al
most complete skull of a calf titano-
therium, a monster of that day, the
skull showing one complete true molor
and three trimolars. This animal was
extinct long before some Of the Oldest
fossils heretofore found were created.
A Valuable Field.
Mr.. Reed says the field he visited,
called "Hell's Half Acre. is one Of
the most remarkable in the world. 1t
lies thirty-five miles southwest Of Cas-
pr and abounds in fossil remains of
great value to the science. He has
added at least one specimen to the
worlds collection of extremely rare
specimens, and believes he has added
several, the complete skeleton of the
a%ligocene dog being among the num-
Der. He is no longer in doubt that
the horse had its origin here in this
state, growing from the animal whose
fossil remains he has unearthed to the
present splendid animal. The fact
that so many fossils were found in
that one spot leads him to believe that
at the time the whole surface of the
earth was changed by some mighty
%convulsion of nature, that was left as
u high point, the animals gathering
there to escape the devastating flood, F
or that some great famine came upon
the land, leaving this spot the one of |
all others where food was plentiful.
Bears In Those Days.
Not the least interesting Of the finds
made by this scientist in "Helrs Half !
Acre" was the tusk of a monster bear |
indicating an animal weighing perhaps
1000 pounds. The tusk is complete. |
but is in three pieces. 1t had been
"weathered" out, that is, it had been
brought to the surface by the erosion |