The Washington herald., 1912-04-28
Before Man Came on Earth;'
New Collection of Mammals
Queer Creatures Which Were Immediate Predeces-
sors of Man on Earth Are Being "Probed."

L q
this continent with Asia up to within
comparatively recent times. Across the
same bridge. from the opposite direc-
ton, came the bunalo-originally an
Asiatic animal-to browse on the grassy
plains Of the interior Of this country.
The climate OF the region Of what now
is Bering Strait was temperate in those
times, and there were many such In
terchanges OF mammalian types between
the New World and the Old.
Meanwhile there has developed q very
extraordinary creature. related to mod
ern whales, which, originally a land
animal, has become wholly aquatic.
Destined to be known to science as the
, zeuglodon, II attains a length Of sixty
five feet. and is frightfuIly carnlvorous
and fierce. Were IL to survive at the
present time. the chase of It would prob
ably be regarded as the most perilous
and exciting of sports. Its species must
have been exceedingly numerous, judg-
ing from the great quantities Of its
bones found in the South Atlantic and
Gulf States.
At length. thanks to a mighty geo
logic uplift. Africa is united with Eu-
rope, and the mastodons. originally de-
veloped in the Dark Continent, extend
their range northward. Later on they
reach North America by the land bridge
already mentioned, over which likewise
come our first rhinoceroses. One of
these rhinoceroses, though very short in
the legs, Is a great traveller. and even
tually extends its range as far south as
Florida. Contemporaneously, the early
ancestors Of the deer tribe appear in
various parts of the world. and in Eu-
rope the first man-like apes.
-Giraffes in great number and variety
arrive In the old world-one type re-
sembIing the primitive and still surviv-
ing okapi of the Congo forests. The
ancestors Of modern sheep begin to de-
velop. and in Europe roam huge bear
like dogs. Again a little time passes Gin
a geologic sense), and the chimpanZee
and orang-outang appear. Probably
also the gorilla lin Africa, though evil
dence of the fact has not been discov-
cred as yet More important however.
is the first trace OF primitive man-rep-
resented by flint implements. II there
is no mistake on this point. the human
race must have made its first start on
earth much more than 100000 years
ago.
Indeed this Is a very modest estimate
unless II be supposed that some pre-
human animal, capable Of shaping stone
tools, arrived on the earth and disap-
peared therefrOm at so ancient an epoch.
The presumption is that the creature
concerned was none other than man,
that he still preserved a not distant
likeness to his relatives, the anthropoid
apes, and that, like them, he lived in
trees. Contemporary with him were the
mastodon Cstill survivingl and the
mammoth. The first true cattle had by
this time appeared. as well as true
horses. Hippopotami had become dis
tributed all the way from Southern Asia
to Southern Europe and Northern At
rica. but where they came from is a
puzzle.
All over what is now the United States
were distributed those remarkable crea-
lures known as giant sloths," many
specIes of them. Some OF them were
as big as a good-sized elephant. In
Texas and Florida las well as in Central
and South America) were the huge
Elyptodons. which. though mammals.
bore rather the aspect Of tortoises, with
massive tails. They were. as a mat
ter Of fact, predecessors Of the modern
armadillos.
This brings Us to the close OF what
BIOLOGISTS call the Tertiary epoch. and to
the beginning Of recent time, which
may have been half q million years
ago, possibly somewhat less. Here We
ind the actual bones OF early human
beings. who were undoubtedly contem-
oorary with the mammoth. the masto-
ION, the cave Hon (of massive build.
and bigger than any modern honl, the
rhinoceros. and q strange and
gigantic beast called the elasmothere.
with a skull over a yard in length. an
enormous horn on Its forehead, and rath-
,r long legs-a herbivore.
This, be 1t observed, Is in the Old
world. The human remains above mem
toned are more or less apelike. In
might be mentioned IN this
the famous KesserlOch Cave,
m the edge of a valley, which contained
he bones OF pigmy men not more than
our feet high. mixed up with those OF
several extinct species Of mammals, in
.luding the wooIly rhinoceros-
In North America by this time was an
Irray Of proboscidians more varied ana
Iuite as majestic as those Of the Old
World The imperial mammoth, rang
nE from Nebraska to the city OF Mex
20 stood thirteen and one-half feet
IiRh at the shoulder OF two feet higher
han the largest African elephant OF 10
ay. The Columbian mammoth attained
stature of eleven feet, and was tound
II the way from the latitude or the
Ity of Mexico to that OF washington
}. c. The Northern, or marry mann
moth. ranged from Alaska TO "ash
ngton.
Tn those dsys herds Of camels and
amas and enormous troops Of horses
rowsed on the plains of the interior OF
,,s countrv. Reindeer were widely dis
ributed in the Middle States, and in the
orssts there were tapirs. OF bison there
- many species Giant sloths were
Till conspicuously numerous; likewise
ha armored glyptodons Of the south,
,ber-toothed tigers and other cats
vaIin- the modern lion and tiger IN
ize led the list of the carnivores-
II Is difHcuIt for US to realize how
1nortant a part in the development OF
lIr own country, Zoologically, as wen
3 ,zaopraphically,. has been played by
olcanoes. In earlier days their plutonic
ctivities were manifested on an enor-
,ous scale over vast areas, the ashes
in beds (which are still
, he seen and studied of astonishing
ickness Recent observation Of the
,untiye performances Of Mont Pelee has
,own I'm a very striking way how ashes
ay he carried high in the air by ex-
osive discharges of steam and gas
nd scattered far and wide by the wind.
ne such wind distributed a deposit in
Iaska covers s., 80 square miles, and is
0 feet deep in places!
Where in the earlier history OF the
nth volcanic outbursts were often re-
,ated over the same areas immense
of ashes resulted, and in
lrts of the West such deposits have
a dapfh Of aarly mile and