Omaha daily bee., 1912-04-18

It was a vegetable feeder. and its long
neck was evidently intended to enable
Il 10 reach the branches Of trees and pull
them within reach, or possibly to search
tho bottom OF shallow lakes for Its food.
Itwas not armored In the elaborate man
ner Of some OF the creatures that we
have already studied. such as the tricers-
tops and the stegosaurus. but Its thick
hide would have protected 1t against the
assaults Of all but the most powerful
enemies
There is a wonderful specimen Of the
diplododoua IN the Carnegie museum at
Pittsburgh. and few years ago Mr..
Carnegie presented reproduction Of the
same specimen to the Natural History
museum In London, where it made a
great sensation.
In our pictures the iguanodon presents
even a more formidable appearance than
the dlplodocus, because the creature has
been represented In it's faForite attitude
OF rearing up TO It's full height. II was
q tremendous monster, but not eompar-
sbie in size with the diplodocus. An
iguanodon stood about twenty-five feet
high when II fifted up its head anG
reared on its hind legs. You will OBJ
serve the very strange form OF It's fore
claws. which were furnished with huge
awkward, bony fingers, shaped like
crosses. II is evident that these curious
claws must have been extremely con
venient for seixing and pulling down the
branches of trees. for the lguanodon also
was q vegetable feeder.
One OF the strangest stories In the his
tory Of geology Is that OF the discovery.
In is7S, Of the skeletons Of twenty-threo
Of these huge creatures IN a chasm
Bernissart, Belgium, at depth Of 500
feet beneath the surface OF the ground.
The ancient chasm had been checked up,
and in driving their galleries the miners
suddenly broke into II, and beheld with
amazement these remains Of monsters
such as no one had ever dreamed OF.
They seemed to have been plunged into
an sntedIluyiap world Inhabited BY in
credible giants biologists flocked 20
the place. and the huge skeletons were
carefully removed. How they ever got
there is an unsolved problem; but II is
thought that they must have been swept
into the caszsn by a flood. Since then
igusnodon OF related species have been
discovered IN western America. and oeler
parts Of the world
The iguanodon gets It's name from the
resemblance or lis teeth to those Of a
lizard called tho .susna. which is found
living in South America, but the iGuana
is small creature. which would frighten
nobody. while It's predecessors Of soms
millions OF years ago we're so tsrrible on
account o: tnfir size alone that the sight
Of one Of ti,.1, might have put herl
Of elephants &c flight II there had been
any elephants thea.
This leads ~ tie curl5gs conclusion
that some OF the animals OF tue earth,
which are now OF NO sTest Size. hao
representatives Of mszs.Fo1S pgoportiors
in prinevsi sirnes. Apparsnily some CT
these creatures became TOO large and
TOO awlSEsz-e &c s1rv.re. lat. on the
other hand. z.S:.y creatu.ss hrve In
creased in s.zs With the progress OF tine.
Among thsaa are lie horse, which, in
Its earliest sEsps. Vas 4 Httls sllraal.
:sot larger than fox. Howerer, roEs
OF the an.mals which have increased In
size hsys attained Dimensions ccmpar-
able with thcss OF the monsters that we
hRvs bsen taking Of. The elephant is