Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-07-23
BY GARRETT p. sERvIss.

The addition of mounted skeleton
of'that most extraordinary creature the
arisonitherium to the Gallery of fossil
Mammals at the British Museum OF
Natural History marks an event of real
| Importance 1t is the only complete
skeleton yet mounted, and It is, besides,
one of the most remarkable animals in
that gallery of wonderful beasts.
Standing about six feet high at the
withers, 1t resembles, in its general ap-
pearance, a rhinoceros. 1t differs, how
ever, entirely from this animal in the
singular armature of the head. In the
rhinoceros. it will be remembered, the
snout is surmounted by a great horn,
in the African species there are two
horns, one behind the other.
These differ entirely from the horns
of ruminants, such as antelopes and
! cattle, for instance, for in them these
weapons are formed of bony outgrowths
of the skull ensheathed in a horny case
In the rhinoceros the horns are formed
Of a solid mass of matted hairs. and
have no supporting skeleton. The horns
of the arisnoitherium were of the remit
nant type-that is to say, they were
formed OF bony outgrowths covered with
a horny sheath. There were two pairs OF
these in this great beast-a huge pair,
placed side by side above the eyes, and
a much smaller pair between the eyes
and ears.
From the general build of the animal
1t is pretty certain that it was a browser,
and conveyed food to its mouth by
means of a long, prehensile lip. In
the shape of IL limbs, as may be seen
in the skeleton. 1t resembled both the
elephant and the Thinoceros-that is to
say, its legs were massive and pillar
like This is common type Of leg in
animals with bulky bodies, and Is no
indication of kinship. There is one pc.
culiar feature OF this skeleton, however
for which no explanation is forthcoming
and that Is the singular forwardly dt-
rected curvature of the ribs in the middle
of the body.
As to the precise relationship of this
animal nothing is known. but It seems
probable that 1t is distinctly related TO
the little dassies or rockconies which
abound in Africa to this day. The discov-
cry of the first remains of arsinoitherium
made a great sensation some ten years
ago Iney were lOunu IN the dyuiIt lne
lake province of Egypt, occupying a de-
preston in the desert to the west Of the
Nile valley, some seven-snd-fifty miles
south of Cairo.
Ages ago this district was occupied by
a huge lake surrounded by vast jungles
swarming with host of strange beasts
long since extinAt. Some OF these, since
they were contemporaries of arisinoithe-
rum. deserve special mention here. First
and foremost come the primitive ele-
plants discovered by Dr. Charles An
drews of the British Museum. The earliest
of these which appeared on the scene
while arsinoitherium was yet in the
making was the little moeritherium,
creature Of about the size OF a large pig,
and bearing no resemblance 10 an ele-
plant whatever. This was succeeded by
the palaeOmastodon. This may be de-
scribed as a pigRy elephant, but differing
conspicuously from the elephants of to-
day in having the lower Jaw prodigiously
prolonged and armed at the tip with a
pair OF short. chisel-like teeth.
The upper Jaw bore pair OF short tusks
destined 10 achieve huge size In the dis
tant future. The descendants OF this