Evening star., 1915-06-26

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Nothing surprises the average lay
man more than to learn that In tha
pleistocene epoch
Herds of Camels great herds of
Once Lived Here. over the United
States, and their skulls have been
found in the La Brea tar pools. AL
though the camel is now wholly an
oriental animal and always thought OF
as such. it originated in America.
crossed the land bridge into Asia ~
subsequently became extinct in tuSs
country. the llama of South America
being the only survivor of the family
in this hemisphere. The plestocene
camel of America, to Judge by the
skulls found at La Brea. was about the
size of the modern bactrian camel.
The story of the horse is much like
that of the camel. There is no evidence
that there were any horses alive in
America when this continent was dis
covered by modern man. Yet in the La
Brea deposits have been found a num-
Der or skulls and leg bones of n pre-
historic type of horse. 1t was about
the size of the modern horse. 1t had "A
larger and coarser head and differed in
other minor details of structure. This
horse. like many of the other curious
forms of the La Brea deposits, doubt
less became extinct toward the end OF
the pieiStocene period, when the mod
ern types of animals had their origin
The extinct imperial elephant, which
once roamed largely over North Amer
lea. is represented in the La Brea de-
posits by remains which show that
this animal stood thirteen and half
feet high at the shoulder, as compared
with eleven and . half feet for the
largest African elephants. The impe-
rial elephant had tusks fifteen feet long
and eight inches in diameter. In a sim
gle tar pit the skeletons of seventeen
imperial elephants were found, so close
ly packed together that there was hard
ly enough of the asphalt to preserve
them properly. Nevertheless, one COM
plete skeleton of this giant mammal has
been recovered and will be set UP in
the museum.
One of the most startling finds of the
Rancho La Brea was that of a perfect
human skull and
Skull OF Man fragmeptary bones
rl: IT.. from other parts Of
the human body.
Close study of this skull, however, has
not brought scientists to any definite
conclusions concerning it. They do not
believe that it can be classed with the
primitive Neanderthal man which ex-
listed in Europe in the pleistocene Yet
its location in the deposit seems to in
dlcate that 1t could hardly have been
placed there during the historic period
The age of this skull, the scientists
have concluded, must probably be meas
ured in thousands of years, but not in
tens of thousands.
Concerning the environment in which
these strange animals lived, very lit
tie can be deduced. There is nothing
to indicate positively that the climate
OF the country was very different from
that of modern California but the
great size and numbers of the crea-
lures that existed would indicate that
the vegetation was much more abun-
dant than that existing in the
same region. One nearly complete tree
has been unearthed, and it has been
identified as a species of cypress similar
to one now existent in other parts of
California. Skeletons of the saber-
toothed cat, the giant wolf and the
ground sloth. found Immediately under
the tree, would indicate that il formed
part of the prehistoric forest in
which these animals lived. On the
other hand, the presence of great herds
of bison and camels would indicate
that considerable part of the land
was open prairie.
X
A cave bear, much larger than the
greatest modern grizzly; a giant wolf.
much more stocky
Many Species and powerful than
Already Found. and a % having inn i'm.
mense jaws; lion, very similar to those !
now found in Africa; giant ground
sloth related to the modern ant.eaters
and armadillos. but larger than COW; a.
vulture with a wingspread OF four-
teen feet, are some of the other types
and species which have been taken out
Of this remarkable deposit. Scientists in
all parts of the world are watching the
progress of the excavations with the
utmost interest.