Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-07-14


tinction was due more to The absence q
neck than any other feature The neclgV
plays the most important part III the hight
types OF creatures of to-day. The sectioa
or modern vertebra extending into thes
neck has seven bones so joined as to makeE
the neck movable and graceful. Withouts
a neck Titanichthys could have no glandas
to promote his growth, nor saliva to lubrf-S
cate his food for swallowing. He grabbed
his food and threw it directly into hiss
stomach thereby losing the enjoyment
given the modern spenders, who seize al
table by the restaurant window and eat
slowly so as to hold it conspicuclsly for$
hours. "a
In Devonian times Of $4,000, 900 years
ago sort OF Sargasso Sea seems to have
covered the territory from northwestern
New York, Ohio Wisconsin. Michigan,
parts of Kentucky Iowa and the region Of
the Great Lakes. The Ohio section must
have had abysmal depths, as it containedS
numerous monsters, the remains Of which
have not been found elsewhere on the COM
tinent. The massive layers OF shales-
Huron, Erie and Cleveland shales-de-5
posted are $500 feet thick.
In these abysses Titanichthys, Dinich.
thys and related forms reigned supreme
near 1000 900 years The shales deposited
show high content of carbonaceous ma
teral, and hence the resemblance to the
Sargasso Sea.
According to Williams, the fauna Of theg
waters included few generally minute
vertebrates, plants, spore cases OF rhizo-3
carps and large fish. These pecularities
indicate quiet conditions OF sedimentation,#
not enough disturbed by currents or cave
motions to affect the smoothness OF the
sediments on the bottom. and show that
the sources of the sediments were at a.
considerable distance. 1t is possible that
coating OF the surface Of the sea by
living vegetation may account for the black
character Of the sediments
DR.. Husakoff points out the periods In
which the successive forms appeared elm
the Huron, the lowest section OF the shales.
is found the fossil remains Of Dinichthys
herzer differing in shape but almost as
large as the placoderms which followed
It.
This monster, with powerful teeth, did
not last long and is replaced in the
higher levels by placoderms with knife
like cutting blades in the jaws, without
teeth. @
What then was the origin of the knifs
blades? Over in New York State section
OF the sea about the same time, was the
placoderm Dinichthys newberryi with cut
ting knife blades. This species entered the
Ohio section and replaced Herzeri. Was
he ancestral to the two later species, Din-j
ichthys ntermedius and TERRELL and other
species OF the formation with cutting knife
blades? There are not enough remains O
him yet discovered to show
When we consider that some seven
species OF Dinichthys are known from tho
Cleveland shales. and that individually
considering the limited locality rere rela-z
lively abundant we must conclude that
competition between the monsters waGs
severe. All Of them finally became exc
tinct, leaving no known relatives or de-
scendants that can as yet, with material
for Hfcnn A0 ~ rnf,, -
them.
AS whole. they appear to stand way
off on one side OF the main line eyollutionx
OF species.