The Washington times., 1918-07-13

1ctlon OF the 0l8amktG .n4OaAu u
Almost Incredibly Powerful Teeth"
dednce many Of the missing parts In the
skeletons Of Titanichthys. Dinichthys and
the other monsters.
We may IMAGINE, then, Titanichthys e
q gigantic monster. some hfty feet Ions,
with Whalsliks body heavily armOred.
tapering down IN the tan section to
small point. His huge jaws opened SIX or
more feet wide and high. Along the crest
OF his back were bristIing spines. seen
millions OF years later IN the Mosasaur and
to-day IN certain fishes and reptiles.
These splnes were not solely Scare
organs" to be erected when in battle, but
added much to his protection from rear
attacks Of sharks and fellow Placoderms
We see the same action in the mod
ern dog. IT'S back hair arising crest
like when about to growl or bark
Whether Titanichthys was ances-
tral or not to later animals, 1t is ap-
y parent that many Of his functions re-
- appeared as parallels and were
handed down through every succeed
ing generation. To my mind, his ex-
tinction was due more to the absence Of
q neck than any other feature. The neck
plays the most important part IN the high
types OF creatures Of to-day. The section
Of modern vertebra extending into the
neck has seven bones 30 joined as to make
the neck movable and graceful Without
q neck Titanichthys could have no glands
to promote HIS growth. nor saliva to iubri
cate HIS food for swallowing He grabbed
his food and threw It directly into his
stomach thereby losing the enjoyment
given the modern spenders. who seize a
table By the restaurant window and eat
slowly 50 as to hold It eonspicuously for
hours.
In Deyouian times Of 5000. 900 years
ago q sort Of Sargasso Sea seems to have
covered the territory from northwestern
New York, Ohio. Wisconsin, Miehisan.
parts Of Kentucky, Iowa and the region Of
the Great Lakes. The Ohio section must
have had abysmal depths, as It contained
numerous monsters, the remains OF which
have not been found elsewhere on the con-
tinent The massive layers of shaIes-
Huron, Erie and Cleveland shales-de-
posted are $500 feet thick
In these abysses Titanichthys. Dfnich-
thys and related forms reigned supreme
near 100000 years. The shales deposited
show high content Of carbonaceous ma
terial, and hence the resemblance to the
Sargasso Sea.
According to Williams, the fauna of the
waters included few generally minute
vertebrates, plants, spore cases of rhizo-
carps and large fish. These peculiarities
indicate quiet conditions Of sedfmeutation.
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. II Is possible that
coating Of the surface of the sea BY
living vegetation may account for the black
character Of the sediments"
DIR. Husakoh points out the periods In
which the successive forms appeared. an
the Huron, the lowest section of the shales,
is found the fossil remains of Dinichthys
herzeri. 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 knife
blades? Over in New York State section
OF the sea about the same time was the
placoderm Dinichthys newberryi, with cur.
ting knife blades. This species entered the
Ohio section and replaced Herzeri Was
he ancestral to the two later species, Din
ichthys intermedius and terrelli and other
species of the formation with cutting knife
blades? There are not enough remains q
him yet discovered to show.
When we consider that some seven
species Of Dinichthys are known from the
Cleveland shAles, and that individuals,
considering the limited locality were rela-
lively abundant we must conclude that
competition between the monsters was
severe. All Of them finally became ex-
tinct, leaving no known relatives or de-
scendants that can as yet, with material
so far discovered, be positively traced to
them.
As a whole, they appear to stand way
of on one side of the main line evolution