The Washington times., 1920-04-11


UST across the American border In
Alberta, Canada. 10,000.000 years
years ago. Nature carefully Inn
pressed upon soft. plastic rock the com
plete skeleton and bodily outlines Of Q
gigantic creature which was sort Of pre-
historic duck, more than thirty feet In
length. The remains Of that creature have
been carefully and painstakingly brought
to New York and placed in the American
Museum of Natural History. And II th'
distinguished curator and his assistant.
from the museum had been present 10000.
900 years ago to superintend that Job o
preserving the fossil remains of that mon
ster the work could have scarcely beer
done better than 1t was performed at thai
ancient day by the processes Of nature
1t was not merely bundle Of
bones scattered about. Il was, as
shown in the photograph above, a
wonderfully perfect job, and the
geologists were so fortunate as to
find not only the outline OF the -
creatures body, but also to be M
able to study the texture, thick ~
ness and quality Of its skin, and
to see that the skin had tubercles
on the sides, back and tail. Ths
The monster duck was a dino. Al.
saur. 1t was an aquatic animal
with wonderfully powerful hind "As
legs, web-footed for swimming;
but since it's body weighed about
FIVE tons and was too heavy to
lift into the air, 1t had to dispense with
wings, and in the place of flying machin-
cry had developed some small forward
swimming legs.
This duck-billed dinosaur lived In what
is called the Upper Cretaceous period OF
the Mesozoic era and has been named the
Corythosaurus Casuarius. The word Cory
tbosaurus means "helmeted," and the word
Casuarius Is the same as cassowary,
modern bird which still exists in Africa
and has bony crest on its head.
Scientists have looked long and wonder
ngly at this ancient bonehead, and nobody
Is able to satisfactorily account for such
dome of bone. Neither is the bony hel,
met of the well-known cassowary under
stood. The bird has been studied with
much interest by ornithologists, but has
never shown that It makes use Of its heavy
skull for any purpose whatever. II It was
of any use or special value In ages long
gone by It has entirely abandoned using
its thick Uranium for any such purpose In
modern times. Therefore the modern Cas-
sowary and the bonehead Of the ancient
gigantic cassowary are scientific puzzle
The ancient duck, whose remains are
now in New York, formerly lived near the
town of Red Deer, in Alberta, Canada. The
skeleton was found in an outcropping rocl
stratum Of the Cretaceous period, which
the scientists call the Belly River Forma
ton" The specimen was found by Mr.
Barnum Brown, of the American Museum
Nearby was found a less complete bu'
similar skeleton-perhaps the creatures
mate. Both fossils were carefully packed
and brought to New York.
From the bones Of Corythosaurus Casu
arius and the impression OF its body In the
rock, the paleontologists OF the American
Museum are dDlt HOI Ouiy W tpSoubpuS'
the body Of the great duck, but to Learn
many details of its manner Of living and
that OF the creatures coexistent. The huge
duckbill and the teeth adapted to grind
ing rather than cutting show that it was
herbivorous and did not prey upon It's fel
low dinosaurs. The feet we're webbed FOL
swimming, and the hind feet, In addition
were covered with feshy pads arranged
in lobes, showing that II walked as well AZ
swan. Dinosaurs IN general, and Cory
thosaurus In particular, were among the
first bipeds, the first creatures to stand
upright on two feet and move about,
Impressions Of the tendons that moved
the tail are clearly visible, and from theiI
position, and other features OF its con
struction, II Is plain that the tail was pow
erful enough to be used for propelling the
body in the water, much after the fashion
OF a single scull worked from the stern
Of a boat, in addition to serving as a rud