Bisbee daily review., 1921-02-25
Interesting Talk On Mastodons,
 Gigantic Turtles And Other Pets
 or Long Ago, Giuen By Dr. Gidley
Work Of Uncovering Fossils Of Ancient Mammals Is Told At Luncheon Club By Dr. Gidley; Says Curtis Flats
 Discoveries Reveal New Field For Exploration

mains of a mastodOn. belonging to the upper PliOcene age This being the case the field represents Tsnew hOri- Zon of exploration in the United States Most of you are more or less familiar with mining and know the geological formations. The PliOcene represents the close of the. Tertiary period"
 Having thus established the anti duity of his antique menagerie. and shown beyond doubt that they were among the earliest pioneers at Curtis ] Flats and so entitled to due distinc- ton. Dr. Gidley proceeded with more detailed description. It seems ' that an animal of the PliOcene age | is some thousands of years older than one Of the Pleistocene, and would not think Of association with one of such meagre antecedents. Pliocene ami malls in other words. are geological | ariStOcracy.
 'The mastodon and the slptodon, ] continued the speaker, have been ! fully exploited in the papers. 1t Is
 interesting to note, however, that the ] glyptodon is related to the aTmadillo. ! The glyptodon was about r feet long. ; including head and tail, the shell GOV ering being about five feet long. 1t was covered with bOny armor, and
 had an armor plate over it's head. The tail was encased in rings of armor- ] The skeleton is a new find in the United States.
 1 Dr. Gidley did not say so but it ap-
 pears that the tanks used in the late
 war are nothing more than species ] rrlN- ! We also have at Curtis Flats two
 species of camels. One of these had long legs and long neck and looked more like the present day giraffe than a camel It was a true camel, however.
 i ..There are also four species of horses. one of these probably retain ing two lateral toes of the original
 three toed types. This animal repre-
 sents the last of three toed horses,
 and was small. not larger than Shet-
 land pony. The others were larger
 and more nearly like the present day
 horse"
 2 Dr. Gidley neglected to say what
 Pliocene horses wanted toes for in the Tertiary period or why they have
 since dispensed with them. It was suggested by someone that 1t was
 probably to save the trouble of putting eight or twelve shoes on horse where four do just as we'll
 Then we have representatives of
 the dog family" continued the Doc
 tor. including wolves, foxes, coyotes
 etc. There are two species Of wolves
 one quite large, and one represented
 by a single tooth. The latter belong
 ed to a very large animal, about as
 big as a black bear, more like a hyena
 than wolf.
 Along with the enormous bones ol
 the mastodon We also found bones oi
 rodents and of the smaller carnivor
 ous animals There are several spec
 ies of turtle. but not sea-turtles as was announced in the papers
 Dr. Gidley said that the report in
 the Review that the remains Of sea
 turtles had been found in company with those Of a mastOdOn had got . back to Washington and that he re
 ceiyed a letter asking him what kind of a formation he was in- IL appear; , that sea-turtles and masto6OnS posi- lively never associated on terms o . equality, although fresh-water and
 land turtles were admitted into high , CT Pliocene society
 f The speaker said that the specimen . found near Charleston consisted O
 three fragments of the fossil remain: Q of an elephant. and that there was f not enough there to be of much i'm 9 portance.
 ? Dr. Gidley'S talk was particularly s interesting as showing what science s has accomplished in the way of ac Z curately determining the habits, ma l. ture, and appearance of the prehistoric
 inhabitants of the earth. 4 Scientis