TABLE OF CONTENTS - Animals of the Past

INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY

Use of scientific names,[xvi]; estimates of age of earth,[xvii]; restorations by Mr. Knight,[xviii]; Works of Reference,[xix].

I. FOSSILS, AND HOW THEY ARE FORMED

Definition of fossils,[1]; fossils may be indications of animals or plants, 2; casts and impressions,[3]; why fossils are not more abundant,[4]; conditions under which fossils are formed,[5]; enemies of bones,[6]; Dinosaurs engulfed in quicksand,[8]; formation of fossils,[9]; petrified bodies frauds,[10]; natural casts,[10]; leaves,[13]; incrustations,[14]; destruction of fossils, 15; references,[17].

II. THE EARLIEST KNOWN VERTEBRATES

Methods of interrogating Nature,[18]; thickness of sedimentary rocks,[20]; earliest traces of life,[21]; early vertebrates difficult of preservation,[22]; armored fishes,[23]; abundance of early fishes,[25]; destruction of fish,[26]; carboniferous sharks,[29]; known mostly from teeth and spines,[30]; references, 32.

III. IMPRESSIONS OF THE PAST

Records of extinct animals,[33]; earliest traces of animal life, 34; formation of tracks,[35]; tracks in all strata,[36]; discovery of tracks,[37]; tracks of Dinosaurs,[39]; species named from tracks,[41]; footprints aid in determining attitude of animals, 43; tracks at Carson City,[45]; references,[47].

IV. RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS

The Mosasaurs,[49]; history of the first known Mosasaur,[50]; jaws of reptiles,[53]; extinction of Mosasaurs,[55]; the sea-serpent, 56; Zeuglodon,[58]; its habits,[59]; Koch's Hydrarchus, 61; bones collected by Mr. Schuchert,[63]; abundance of sharks,[64]; the great Carcharodon,[65]; arrangement of sharks' teeth,[67]; references,[68].

V. BIRDS OF OLD

Earliest birds,[70]; wings,[71]; study of young animals,[73]; the curious Hoactzin,[74]; first intimation of birds,[76]; Archæopteryx, 77; birds with teeth,[78]; cretaceous birds,[79]; Hesperornis, 80; loss of power of flight,[81]; covering of Hesperornis, 82; attitude of Hesperornis,[83]; curious position of legs,[84]; toothed birds disappointing,[85]; early development of birds,[86]; eggs of early birds,[87]; references,[88].

VI. THE DINOSAURS

Discovery of Dinosaur remains,[90]; nearest relatives of Dinosaurs, 91; relation of birds to reptiles,[92]; brain of Dinosaurs, 93; parallel between Dinosaurs and Marsupials,[95]; the great Brontosaurus,[96]; food of Dinosaurs,[97]; habits of Diplodocus,[99]; the strange Australian Moloch,[100]; combats of Triceratops,[101]; skeleton of Triceratops,[102]; Thespesius and his kin,[104]; the carnivorous Ceratosaurus,[106]; Stegosaurus, the plated lizard,[106]; preferences,[109].

VII. READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS

Fossils regarded as sports of nature,[111]; qualifications of a successful collector,[112]; chances of collecting,[114]; excavation of fossils,[115]; strengthening fossils for shipment,[117]; great size of some specimens,[118]; the preparation of fossils, 119; mistakes of anatomists,[120]; reconstruction of Triceratops,[121]; distinguishing characters of bones,[122]; the skeleton a problem in mechanics,[124]; clothing the bones with flesh,[127]; the covering of animals,[127]; outside ornamentation, 129; probabilities in the covering of animals,[130]; impressions of extinct animals,[131]; mistaken inferences from bones of Mammoth,[133]; coloring of large land animals, 134; color markings of young animals,[136]; references,[137].

VIII. FEATHERED GIANTS

Legend of the Moa,[139]; our knowledge of the Moas,[141]; some Moas wingless,[142]; deposits of Moa bones,[143]; legend of the Roc,[144]; discovery of Æpyornis,[145]; large-sounding names,[146]; eggs of great birds,[147]; the Patagonian Phororhacos,[149]; the huge Brontornis,[150]; development of giant birds,[153]; distribution of flightless birds,[154]; relation between flightlessness and size,[156]; references,[156].

IX. THE ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE

North America in the Eocene age,[160]; appearance of early horses,[163]; early domestication of the horse,[165]; the toes of horses,[166]; Miocene horses small,[167]; evidence of genealogy of the horse,[170]; meaning of abnormalities,[170]; changes in the climate and animals of the West,[174]; references, 176.

X. THE MAMMOTH

The story of the killing of the Mammoth,[177]; derivation of the word "mammoth,"[178]; mistaken ideas as to size of the Mammoth,[179]; size of Mammoth and modern elephants, 180; finding of an entire Mammoth,[182]; birthplace of the Mammoth,[184]; beliefs concerning its bones,[185]; the range of the animal,[186]; theories concerning the extinction of the Mammoth,[188]; Man and Mammoth,[189]; origin of the Alaskan Live Mammoth Story,[190]; traits of the Innuits, 192; an entire Mammoth recently found,[194]; references, 195.

XI. THE MASTODON

Differences between Mastodon and Mammoth,[198]; affinities of the Mastodon,[200]; vestigial structures,[201]; distribution of American Mastodon,[203]; first noticed in North America, 204; thought to be carnivorous,[206]; Koch's Missourium, 208; former abundance of Mastodons,[209]; appearance of the animal,[210]; its size,[211]; was man contemporary with Mastodon?[213]; the Lenape stone,[215]; legend of the big buffalo,[216]; references,[218].

XII. WHY DO ANIMALS BECOME EXTINCT?

Extinction sometimes evolution,[221]; over-specialization as a cause for extinction,[222]; extinction sometimes unaccountable, 223; man's capability for harm small in the past,[224]; old theories of great convulsions,[226]; changes in nature slow, 227; the case of Lingula,[228]; local extermination,[229]; the Moas and the Great Auk,[232]; the case of large animals, 233; inter-dependence of living beings,[234]; coyotes and fruit,[236]; Shaler on the Miocene flora of Europe,[236]; man's desire for knowledge,[238].

Index,[243]