Animals of the Past

by Frederic A. Lucas

Professor Shaler, in noting the sudden disappearance of such trees as the gums, magnolias, and tulip poplars from the Miocene flora of Europe has suggested that this may have been due to the attacks, for a series of years, of some insect enemy like the gipsy moth, and the theory is worth considering, although it must be looked upon as a possibility rather than a probability. Still, anyone familiar with the ravages of the gipsy moth in Massachusetts, where the insect was introduced by accident, can readily imagine what might have been the effect of some sudden increase in the numbers of such a pest on the forests of the past. Trees might resist the attacks of enemies and the destruction of their leaves for two or three years, but would be destroyed by a few additional seasons of defoliation.

Ordinarily the abnormal increase of any insect is promptly followed by an increase in the number of its enemies; the pest is killed off, the destroyers die of starvation and nature's balance is struck. But if by some accident, such as two or three consecutive seasons of wet, drought, or cold, the natural increase of the enemies was checked, the balance of nature would be temporarily destroyed and serious harm done. That such accidents may occur is familiar to us by the damage wrought in Florida and other Southern States by the unwonted severity of the winters of 1893, 1895, and 1899.

If any group of forest trees was destroyed in the manner suggested by Professor Shaler, the effects would be felt by various plants and animals. In the first place, the insects that fed on these trees would be forced to seek another source of food and would be brought into a silent struggle with forms already in possession, while the destruction of one set of plants would be to the advantage of those with which they came into competition and to the disadvantage of vegetation that was protected by the shade. Finally, these changed conditions would react in various ways on the smaller birds and mammals, the general effect being, to use a well-worn simile, like that of casting a stone into a quiet pool and setting in motion ripples that sooner or later reach to every part of the margin.

It is scarcely necessary to warn the reader that for the most part this is purely conjectural, for from the nature of the case it is bound to be so. But it is one of the characteristics of educated man that he wishes to know the why and wherefore of everything, and is in a condition of mental unhappiness until he has at least formulated some theory which seems to harmonize with the visible facts. And from the few glimpses we get of the extinction of animals from natural causes we must formulate a theory to fit the continued extermination that has been taking place ever since living beings came into the world and were pitted against one another and against their surroundings in the silent and ceaseless struggle for existence.

THE END.

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INDEX

The asterisk denotes that the animal or object is figured on or opposite the page referred to.

Æpyornis, egg of, [145], [148],* [147], [157]
eggs found in swamps, [148];
found floating, [148]
eggs used for bowls, [145]
origin of fable of Roc, [144], [145]
Alaskan Live Mammoth Story, [190]-[193], [197]
Anomœpus tracks, [39]
Apteryx egg, [147]
Archæopteryx, description of, [77], [78]
discovery of, [77]
earliest known bird, [70]
restoration, [89]*
specimens of, [70],* [88]
wing, [72],* [73]
Archelon, a great turtle, [54]
Basilosaurus, [60]
See also Zeuglodon
Beehler, L. W., [209], [213]
Birds, always clad in feathers, [71], [127]
earliest, [70]
Birds, first intimation of, [76]
rarity of fossil, [86], [87]
related to reptiles, [92]
wings of embryonic, [73]
with teeth, [79], [88]
Bison, European, [231]
Books of reference, xix, [17], [32], [47], [69], [89], [110], [137], [158], [176], [197], [218]
Breeding of large animals, [233]
Brontornis, size of leg-bones, [149]
Brontosaurus, size of bones, [96],* [97],* [109]
Brooks, W. K., on Lingula, [229]
Buffalo legend, 2[16]
Buttons as vestigial structures, [202]
Carcharodon auriculatus, [66]
teeth, [66]
megalodon, [65]
estimated size, [66]
teeth, [65], [67]
Carson City footprints, [45]
Casts, how formed, [10], [11]
Cats and clover, [234]
Cephalaspis, [24]*
Ceratosaurus, habits, [106]
restoration, [106]*
skull, [110]*
Changes in Nature slow, [227]
Cheirotherium, [43]
Chlamydosaurus, [129]
Claosaurus. See Thespesius
Climate, changes in western United States, [174]
Clover and cats, [234]
Cold, effects of, on animals, [230], [231], [233]
Cold winters, [230]
Collecting fossils, [17], [112]-[116]
Color of large land animals, [134]
of young animals, [136]
Covering of extinct animals sometimes indicated, [131], [132]
Coyotes, effect of their destruction on fruit, [236]
Dall, W. H., theory as to extinction of mollusks, [227]
Dinosaurs, bones of, [109], [110]
brain of, [93]
collections of, [109]
compared to marsupials, [95]
first discovered, [90]
food required by, [98]
hip-bones mistaken for shoulder-blade, [120]
Professor Marsh's epitaph for, [222]
range, [92]
recognized as new order of reptiles, [91]
related to ostrich and alligator, [91]
size of, [95], [96], [98]
tracks, ascribed to birds, [38]
Dinotherium, [200]
Diplodocus, estimated weight, [99]
supposed habits, [99]
Egg of Æpyornis, [147], [148];
Apteryx, [147];
Ostrich, [146];
Moa, [148]
Eggs, casts of, [87]
Elephant, size, [180]
size of tusks, [181], [182]
Elephas ganesa, tusks, [196]
Encrustations, [14]
Extermination. See Extinction
Extinction, ascribed to great convulsions, [225]
ascribed to primitive man, [188], [224]
of Dinosaurs, [221]
local, [225]
by man, [224], [225]
of Marine Reptiles, [222]
often unaccountable, [222], [223]
of Pliocene rhinoceros, [232]
sometimes evolution, [221], [226]
of Titanotheres, [222]
Feathers, imprints of, [76], [132]
Fishes, abundance of, [25]
armored, [23], [24], [25], [28]
collections of, [32]
killed by cold, [230]
killed by volcanoes, [231]
Fish-crows, killed by cold, [231]
Flesh does not petrify, [10]
Flightless birds, absent from Tasmania, [155]
present distribution, [154], [155]
relation between flightlessness and size, [156]
Folds and frills, [129]
Footprints, collections of, [47]
books on, [47]
See also under Tracks
Fossil birds, rarity of, [86]
Fossil man, [13]
Fossilization a slow process, [10]
Fossils, conditions under which they are formed, [5], [7]
collecting, [112]-[116]
definition of, [1]
deformation of, [16]
impressions, [2], [3]
not necessarily petrifactions, [2]
preparation of, [117]-[119]
why they are not more common, [5], [15], [16]
Fowls, muscles of, [81]
Frill of Triceratops, [102]
Fur-seals killed by ice-floes, [233]
Gar pikes, destruction of, [26]
Giant birds, reasons for distribution and flightlessness, [153]
Giant Moa, [141]
leg compared with that of horse, [152]*
Giant Sloth, domesticated by man, [224]
struggle between, [46]
Giant Sloth, tracks at Carson City, [46]
Gilfort, Robert, [157]
Great Auk, extermination of, [232]
Grouse on Scotch moors, [235]
Hawkins, B. W., restorations by, [137]
Hesperornis, description of, [80]
impressions of feathers, [132]
position of legs, [83], [84]
restoration of, [82]*
Hippotherium, [166], [167]
Hoactzin, habits of, [74], [75]*
Horn does not petrify, [130]
Horse, abundant in Pleistocene time, [164]
books on, [176]
of bronze age, [163], [167]
collections of fossil, [176]
development of, [167], [168],* [175]
differences between fossil and living, [163]
early domestication, [165]
evidence as to genealogy, [170]-[173]
extra-toed, [172], [173]
found in South America in [163], [165]
of Julius Cæsar, [172]
none found wild in historic times, [165]
Pliocene, [166]
possibility of existence in America up to the time of its discovery, [169], [170]
primitive, [160], [161]*
Horse, sketched by primitive man, [163]
teeth of, [170]
three-toed, [166]
Humming-bird, exterminated by hurricane, [231]
Hydrarchus, [62]*
Hyracotherium, [160], [161],* [170], [174]
Ichthyosaurs, silhouettes of, [132]
Iguanodons, found at Bernissart, [104]
Impressions of feathers, [131]
of scales, [131]
of skin, [131]
Inbreeding, effects of, [231], [232]
Information, sources of, xvi
Innuits, habits, [192]
Interdependence of animals and plants, [234], [235], [238]
Ivory, fossil, [2], [4], [188], [189]
Jaw of Mosasaur, [54]*
of reptiles, [53]
Killing of the Mammoth, story, [177], [193]
Kimmswick, deposit of Mastodon bones, [209]
Knight, Charles R., restorations by, xviii, [136]
Koch's Hydrarchus, [61], [62]*
Missourium, [207],* [208]
Leaves, impressions of, [3], [13]
Leg of Brontornis, [149]*
Leg of the Great Brontosaurus, [96]*
of Giant Moa, [152]*
position in Hesperornis, [83]
position in ducks, [84]
Lenape Stone, [215], [216], [219]*
Life, earliest traces of, [21], [34]
Lingula, antiquity of, [228]
Professor Brooks on, [229]
Loricaria, [24]*
Mammoth, adapted to a cold climate, [134]
Alaskan Live, Story, [190]
believed to live underground, [178]
bones taken for those of giants, [185]
contemporary with man, [189]
derivation of name, [178]
description, [179]
discovery of entire specimens, [183], [187]
distribution, [184], [186]
drawn by early man, [189], [197]*
entire specimens obtainable, [194]
reasons for extermination, [188]
killing of the, [177]
literature on, [197]
misconception as to size, [179]
mounted skeleton, [179]
not now living, [190]
preservation of remains, [187]
skeletons in Alaska, [181], [195]
Mammoth, in Chicago Academy of Sciences, [179]
at St. Petersburg, [183]*
restoration, [176]*
size, [179], [180], [181]
size of tusks, [181], [196]
teeth, [196], [199]*
teeth dredged in North Sea, [184]
tusks brought into market, [188], [189]
Man contemporary with Mammoth, [189]
fossil, [13]
of Guadeloupe, [13]
Manatees killed by cold, [230]
Marsh, Prof. O. C., collection of fossil horses, [176]
on Dinosaurs, [222]
on toothed birds, [79], [89]
Mastodon, bones taken for those of giants, [205]
thought to be carnivorous, [206]
covering, [210]
description, [210]
distribution, [203], [210], [212]
extinction, [212]
literature, [218]
and man, [215], [216]
first noticed in America, [204]
origin unknown, [202]
remains abundant, [208], [209]
remains in Ulster and Orange counties, New York, [204], [206]
restoration, [210]*
Mastodon, size, [211]
skeletons on exhibition, [218]
species, [203]
teeth, [198], [199],* [218]
tusks, [199], [200]
Mesohippus, [167]
Mimicry, not conscious, [128]
Missourium of Koch, [207],* [208]
Moas, collections of, [156], [157]
contemporary with man, [143], [144]
deductions from distribution, [143]
destruction of, [143], [144]
discovery of bones, [140]
elephant-footed, [142]
feathers of, [141]
Giant, [141]
supposed food of, [142]
legends of, [139], [140]
literature, [158]
scientific names, [146]
size of, [141]
species of, [141]
Moloch, an Australian lizard, [100]*
Mosasaurs, abundance of, in Kansas, [52]
books on, [69]
collections of, [68]
extinction of, [56]
first discovery, [50]
jaw of, [54]*
Mosasaurs, range of, [49]
restoration, [52]*
size of, [49], [50]
Mylodon tracks at Carson City, [45]
Names, scientific, reasons for using, xvi, xvii
Nature, balance of, [238]
Nuts, fossil, [11]
Oldest animals, [21]
vertebrates, [19], [22]
Ostrich egg, [147]
Over-specialization, [221], [222]
Peale, C. W., [205]
Peale, Rembrandt, [205], [206]
Pelican, mandible, [53]
Penguins, depend on fat for warmth, [127]
feathers highly modified, [128]
swim with wings, [80]
Petrified bodies, [10]
Phororhacos, description of, [149]
mistaken for mammal, [149]
Patagonian bird, [148]
related to heron family, [152]
restoration, frontispiece
skull, [150], [151]*
Protohippus, [166]
Pteraspis, [28]
Pterichthys, [25], [28], [32]*
mistaken for crab, [25]
Pterodactyls, impressions of wings, [133]
from Kansas, [55]
wing, [72]*
Pycraft, W. P., restoration of Archæopteryx, [89]
Radiolarians, [15], [17]*
Reconstruction of animals, [127], [130], [134]
Reptiles, fasting powers of, [98]
growth throughout life, [102]
jaws, [53]
Restorations, xviii
Archæopteryx, [89]*
Ceratosaurus, [106]*
Hesperornis, [82]*
Mammoth, [176]*
Mastodon, [210]*
Phororhacos, frontispiece
progress in, [137]
Stegosaurus, [108]*
Thespesius, [90]*
Triceratops, [126]*
Tylosaurus, [52]*
Reversion of fancy stock, [171]
Rhinoceros, exterminated by cold, [232]
Roc, legend of, [144], [145]
Rocks, thickness of sedimentary, [20]
Ruffles on dresses, [202]
Schuchert, Charles, on collecting fossils, [17]
collector of Zeuglodon bones, [63]
Seals, covering of, [128]
Sea-serpent, belief in, [56]
possibility of existence, [57]
Shaler, Professor, on changes in Miocene flora of Europe, [236], [237]
Sharks, early, [31]
Great-toothed, [65]
known from spines and teeth, [29]
Port Jackson, [29]
teeth of, [69]
White, or Man-Eater, [65]
Skeleton, basis of all restorations, [127]
best testimony of animal's relationships, [124]
information to be derived from, [120], [122], [123], [124], [125], [126], [127]
a problem in mechanics, [102], [124]
reconstruction of, [120]
relation of, to exterior of animal, [121], [127]
of Triceratops, [103],* [121]
Spines and plates, [130]
Stegosaurus, description of, [106]
restoration of, [108]*
Survival of the fittest, [173]
Teeth, birds with, [79]
of gnawing animals, [169], [200]
of grass-eaters, [169]
Teeth, of horse, [170]
of mammoth, [198], [199]*
of mastodon, [198], [199]*
of sharks, [29], [30]
of Thespesius, [105]
Thespesius, abundance of, [104], [105]
brain of, [93]
(Same as Claosaurus)
engulfed in quicksand, [8]
impressions of skin, [132]
restoration of, [90]*
teeth of, [105]
at Yale, [109]
Tiger, preying on reindeer, [134]
Tile-fish, destruction of, [230]
Titanichthys, [28], [29]
Toothed birds, collections of, [88]
discovery of, [79]
Townsend C. H., [190]-[192]
Tracks, ascribed to birds, [38]
ascribed to giants, [45]
animals known from, [41]
collections of, [47]
of Connecticut Valley, [37]
deductions from, [44]
of Dinosaurs, [38],* [40],* [41], [47]*
discovery in England and America, [37], [42]
how formed, [35], [40]
at Hastings, [44]
Tracks, of Mylodon, [46]
of worms, [3], [33]
Triceratops, brain, [94]
broken horn, [102]
description, [100], [101]
restoration, [126]*
skeleton, [103]*
Tufa, [14]
Tukeman, killing of the Mammoth, [177], [193]
Variation in animals, [228]
Vertebrates, oldest, [22]
Vestigial structures, [201], [202]
Volcanic outbursts, [231], [232]
Webster, F. S., on destruction of gar pikes, [26]
White, C. A., on the nature and uses of fossils, [17]
White Shark, [65]
Wings, [71], [72],* [73]
of embryonic birds, [73]
Wood, fossil, [9], [10]
Worm trails, [3], [33]
Yucca, fertilization, [235]
Zeuglodon, abundance of remains, [60]
same as Basilosaurus
description, [58], [63]
habits, [59]
Zeuglodon, Koch's restoration, [62]
name, [58], [69]
once numerous, [60]
size, [58]
specimen of, [68]
structure of bones, [64]
teeth, [58], [69]*