| Phororhacos, a Patagonian Giant of the Miocene From a Drawing by Charles R. Knight | Frontispiece | |
| Fig. | Page | |
| 1. | Diplomystus, an Ancient Member of the Shad Family From the fish-bed at Green River, Wyoming. From a specimen in the United States National Museum. | [4] |
| 2. | Bryozoa, from the Shore of the Devonian Sea that Covered Eastern New York From a specimen in Yale University Museum, prepared by Dr. Beecher. | [10] |
| 3. | Skeleton of a Radiolarian Very Greatly Enlarged | [17] |
| 4. | Cephalaspis and Loricaria, an Ancient and a Modern Armored Fish | [24] |
| 5. | Pterichthys, the Wing Fish | [32] |
| 6. | Where a Dinosaur Sat Down | [38] |
| 7. | Footprints of Dinosaurs on the Brownstone of the Connecticut Valley From a slab in the museum of Amherst College. | [40] |
| 8. | The Track of a Three-toed Dinosaur | [47] |
| 9. | A Great Sea Lizard, Tylosaurus Dyspelor From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. | [52] |
| 10. | Jaw of a Mosasaur, Showing the Joint that Increased the Swallowing Capacity of that Reptile | [54] |
| 11. | Koch's Hydrarchus. Composed of Portions of the Skeletons of Several Zeuglodons | [62] |
| 12. | A Tooth of Zeuglodon, One of the "Yoke Teeth," from which it derives the name | [69] |
| 13. | Archæopteryx, the Earliest Known Bird From the specimen in the Berlin Museum. | [70] |
| 14. | Nature's Four Methods of Making a Wing: Bat, Pteryodactyl, Archæopteryx, and Modern Bird | [72] |
| 15. | Young Hoactzins | [75] |
| 16. | Hesperornis, the Great Toothed Diver From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. | [82] |
| 17. | Archæopteryx As Restored by Mr. Pycraft. | [89] |
| 18. | Thespesius, a Common Herbivorous Dinosaur of the Cretaceous From a drawing by Charles R. Knight. | [90] |
| 19. | A Hind Leg of the Great Brontosaurus, the Largest of the Dinosaurs | [96] |
| 20. | A Single Vertebra of Brontosaurus | [97] |
| 21. | Moloch, a Modern Lizard that Surpasses the Stegosaurs in all but Size From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. | [100] |
| 22. | Skeleton of Triceratops | [103] |
| 23. | The Horned Ceratosaurus, a Carnivorous Dinosaur From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. | [106] |
| 24. | Stegosaurus, an Armored Dinosaur of the Jurassic From a drawing by Charles R. Knight. | [108] |
| 25. | Skull of Ceratosaurus From a specimen in the United States National Museum. | [110] |
| 26. | Triceratops, He of the Three-horned Face From a statuette by Charles R. Knight. | [126] |
| 27. | A Hint of Buried Treasures | [137] |
| 28. | Relics of the Moa | [140] |
| 29. | Eggs of Feathered Giants, Æpyornis, Ostrich, Moa, Compared with a Hen's Egg | [148] |
| 30. | Skull of Phororhacos Compared with that of the Race-horse Lexington | [151] |
| 31. | Leg of a Horse Compared with that of the Giant Moa | [152] |
| 32. | The Three Giants, Phororhacos, Moa, Ostrich | [158] |
| 33. | Skeleton of the Modern Horse and of His Eocene Ancestor | [161] |
| 34. | The Development of the Horse | [168] |
| 35. | The Mammoth From a drawing by Charles R. Knight. | [176] |
| 36. | Skeleton of the Mammoth in the Royal Museum of St. Petersburg | [183] |
| 37. | The Mammoth As engraved by a Primitive Artist on a Piece of Mammoth-Tusk. | [196] |
| 38. | Tooth of Mastodon and of Mammoth | [199] |
| 39. | The Missourium of Koch From a Tracing of the Figure Illustrating Koch's Description. | [207] |
| 40. | The Mastodon From a drawing by J. M. Gleeson. | [210] |
| 41. | The Lenape Stone, Reduced | [219] |
INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY
At the present time the interest in the ancient life of this earth is greater than ever before, and very considerable sums of money are being expended to dispatch carefully planned expeditions to various parts of the world systematically to gather the fossil remains of the animals of the past. That this interest is not merely confined to a few scientific men, but is shared by the general public, is shown by the numerous articles, including many telegrams, in the columns of the daily papers. The object of this book is to tell some of the interesting facts concerning a few of the better known or more remarkable of these extinct inhabitants of the ancient world; also, if possible, to ease the strain on these venerable animals, caused by stretching them so often beyond their due proportions.
The book is admittedly somewhat on the lines of Mr. Hutchinson's "Extinct Monsters" and "Creatures of Other Days," but it is hoped that it may be considered with books as with boats, a good plan to build after a good model. The information scattered through these pages has been derived from varied sources; some has of necessity been taken from standard books, a part has been gathered in the course of museum work and official correspondence; for much, the author is indebted to his personal friends, and for a part, he is under obligations to friends he has never met, who have kindly responded to his inquiries. The endeavor has been conscientiously made to exclude all misinformation; it is, nevertheless, entirely probable that some mistakes may have crept in, and due apology for these is hereby made beforehand.
The author expects to be taken to task for the use of scientific names, and the reader may perhaps sympathize with the old lady who said that the discovery of all these strange animals did not surprise her so much as the fact that anyone should know their names when they were found. The real trouble is that there are no common names for these animals. Then, too, people who call for easier names do not stop to reflect that, in many cases, the scientific names are no harder than others, simply less familiar, and, when domesticated, they cease to be hard: witness mammoth, elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, boa constrictor, all of which are scientific names. And if, for example, we were to call the Hyracotherium a Hyrax beast it would not be a name, but a description, and not a bit more intelligible.
Again, it is impossible to indicate the period at which these creatures lived without using the scientific term for it—Jurassic, Eocene, Pliocene, as the case may be—because there is no other way of doing it.
Some readers will doubtless feel disappointed because they are not told how many years ago these animals lived. The question is often asked—How long ago did this or that animal live? But when the least estimate puts the age of the earth at only 10,000,000 years, while the longest makes it 6,000,000,000, it does seem as if it were hardly worth while to name any figures. Even when we get well toward the present period we find the time that has elapsed since the beginning of the Jurassic, when the Dinosaurs held carnival, variously put at from 15,000,000 to 6,000,000 years; while from the beginning of the Eocene, when the mammals began to gain the supremacy, until now, the figures vary from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 years. So the question of age will be left for the reader to settle to his or her satisfaction.
The restorations of extinct animals may be considered as giving as accurate representations of these creatures as it is possible to make; they were either drawn by Mr. Knight, whose name is guarantee that they are of the highest quality, or by Mr. Gleeson, with the aid of Mr. Knight's criticism. That they are infallibly correct is out of the question; for, as Dr. Woodward writes in the preface to "Extinct Monsters," "restorations are ever liable to emendation, and the present ... will certainly prove no exception to the rule." As a striking instance of this, it was found necessary at the last moment to change the figure of Hesperornis, the original life-like portrait proving to be incorrect in attitude, a fact that would have long escaped detection but for the Pan-American Exposition. The connection between the two is explained on page 76. However, the reader may rest assured that these restorations are infinitely more nearly correct than many figures of living animals that have appeared within the last twenty-five years, and are even now doing duty.