THE GREAT IRISH DEER AND STELLER'S SEA-COW.
"And, above all others, we should protect and hold sacred
those types, Nature's masterpieces, which are first singled
out for destruction on account of their size, or splendour,
or rarity, and that false detestable glory which is accorded
to their most successful slayers. In ancient times the spirit
of life shone brightest in these; and when others that shared
the earth with them were taken by death they were left, being
more worthy of perpetuation. Like immortal flowers they have
drifted down to us on the ocean of time, and their
strangeness and beauty bring to our imaginations a dream and
a picture of that unknown world, immeasurably far removed,
where man was not: and when they perish, something of the
gladness goes out of nature, and the sunshine loses something
of its brightness."--W. H. Hudson, in _The Naturalist in La
Plata_.
Among the extinct animals of prehistoric times the "Great Irish
Elk,"[77] as it is generally called, deserves special notice, both from
the enormous size of its antlers, and from the fact that its remains
are exceedingly plentiful in Ireland.
[77] The term "Elk" is misleading, for it is not an elk (_alces_) at
all, but a true _Cervus_ (stag). It should be called "the Great Irish
Deer."
This magnificent creature, so well depicted by our artist (Plate
XXV.), was, however, by no means confined to Ireland; its remains are
found in many parts of Great Britain, particularly in cave deposits,
and also on the Continent. Some writers think that it was contemporary
with men in Ireland; it may have been so, but at present the question
cannot be considered as proved. Mr. R. J. Ussher, who found its
remains in a cave near Cappagh, Cappoquin, thinks he has obtained
evidence to show that it was hunted by man at the time when he hunted
reindeer in this part of Europe, but the age of the strata containing
the remains is doubtful. Again, there is a rib in the Dublin Museum
with a perforation which is sometimes taken to be the result of a
wound from a dart, arrow, or spear; but the wound may have been
inflicted by one of the sharp tynes in a fight between two bucks.
Dr. Hart mentions the discovery of a human body in gravel, under
eleven feet of peat, soaked in bog-water, in good preservation, and
completely clothed in antique garments of hair, which it has been
conjectured might be that of the Great Deer. But if some individual
animal had perished and left its body under the like circumstances,
its hide and hair ought equally to have been preserved. Dr. Molyneux,
to whom we owe the first account of its discovery, says that its
extinction in Ireland has occurred "so many ages past, as there
remains among us not the least record in writing, or any manner of
tradition, that makes so much as mention of its name; as that most
laborious inquirer into the pretended ancient but certainly fabulous
history of this country, Mr. Roger O'Flaherty, the author of _Ogygia_,
has lately informed me."[78]
[78] _Philosophical Transactions_, vol. xix. p. 490.
In the romance of the "Niebelungen," now immortalised by Wagner, which
was written in the thirteenth century, the word _shelch_ occurs, and
is applied to one of the beasts slain in a great hunt a few hundred
years before that time in Germany. This word has been cited by some
naturalists as probably signifying the Great Irish Deer. But this is
mere conjecture, and the word might apply to some big Red Deer. The
total silence of Cæsar and Tacitus respecting such remarkable animals
renders it highly improbable that they were known to the ancient
Britons.
[Illustration: Fig. 57.--Skeleton of Great Irish Deer, _Cervus
giganteus_, from shell-marl beneath the peat, Ireland. Antlers over 9
feet across.]
Two entire skeletons of the male, with antlers measuring a little over
nine feet from tip to tip, and one skeleton of the hornless doe, are
to be seen set up in the middle of the long gallery No. 1 at the
Natural History Museum. The drawing in Fig. 57 is from a specimen in
the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons (Lincoln's Inn Fields).
The height of this specimen to the summit of the antlers is 10 ft. 4
in. The span of the antlers, from tip to tip, is 8 ft. (in the living
Moose it is only 4 ft). The weight of the skull and antlers together
is 76 lbs., but those of another specimen belonging to the Royal
Dublin Society weigh 87 lbs. This great extinct deer surpassed the
largest Wapite (Cervus Canadensis) in size, and its antlers were very
much larger, wider, and heavier. In some cases the antlers have
measured more than 11 ft. from tip to tip. The body of the animal, as
well as its antlers, were larger and stronger than in any existing
deer. The limbs are stouter, as might be expected from the great
weight of the head and neck. Another and more striking feature is the
great size of the vertebræ of the neck; this was necessary in order to
form a column capable of supporting the head and its massive antlers.
(See Plate XXV.)
[Illustration: Plate XXV.
THE GREAT IRISH DEER, CERVUS MEGACEROS.
Height to the summit of the antlers 10 feet; spread of antlers 11
feet.]
The first tolerably perfect skeleton was found in the Isle of Man, and
presented by the Duke of Athol to the Edinburgh Museum. It was figured
in Cuvier's _Ossemens Fossiles_. Besides those already mentioned at
South Kensington and Dublin, there is one in the Woodwardian Museum at
Cambridge.
It cannot be doubted that, like all existing deer, the animal shed its
antlers periodically, and such shed antlers have been found. When it
is recollected that all the osseous matter of which they are composed
must have been drawn from the blood carried along certain arteries to
the head, in the course of a few months, our wonder may well be
excited at the vigorous circulation that took place in these parts.
In the Red Deer the antlers, weighing about 24 lbs., are developed in
the course of about ten weeks; but what is that compared to the growth
of over 80 lbs. weight in some three or four months?
It is a mistake to suppose that the remains discovered in Ireland were
found in peat; they occur not in the peat, but in shell-marls and in
clays _under the peat_. This is an important point For if the remains
_were_ found in the peat, they would prove that the Great Deer
survived into a later period; instead of being (as is believed from
geological evidence) contemporary with the Mammoth and Woolly
Rhinoceros in this country, and then disappearing from view. As
already stated, it existed on the Continent, and may there have been
exterminated by man.
Mr. W. Williams, who has explored several peat-bogs in Ireland,
marking the site of ancient lakes, and found many specimens in beds
underlying the peat, has given much interesting information bearing
upon the question of the period when the Great Deer inhabited Ireland,
and the manner in which it was preserved in the lake-beds.[79] He spent
ten weeks in 1876-77, excavating deer remains in the bog of
Ballybetagh, and subsequently made similar excavations in the counties
of Mayo, Limerick, and Meath. These peat-bogs occupy the basins of
lakes, the deeper hollows of which have long since been silted up with
marls, clays, and sands, and in this silt, or mud, the plants which
produced the peat grew. In all the bogs examined he found a general
resemblance in the order of succession of the beds, with only slight
variations in the nature of the materials such as might be easily
accounted for by differences in the surrounding rocks. In these
deposits the geologist may read, as in a book, the successive changes
in climate that have taken place since the time when the country was
deeply covered with snow and ice during the Glacial period.
[79] _Geological Magazine_, new series, vol. viii. (1881), p. 354.
He found at the bottom of the old Ballybetagh Lake, and resting on the
true Boulder Clay (a product of the ice-sheet), a fine stiff clay
which seems to have been brought in by the action of rain washing fine
clay out of the Boulder Clay, that nearly covered the land, and
depositing it in the lake. This action probably took place during a
period of thaw, when the climate was damp, from the melting of so much
ice, and the rainfall considerable. Then the climate improved, the
cold of the Glacial period passed away, and the climate became warm.
During this phase the next stratum was formed, consisting chiefly of
vegetable remains. The summers must have been unusually warm, dry, and
favourable to the growth of vegetation on the bed of the lake. About
this time the Great Irish Deer appeared on the scene, for its remains
were found resting on this layer, or stratum, in a brownish clay.
This deposit also was the product of a time when the climate was mild.
It is a true lake-sediment, with seams of clay and fine sand, the
latter having been brought down by heavy rainfall from the hills, just
as at the present day.
Now, we have to consider how these Great Deer got buried in this
deposit. How did they get drowned? They may have gone into the lakes
to escape from wolves, or possibly to escape from ancient Britons (but
that is still doubtful). Perhaps they went into the water to wallow,
as is usual with deer, or they may have ventured to swim the lakes
(see p. 19). To enter the lake from a sandy shore would be easy
enough, but, on reaching the other side, they might find a soft mud
instead, into which their small feet would sink; and the more they
plunged and struggled, the worse became their plight, until at last,
weary and exhausted, the heavy antlers pressed their heads down under
the water, and they were drowned.
It does not follow, according to this theory, that either the entire
animal ought to be found, or even its legs, sticking in the clay. For
a few days it might remain so, but the motion of the waters of the
lake would sway the body to and fro, while the gases due to
decomposition would render it buoyant, and perhaps raise it bodily off
the bottom. Then it might float before the wind, its head hanging
down, till it reached the lee-side of the lake. Then the antlers would
get fastened in mud near the shore, thus mooring the body until at
last so much of the flesh of the neck had decayed that the body got
separated from it, leaving the head and antlers near the shore.
Nearly a hundred heads had been found in this lake previous to Mr.
Williams's explorations, and yet scarcely six skeletons. At first it
is somewhat puzzling to account for this scarcity of skeletons
compared with heads; but very likely the bodies, minus their heads,
were carried right out of the lake, down a river, and perhaps reached
the sea or got stranded somewhere down the river in such a way that
the bones were never covered up. But in the Limerick bogs heads and
skeletons were often found together. In that district the lakes were
probably shallow and with but a feeble current, and so the body never
floated away. This explanation by Mr. Williams seems satisfactory.
He reports that the female skulls were rarely met with. Either they
were more timid in swimming lakes, or, having no antlers, they may
have succeeded in getting out, or the care of their young ones may
have kept them out of the lakes during the summer months. The clay in
which the remains occur is succeeded by another bed of pure clay,
which _never_ yields any skulls or bones. This, Mr. Williams thinks,
was deposited at a time when the climate was more or less severe, and
the musk-ox, reindeer, and other arctic animals came down from more
northern regions, even down to the south of France. He concludes that
this period marks the extinction of the Great Deer in Ireland, whether
rightly or wrongly it is hard to say. Many observers are inclined to
think that it lived on to a later period. An interesting fact, having
some bearing on the question, is this: that the bones in some cases
even yet retain their marrow in the state of a fatty substance, which
will burn with a clear lambent flame. Evidence such as this seems to
point to a more recent date for its extinction.
Steller's Sea-Cow.[80]
[80] For fuller information, see the _Geological Magazine_, decade
iii. vol. ii. p. 412. Paper by Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S.
The Sirenia of the present day form a remarkable group of aquatic
herbivorous animals, really quite distinct from the Cetacea (whales
and dolphins), although sometimes erroneously classed with them. In
the former group are the Dugong and the Manatee. These creatures pass
their whole life in the water, inhabiting the shallow bogs, estuaries,
and lagoons, and large rivers, but never venturing far away from the
shore. They browse beneath the surface on aquatic plants, as the
terrestrial herbivorous mammals feed upon the green pastures on land.
Not a few of the tales of mermen and mermaids owe their origin to
these creatures, as well as to seals, and even walruses. The
Portuguese and Spaniards give the Manatee a name signifying
"Woman-fish," and the Dutch call the Dugong the "Little Bearded Man."
A very little imagination, and a memory only for the marvellous,
doubtless sufficed to complete the metamorphosis of the half-woman, or
man, half-fish, into a siren, a mermaid, or a merman. Hence the
general name Sirenia.
The Manatee (_Manatus_) inhabits the west coast and rivers of tropical
Africa, and the east coast and rivers of tropical America, the West
Indies, and Florida.
The Dugong (_Halicore_) extends along the Red Sea coasts, the shores
of India, and the adjacent islands, and goes as far as the northern
and eastern coasts of Australia.
[Illustration: Fig. 58.--Skeleton of _Rhytina gigas_ (Steller's
"Sea-Cow"), from a peat deposit, Behring's Island.]
The most remarkable Sirenian is the Rhytina gigas, or "Steller's
Sea-Cow." Early in 1885 the trustees of the British Museum acquired a
nearly complete skeleton of this animal, now extinct, from peat
deposits in Behring's Island, of Pleistocene age. Formerly it was
abundant along the shores of Kamtchatka, the Kurile Islands, and
Alaska. It was first discovered by the German naturalist, Steller,
who, in company with Vitus Behring, a captain in the Russian Navy and
a celebrated navigator of the northern seas, was with his vessel and
crew cast away upon Behring's Island (where Behring died) in 1741.
Steller's original description is preserved in the _Memoirs of the
Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg_. He saw it alive during his long
enforced residence on the island. In the course of forty years,
1742-1782, it appears to have been exterminated, probably for the sake
of its flesh and hide, around both Behring's Island and Copper Island,
to the shores of which it was, in Steller's time, limited.
Fig. 58 shows its skeleton, 19 ft. 6 in. long, now preserved in the
Geological Collection at South Kensington (Glass-case N). The
skeletons are found, in the islands, at a distance from the shore in
old raised beaches and peat-mosses, deeply buried and thickly
overgrown with grass. They are discovered by boring into the peat with
an iron rod, just as timber is found in Irish peat-bogs. (See
restoration, Plate XXVI.)
Steller records that when he came to Behring's Island, the Sea-cows
fed in the shallows along the shore, and collected in herds like
cattle. Every few minutes they raised their heads in order to get more
air before descending again to browse on the thick sea-weed (probably
Laminaria) surrounding the coast. With regard to their habits, they
were very slow in their movements: mild and inoffensive in
disposition. Their colour was dark brown, sometimes varied with spots.
The skin was naked; but thick, hard, and rugged. They are said to have
sometimes reached a length of thirty-five feet, when full grown. Most
of their time was spent in browsing, and whilst so occupied, were not
easily disturbed. Their attachment to each other was great, so that
when one was harpooned, the others made great attempts to rescue it.
According to Steller, they were so heavy that it required forty men
with ropes to drag the body of one to land.
[Illustration: Plate XXVI.
STELLER'S SEA-COW, RHYTINA GIGAS.
Found alive by Steller at Behring's Island. Length 19 feet 6 inches.]
When, in 1743, the news of the discovery of Behring Island reached
Kamtchatka, several expeditions were fitted out for the purpose of
hunting the sea-cow and the various fur-bearing animals, such as the
sea-otter, fur seal, and blue fox, which are found there; and very
soon many whaling vessels began to stop there to lay in a supply of
sea-cow meat for food. So great was the destruction wrought by these
whalers and fur-hunters that in 1754, only thirteen years after its
discovery, the sea-cow had become practically exterminated. In 1768,
according to the investigations of Dr. L. Stejneger of the U. S.
National Museum, Washington, who has made a most careful study of the
question, this large and important marine mammal became wholly
extinct, the last individual ever seen alive having been killed in
that year; and the fate which overtook Rhytina so speedily has almost
become that of the buffalo, and will as certainly become that of the
fur seal unless it be protected.
It may interest the reader, especially if he be a traveller, to know
that, besides the fine specimen of Rhytina in the Natural History
Museum, already alluded to, good skeletons are possessed by the
Museums of St. Petersburg, Helsingsfors (Finland), Stockholm, U. S.
National Museum, Washington, as well as portions of skeletons by other
museums.
The Sirenians are an ancient race, for their remains have been found
in Tertiary strata, of various ages, from Eocene to Pleistocene, over
the greater part of Europe--in England, Holland, Belgium, France,
Germany, Austria, and Italy; also near Cairo. In the New World, fossil
Sirenians have been found in South Carolina, New Jersey, and Jamaica.
Another European species is the Halitherium, from the Miocene rocks of
Hesse-Darmstadt, of which a cast may be seen in the Natural History
Museum, South Kensington. Its length is 7 ft. 8 in. The teeth in this
form resembled those of the Dugong.
The Rhytina was probably intermediate between the Dugong and the
Manatee, judging from the casts of its brain-cavity. Its brain was
very small considering the size of the animals. Altogether, as many as
fourteen fossil genera and thirty species are known. Evidently, then,
the old Sirenia were once a much more flourishing race. At present,
they are confined exclusively to the tropical regions of the earth,
and their past distribution, as revealed to the geologists, adds one
more proof to the now well-established fact, that throughout most of
the Tertiary era the climate of northern latitudes was very much
warmer than now--in fact, sub-tropical. What cause, or causes, brought
about so great a change, we cannot stay to consider here.
In conclusion, it only remains to express a hope that the reader may
have been interested in our humble endeavours to describe some of the
largest, most strange, and wonderful forms of life that in remote ages
have found a home on this planet. And perhaps a few of our readers may
be induced to add a new and never-failing interest to their lives by
searching in the stony record for traces of the world's "lost
creations." If so, our labour will not have been in vain.
APPENDIX I.
Table of Stratified Rocks.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Periods. | Systems. | Formations. |
------------+------------------+-------------------------------+--------
Quaternary. | {|Terrestrial, Alluvial, |
|=RECENT= {| Estuarine, and Marine Beds of |
| {| Historic, Iron, Bronze, and |
| {| Neolithic Ages |
| | |
| {|Peat, Alluvium, Loess |Dominant
| {|Valley Gravels, Brickearths | type,
| {|Cave-deposits |Man
|=PLEISTOCENE= {|Raised Beaches |
| {|Palæolithic Age |
| {|Boulder Clay and Gravels |
------------+------------------+-------------------------------+--------
CAINOZOIC. | {|Norfolk Forest-bed Series |
Tertiary. |=PLIOCENE= {|Norwich and Red Crags |
| {|Coralline Crag (Diestian) |
| | |
|=MIOCENE= |Oeningen Beds Freshwater, etc. |
| | |
| {|Fluvio-marine Series |
| {| (Oligocene) |Dominant
|=EOCENE= {|Bagshot Beds }(Nummulitic | types,
| {|London Tertiaries } Beds) |Birds
------------+------------------+-------------------------------| and
SECONDARY, | {|Maestricht Beds |Mammals
OR MESOZOIC.| {|Chalk |
|=CRETACEOUS= {|Upper Greensand |
| {|Gault |
| {|Lower Greensand } Neocomian |
| {|Wealden } |
|------------------+-------------------------------+--------
| {|Purbeck Beds |
| {|Portland Beds |
| {|Kimmeridge Clay |
| {| (Solenhofen Beds) |
|=JURASSIC= {|Corallian Beds |
| {|Oxford Clay |Dominant
| {|Great Oolite Series | type
| {|Inferior Oolite Series |Reptilia
| {|Lias |
|-------------- ---+-------------------------------|
| {|Rhætic Beds |
|=TRIASSIC= {|Keuper |
| {|Muschelkalk |
| {|Bunter |
------------+------------------+-------------------------------+--------
PRIMARY, |=PERMIAN or {|Red Sandstone, Marl } |
OR |DYAS= {|Magnesian Limestone, }Zechstein|
| {| etc. } |Dominant
PALÆOZOIC. | {|Red Sandstone and Conglomerate | type,
| {|Rothliegende |Fishes
| | |
|=CARBONIFEROUS= {|Coal Measures and Millstone |
| {| Grit |
| {|Carboniferous Limestone Series |
| | |
|=DEVONIAN & OLD {|Upper Old Red Sandstone |
| RED SANDSTONE= {|Devonian |
| {|Lower Old Red Sandstone |
| | |
|=SILURIAN= {|Ludlow Series |
| {|Wenlock Series |
| {|Llandovery Series |
| {|May Hill Series |
| | |
|=ORDOVICIAN= {|Bala and Caradoc Series |
| {|Llandeilo Series |
| {|Llanvirn Series |
| {|Arenig and Skiddaw Series |
| | |
|=CAMBRIAN= {|Tremadoc Slates |
| {|Lingula Flags |
| {|Menevian Series |
| {|Harlech and Longmynd Series |
------------+------------------+-------------------------------+--------
|=EOZOIC-ARCHÆAN= {|Pebidian, Arvonian, and |Dominant
| {| Dimetian | type,
| {|Huronian and Laurentian |Inverte-
| | | brata
------------+------------------+-------------------------------+--------
APPENDIX II.
THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT.
Mr. Henry Lee, formerly naturalist to the Brighton Aquarium, discusses
the question of "The Great Sea-Serpent" in an interesting little book,
entitled _Sea Monsters Unmasked_, illustrated (1883), published as one
of the Handbooks issued in connection with the International Fisheries
Exhibition. He goes fully into the history of the subject, and shows
how some of the appearances described may be accounted for; but yet is
inclined to think that there may exist in the sea animals of great
size unknown to science, and concludes as follows:--
"This brings us face to face with the question, 'Is it, then, so
impossible that there may exist some great sea creature, or creatures,
with which zoologists are hitherto unacquainted, that it is necessary
in every case to regard the authors of such narratives as wilfully
untruthful or mistaken in their observations, if their descriptions
are irreconcilable with something already known?' I, for one, am of
the opinion that there is no such impossibility. Calamaries or squids
of the ordinary size have, from time immemorial, been amongst the
commonest and best known of marine animals in many seas; but only a
few years ago any one who expressed his belief in one formidable
enough to capsize a boat or pull a man out of one was derided for his
credulity, although voyagers had constantly reported that in the
Indian seas they were so dreaded that the natives always carried
hatchets with them in their canoes, with which to cut off the arms or
tentacles of these creatures, if attacked by them. We now know that
their existence is no fiction; for individuals have been captured
measuring more than fifty feet, and some are reported to have measured
eighty feet in total length. As marine snakes some feet in length, and
having fin-like tails adapted for swimming, abound over an extensive
range, and are frequently met with far at sea, I cannot regard it as
impossible that some of these also may attain to an abnormal and
colossal development. Dr. Andrew Wilson, who has given much attention
to this subject, is of the opinion that 'in this huge development of
ordinary forms we discover the true and natural law of the production
of the giant serpent of the sea.' It goes far at any rate towards
accounting for its supposed appearance. I am convinced that whilst
naturalists have been searching amongst the vertebrata for a solution
of the problem, the great unknown, and therefore unrecognised,
Calamaries, by their elongated cylindrical bodies and peculiar mode of
swimming, have played the part of the sea-serpent in many a
well-authenticated incident. In other cases, such as those mentioned
by 'Pontoppidan' (_History of Norway_), the supposed vertical
undulations of the snake seen out of water have been the burly bodies
of so many porpoises swimming in line--the connecting undulations
beneath the surface have been supplied by the imagination. The dorsal
fins of basking sharks, as figured by Dr. Andrew Wilson, may have
furnished the 'ridge of fins;' an enormous conger is not an
impossibility; a giant turtle may have done duty, with its propelling
flippers and broad back; or a marine snake of enormous size may really
have been seen. But if we accept as accurate the observations recorded
(which I certainly do not in all cases, for they are full of errors
and mistakes), the difficulty is not entirely met, even by this last
admission, for the instances are very few in which an Ophidian
proper--a true serpent--is indicated. There has seemed to be wanting
an animal having a long snake-like neck, a small head, and a slender
body, and propelling itself by paddles.
"The similarity of such an animal to the Plesiosaurus of old was
remarkable. That curious compound reptile, which has been compared
with 'a snake threaded through the body of a turtle,' is described by
Dean Buckland as having 'the head of a lizard, the teeth of a
crocodile, a neck of enormous length resembling the body of a serpent,
the ribs of a chameleon, and the paddles of a whale.' In the number of
its cervical vertebræ (about thirty-three) it surpasses that of the
longest-necked bird, the swan.
"The form and probable movements of this ancient Saurian agree so
markedly with some of the accounts given of 'the great sea-serpent,'
that Mr. Edward Newman advanced the opinion that the closest
affinities of the latter would be found to be with the Enaliosaurians,
or Marine Lizards, whose fossil remains are so abundant in the Oolite
and the Lias. This view has been taken by other writers, and
emphatically by Mr. Gosse. Neither he nor Mr. Newman insist that 'the
great unknown' must be the Plesiosaurus itself. Mr. Gosse says, 'I
should not look for any species, scarcely for any genus, to be
perpetuated from the Oolitic period to the present. Admitting the
actual continuation of the order Enaliosauria, it would be, I think,
quite in conformity with general analogy to find some salient features
of several extinct forms.'
"The form and habits of the recently recognised gigantic cuttles
account for so many appearances which, without knowledge of them, were
inexplicable when Mr. Gosse and Mr. Newman wrote, that I think this
theory is not forced upon us. Mr. Gosse well and clearly sums up the
evidence as follows: 'Carefully comparing the independent narratives
of English witnesses of known character and position, most of them
being officers under the Crown, we have a creature possessing the
following characteristics: (1) The general form of a serpent; (2)
great length, say above sixty feet; (3) head considered to resemble
that of a serpent; (4) neck from twelve to sixteen inches in diameter;
(5) appendages on the head, neck, or back, resembling a crest or mane
(considerable discrepancy in details); (6) colour, dark brown or
green, streaked or spotted with white; (7) swims at surface of the
water with a rapid or slow movement, the head and neck projected and
elevated above the surface; (8) progression steady and uniform, the
body straight, but capable of being thrown into convolutions; (9)
spouts in the manner of a whale; (10) like a long "nun-buoy."' He
concludes with the question, 'To which of the recognised classes of
created beings can this huge rover of the ocean be referred?'
"I reply, 'to the Cephalopoda.' There is not one of the above
judiciously summarised characteristics that is not supplied by the
great Calamary, and its ascertained habits and peculiar mode of
locomotion.
"Only a geologist can fully appreciate how enormously the balance of
probability is contrary to the supposition that any of the gigantic
marine Saurians of the secondary deposits should have continued to
live up to the present time. And yet I am bound to say that this does
not amount to an impossibility, for the evidence against it is
entirely negative. Nor is the conjecture that there may be in
existence some congeners of these great reptiles inconsistent with
zoological science. Dr. J. E. Gray, late of the British Museum, a
strict zoologist, is cited by Mr. Gosse as having long ago expressed
his opinion that some undescribed form exists which is intermediate
between the tortoises and the serpents." (This is quoted by Mr. Lee in
a footnote.)
"Professor Agassiz, too, is adduced by a correspondent of the
_Zoologist_ (p. 2395), as having said concerning the present existence
of the Enaliosaurian type, that 'it would be in precise conformity
with analogy that such an animal should exist in the American seas, as
he had found numerous instances in which the fossil forms of the old
world were represented by living types in the new.'
"On this point, Mr. Newman records in the _Zoologist_ (p 2356), an
actual testimony which he considers 'in all respects the most
interesting natural history fact of the present century.' He writes--
"'Captain the Hon. George Hope states that when in H.M.S. _Fly_, in
the Gulf of California, the sea being perfectly calm, he saw at the
bottom a large marine animal with the head and general figure of the
alligator, except that the neck was much longer, and that instead of
legs the creature had four large flappers, somewhat like those of
turtles, the anterior pair being larger than the posterior, the
creature was distinctly visible, and all its movements could be
observed with ease; it appeared to be pursuing its prey at the bottom
of the sea; its movements were somewhat serpentine, and an appearance
of annulations, or ring-like divisions of the body, was distinctly
perceptible. Captain Hope made this relation in company, and as a
matter of conversation. When I heard it from the gentleman to whom it
was narrated, I inquired whether Captain Hope was acquainted with
those remarkable fossil animals, Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri, the
supposed forms of which so nearly corresponded with what he describes
as having seen alive, and I cannot find that he had heard of them; the
alligator being the only animal he mentioned as bearing a partial
similarity to the creature in question.'
"Unfortunately, the estimated dimensions of this creature are not
given.
"That negative evidence alone is an unsafe basis for argument against
the existence of unknown animals, the following illustrations will
show:--
"During the deep-sea dredgings of H.M.S. _Lightning_, _Porcupine_, and
_Challenger_, many new species of mollusca and others, which had been
supposed to have been extinct ever since the Chalk, were brought to
light; and by the deep-sea trawlings of the last-mentioned ship there
have been brought up from great depths fishes of unknown species, and
which could not exist near the surface, owing to the distention and
rupture of their air-bladder when removed from the pressure of deep
water.
"Mr. Gosse mentions that the ship in which he made the voyage to
Jamaica was surrounded in the North Atlantic, for seventeen continuous
hours, by a troop of whales of large size, of an undescribed species,
which on no other occasion has fallen under scientific observation.
Unique specimens of other Cetaceans are also recorded.
"We have evidence, to which attention has been directed by Mr. A. D.
Bartlett, that 'even on land there exists at least one of the largest
mammals, probably in thousands, of which only one individual has been
brought to notice, namely, the hairy-eared, two-horned rhinoceros (_R.
Lasiotis_), now in the Zoological Gardens, London. It was captured in
1868, at Chittagong, in India, where for years collectors and
naturalists have worked and published lists of the animals met with,
and yet no knowledge of this great beast was ever before obtained, nor
is there any portion of one in any museum. It remains unique.
"I have arrived at the following conclusions: 1. That without
straining resemblances, or casting a doubt upon narratives not proved
to be erroneous, the various appearances of the supposed 'great
sea-serpent' may now be nearly all accounted for by the forms and
habits of known animals; especially if we admit, as proposed by Dr.
Andrew Wilson, that some of them, including the marine snakes, may,
like the cuttles, attain to extraordinary size. 2. That to assume that
naturalists have perfect cognisance of every existing marine animal of
large size, would be quite unwarrantable. It appears to me more than
probable that many marine animals, unknown to science, and some of
them of gigantic size, may have their ordinary habitat in the sea, and
only occasionally come to the surface; and I think it not impossible
that amongst them may be marine snakes of greater dimensions than we
are aware of, and even a creature having close affinities with the old
sea-reptiles whose fossil skeletons tell of their magnitude and
abundance in past ages.
"It is most desirable that every supposed appearance of 'the Great
Sea-Serpent' shall be faithfully noted and described; and I hope that
no truthful observer will be deterred from reporting such an
occurrence by fear of the disbelief of naturalists or the ridicule of
witlings."
APPENDIX III.
LIST OF BRITISH LOCALITIES WHERE REMAINS OF THE MAMMOTH HAVE BEEN
DISCOVERED.[81]
[81] From Mr. Leith Adams's Monograph on _British Fossil Elephants_.
Palæontographical Society, London. 1877.
1. FROM RIVER VALLEYS AND ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS.
England.
_Cornwall and Devonshire._--None.
_Somersetshire._--Hinton, Larkhall, Hartlip, St. Audries,
Weston-super-Mare, Chedzoy, Freshford.
_Gloucestershire._--Gloucester, Barnwood, Beckford, Stroud,
Tewkesbury.
_Dorsetshire._--Bridport, Portland Fissure.
_Hampshire._--Gale Bay, Newton.
_Wiltshire._--Christian Malford, Fisherton, Milford Hill, near
Salisbury.
_Berkshire._--Maidenhead, Taplow, Reading, Hurley Bottom.
_Oxfordshire._--Yarnton, Bed of the Cherwell, City of Oxford,
Wytham, Culham.
_Essex._--Lexden, Orford, Hedingham, Lamarsh, Isle of Dogs,
Walton-on-the-Naze, Ilford (the finest specimen, see p. 187),
Wenden, Harwich, Colchester, Ballingdon, Walthamstow.
_Hertfordshire._--Camp's Hill.
_Sussex._--Bracklesham Bay, Brighton, Lewes, Valley of Arun,
Pagham.
_Suffolk._--Ipswich, Hoxne.
_Norfolk._--Bacton, Cromer, Yarmouth.
_Cambridge._--Barrington, Barnwell, Chesterton, Great Shelford,
Barton, Westwick Hall.
_Huntingdonshire._--Huntingdon, St. Neots.
_Bedfordshire._--Leighton Buzzard.
_Middlesex._--At London, under various streets, etc., viz., St.
James's Square, Pall Mall, Kensington, Battersea,
Hammersmith, and, recently (1892), in Endsleigh Street.
Turnham Green. In the bed of the Thames at Millbank,
Brentford, Kew, Acton, Clapton, etc. Kingsland.
_Surrey._--Wellington, Tooting, Peckham, Dorking, Peasemarsh,
near Guildford.
_Kent._--Crayford, Erith, Dartford, Aylesford, Hartlip,
Otterham, Isle of Sheppey, Broughton Fissure, Medway,
Sittingbourne, Newington, Green Street Green, Bromley,
Whitstable.
_Buckinghamshire._--Fenny Stratford.
_Northamptonshire._--Oundle, Kettering, Northampton.
_Warwickshire._--Rugby, Wellesborne, Lawford, Bromwich Hill,
Halston, Newnam.
_Worcestershire._--Stour Valley, Droitwich, Banks of Avon,
Fladbury, Malvern.
_Leicestershire._--Kirby Park.
_Staffordshire._--Copen Hall, Trentham.
_Cheshire._--Northwich.
_Lincolnshire._--Spalding.
_Yorkshire._--Whitby, Aldborough, Gristhorpe Bay, Harswell,
Leeds, Bielbecks, Brandsburton, Middleton, Overton, Alnwick,
Hornsea.
_Herefordshire._--Kingsland.
Scotland.
_Ayrshire._--Kilmaurs.
Between Edinburgh and Falkirk.
Chapel Hall in Lanarkshire, and Bishopbriggs.
At Clifton Hall.
Ireland.
_Cavan._--Belturbet.
_Antrim._--Corncastle.
_Waterford._--Near Whitechurch (but somewhat doubtful).
2. FROM CAVERNS.
_Devonshire._--Kent's Cavern, Oreston, Beach Cave, Brixham.
_Somerset._--Hutton Cave, and a cave near Wells, Wookey Hole,
Bleadon Cave, Box Hill, near Bath, Durdham Down, Sandford
Hill.
_Kent._--In Boughton Cave, near Maidstone.
_Nottinghamshire._--In Church Hole.
_Derbyshire._--In Cresswell Crags, Robin Hood Cave, Church Hole.
_Glamorganshire._--In Long Hole, Spritsail Tor, Paviland.
_Caermarthen._--In Coygan Cave.
_Waterford._--In Shandon Cave.
APPENDIX IV.
LITERATURE.
1. Popular Works.
_The Story of the Earth and Man._ By Sir Wm. Dawson.
_The Mammoth and the Flood._ By Sir Henry Howorth.
_Works by Doctor Gideon A. Mantell_:--
_Medals of Creation._
_Wonders of Geology._
_Petrifactions and their Teaching._
_Phases of Animal Life._ By R. Lydekker.
_Science for All._ 5 vols. (Chapters on Extinct Animals.)
_Our Earth and its Story_, vol. ii.
_Winners in Life's Race._ By Arabella Buckley.
_The Autobiography of the Earth._ By Rev. H. N. Hutchinson.
_Sea Monsters Unmasked._ By H. Lee.
2. Works of Reference.
_A Manual of Palæontology._ 2 vols. By Prof. Alleyne Nicholson, and
R. Lydekker.
_The Life-History of the Earth._ By Prof. Alleyne Nicholson.
_Origin of Species._ By C. Darwin. Also _The Journal of Researches._
_The Old Red Sandstone._ By Hugh Miller.
_Sketch Book of Popular Geology._ By Hugh Miller.
_Early Man in Britain._ By Prof. Boyd Dawkins.
_The English Encyclopedia._ (The 2 vols. on Natural History contain
much information on extinct animals.)
_The Encyclopedia Britannica._ Ninth Edition.
_Memoirs of the Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri._ By Thos. Hawkins.
Phillips's _Manual of Geology_. New Edition, by Prof. H. G. Seeley
and R. Etheridge.
_The Book of the Great Sea-Dragons._ By Thos. Hawkins.
_The Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals._ By
A. Heilprin.
_Prehistoric Europe._ By Prof. James Geikie.
_Palæontological Memoirs._ By Hugh Falconer, M.D.
_Mammals, Living and Extinct._ By Prof. Flower and R. Lydekker.
_British Fossil Mammals and Birds._ By Sir R. Owen.
_A Manual of Palæontology._ By Sir R. Owen.
_A Catalogue of British Fossil Vertebrata._ By A. S. Woodward and
C. D. Sherborn.
3. Monographs.
_The Dinocerata._ By Prof. O. C. Marsh. _United States Geological
Survey_, vol. x. Washington, 1884.
_The Odontornithes_, a Monograph on the Extinct Toothed Birds of North
America. By Prof. O. C. Marsh. New Haven, Connecticut, 1880.
_The Vertebrata of the Tertiary Formations._ By Prof. E. D. Cope.
Washington, 1883.
_The Vertebrata of the Cretaceous Formations of the West._ By Prof.
E. D. Cope. Washington, 1875.
_Contributions to the Extinct Vertebrate Fauna of the Western
Territories._ By Joseph Leidy. Washington, 1873.
(The last three are in the reports of the _United States Geological
Survey of the Territories_.)
_The British Merostomata_ (Palæontographical Society). By Dr. Henry
Woodward, F.R.S.
Monographs by Sir Richard Owen.
_A History of British Fossil Reptiles._ 4 vols. (Cassell.) (Most of
which has been previously published in the _Monographs of the
Palæontographical Society_.)
_On the Megatherium, or Giant Ground Sloth of America._ London, 1860.
_On the Mylodon._ London, 1842.
_On the Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand._ London, 1878.
Reprinted from _The Transactions of the Zoological Society_.
4. Journals.
The student should consult the numerous papers by Prof. Marsh in _The
American Journal of Science_; and by Prof. Cope in _The American
Naturalist_. Many of Prof. Marsh's papers have also appeared in _The
Geological Magazine_ and in _Nature_. The two latter journals contain
many other valuable papers (and reviews of Monographs, etc.), too
numerous to be separately mentioned. Some are referred to in the text.
_The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society_ contains many papers
on Extinct Animals. See also papers in _Natural Science_ and
_Knowledge_.
APPENDIX V.
ICHTHYOSAURS.
[Illustration: Fig. 59.--_Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris_, from
Würtemberg.]
It was unfortunate that news of the highly interesting discovery at
Würtemberg came too late for our artist to make a new drawing for our
first edition, to show the dorsal fin and large tail-fin, etc.,
described by Dr. Fraas.[82] This has now been done, as shown in Plate
II. By the courtesy of the proprietors of _Natural Science_, we are
enabled to reproduce two drawings (Fig. 59) from the September number,
illustrating a paper by Mr. Lydekker, in which he gives a _résumé_ of
the latest intelligence with regard to Ichthyosaurian reptiles.
[82] Ueber einen neuen Fund von _Ichthyosaurus_ in Würtemberg. _Neues
Jahrbuch f. Mineralogie_, 1892, vol. ii. pp. 87-90. The same author
has published a valuable monograph, with beautiful plates, entitled
_Die Ichthysaurier der Süddentschen Trias- und Jura-Ablagerungen_.
4to. Tübingen, 1891.
In the present year (1892) there has been discovered in the Lias of
Würtemberg the skeleton of an Ichthyosaur, in which the outline of the
fleshy parts is completely preserved (see lower figure). The reader
will see from the figure that the tail-fin is very large, and the
backbone appears to run into the lower lobe. Such a tail-fin as this
impression indicates must have resembled that of the shark's, only it
is wider; but the shark's backbone runs into the _upper_ lobe. Sir
Richard Owen long ago foretold the existence of this appendage, and
the discovery, coming now (when his life is despaired of), adds one
more tribute to his genius. Behind the triangular fin on the back
comes a row of horny excrescences reminding us of those of the crested
newt.
As Dr. Fraas remarks, this discovery shows how closely analogous
Ichthyosaurs were in form to fishes, and further justifies the title
of "fish-lizards." He considers that they did _not_ visit the shore.
The reader will find much valuable matter in Mr. Lydekker's paper,
above referred to. The following extract refers to the question of
their reproduction: "It has long been known that certain large
skeletons of Ichthyosaurs from the Upper Lias of Holzmaden, in
Würtemberg, and elsewhere, are found with the skeletons of one or more
much smaller individuals enclosed partly or entirely within the cavity
of the ribs [a specimen is figured]. Of such skeletons there are four
in the museum at Stuttgart, two in that of Tübingen, one at Munich,
and others in Gent and Paris. Of these, two in Stuttgart, as well as
the two in Tübingen, contain but a single young skeleton, while one of
those at Stuttgart has four, the Munich specimen five, and the
remaining Stuttgart example upwards of seven young. Some of these
young and, presumably, foetal Ichthyosaurs have the head turned
towards the tail of the parent, while in others it is directed the
other way. That these young have not been swallowed by the larger
individuals within whose ribs they are found is pretty evident from
several considerations. In the first place, their skeletons are always
perfect. Then they never exceed one particular size, and always belong
to the same species as the parent. Moreover, it would appear to be a
physical impossibility for one Ichthyosaur of the size of the
Stuttgart specimen to have had seven smaller ones of such dimensions
in its stomach at one and the same time. We may accordingly take it
for granted that these imprisoned skeletons were those of foetuses. It
is, however, very remarkable, that, so far as we are aware, all the
skeletons with foetuses belong to one single species; thus suggesting
that this particular species was alone viviparous."
It is to be hoped that further discoveries will be made, such as may
finally settle this question. One would have expected that in some
cases the young ones, if foetal, would be imperfectly developed.
INDEX.
A
Æpyornis. Vid. Moa-bird.
Agassiz, 27
"Age of Reptiles," 63, 107;
"Age of Mammals," 147
Air, action of, 10
Allosaurus, 83
Ancients, ideas of the, 35, 61, 155, 195, 199
Apatosaurus, 70
Aqueous rocks, 14
Arbroath paving-stone, 26
Armadillo. Vid. Glyptodon.
Articulata, 25
Atlantosaurus, 70
B
Backbone of fishes, 49
"Bad Lands" of Wyoming, 157
Baker, Sir Samuel, on Crocodiles, 48;
on Elephants, 215
Basalt, 14
Berossus, the Chaldæan, 34
Birds, fossilisation of, 19;
ancestry of, 63, 109.
Vid. Hesperornis, Moa.
Blackie, Prof. J. S., on Ichthyosaurus, 37
"Breaks," 21, 147
Brontops, 160
Brontosaurus, 66;
vertebræ of, 68;
habits of, 69
Buckland, Dean, 37, 46, 53, 73, 75-77, 124, 126, 180
Buffon, 5, 223
C
Cautley, Captain, 162
Cave-earth, 10
Ceratosaurus, 84
Cetiosaurus, 73, 74
_Challenger_, H.M.S., 20
Chinese legends of Mammoth, 199
Clidastes, 144, 145
Climate, of Lias period, 51;
of Eocene period, 159;
of Tertiary era, 163
Collini, 123
Compsognathus, 86
Conybeare, Rev., on Plesiosaurus, 52, 58;
on Sea-serpents, 135
Cope, Prof. E. D., on Sea-serpents, 139, 141, 143;
on Eocene wingless bird, 237
Correlation, law of, 6, 43, 54, 88, 161
Crustaceans, 24
Cuvier, 2, 5, 7, 63, 73, 76;
on Ichthyosaurus, 36;
on Plesiosaurus, 53;
on Iguanodon teeth, 90, 91;
on Pterodactyls, 121, 122, 126;
on Mosasaurus, 135, 136;
on Tertiary animals, 148;
on Megatherium, 179;
on Mammoth, 193, 212;
on Mastodon, 217
D
Darwin, Charles, 20;
on extinct Sloths, 181
Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, 10;
on Mammoth, 213
De la Beche, Sir Henry, 37, 52
Denudation, 21
Dimorphodon, 124
Dinocerata, 149;
skull and limbs of, 150;
where found, 155
Dinornis. Vid. Moa-bird.
Dinosaurs, chaps. v., vi., vii.;
anatomy of, 64;
geographical range of, 75;
classification of, 65;
relations of, 65.
Vid. also Allosaurus, Atlantosaurus, Brontosaurus,
Ceratosaurus, Cetiosaurus, Compsognathus, Diplodocus,
Hadrosaurus, Hoplosaurus, Hylæosaurus, Iguanodon,
Megalosaurus, Morosaurus, Ornithopsis, Pelorosaurus,
Polacanthus, Scelidosaurus, Triceratops.
Diplodocus, 72
Dollo, M., 99
Draco volans, 122
Dragons, in mythology, 61;
Flying Dragons, 121;
legends of, 225
E
Earth-drama, the, 4
Elephas ganesa, 220;
E. primigenius. Vid. Mammoth.
Eobasileus (Cope), 154
Eocene period, 149, 153, 158
Eurypterus, 29
Evolution, of Ichthyosaurs, 50;
of Plesiosaurs, 59;
of Dinosaurs, 64, 108;
of Dinocerata, 153;
of Sloths, 186
Explorations, in Rocky Mountains, by Marsh, 119, 120;
in Kansas, by Cope, 140, 145;
in Wyoming, by Leidy, 157;
in Uinta Basin, by Marsh, 159;
in Sivalik Hills, by Falconer, 165;
in Siberia, 201, 204
F
Falconer, Hugh, 162
Floods, destruction of animals by, 17
Flying Dragons (Pterodactyls), early discovery of, 123;
Pterodactylus macronyx, 124;
P. crassrostris, 125;
P. spectabilis, 126;
differences between (Pterodactyls) and Birds, 127;
Rhamphorhynchus, 128;
Pterodactyls from the Greensand, 129;
American Pterodactyls, 129;
bones of ditto, 130;
habits of, 131
Footprints, of birds and reptiles, 13, 79;
of Brontosaurus, 66;
Iguanodon, 102;
supposed human footprints, 185
Forbes, Mr. H. O., on Moa-birds, 237
Fossils, how preserved, 9-23;
changes in, 22
G
Geikie, Sir Archibald, on scenery of a western plateau, 156
"Generalised types," 150
Geography of Wealden period, 96;
of Cretaceous period, 141, 147;
of Eocene period, 149, 159, 160;
of Miocene period, 161;
of Pliocene period, 163
Giants, stories of, founded on discoveries of bones, 40, 155,
195-198, 220, 225
Glyptodon, 189
H
Hadrosaurus, 97
Harrison, Mr. J., discovers Scelidosaurus, 105
Hawkins, Mr. T., his collection of fossil reptiles, 41;
his books, 40
Hoffman, 134
Home, Sir Everard, 38
Hoplosaurus, 74
Humboldt, 18
Huxley, on Dinosaurus, 63, 64, 77, 85, 87;
on origin of birds, 64
Hylæosaurus, 103
I
Ice Age, or Glacial Period, 163, 197, 229
Ichthyornis, 109
Ichthyosaurus, 33;
Scheüchzer on, 38;
droppings of, 44;
I. tenuirostris, 44, 264;
Owen on habits of, 45;
eyes of, 46;
jaws of, 48;
vertebræ of, 49;
ancestry of, 50;
part played by, 50;
tail-fin, 49;
range of, 51;
Sauranodon, 51;
toothless forms of, 51.
Vid. Cuvier.
Iguana, teeth of, 92
Iguanodon, discovery of teeth, 90;
Dr. Wollaston, 91;
origin of name, 92;
jaws of, 93, 94;
food of, 96, 101;
discovery of Belgian specimens, 98;
figure of skeleton, 100;
impressions of feet, 102;
thumb of, 101;
habits of, 103;
restoration by W. Hawkins, 104
Ilia, 113
Imperfection of the record, 20
Impressions, of leaves, 12;
of cuttle-fishes, 13;
of jelly-fishes, 13;
of fish-lizards, 47 and Appendix V.
Irish Elk, 240
K
King Crabs, habits of, 31
König, 38
L
Laramie beds, 116
Lariosaurus, 59
Legends. Vid. Giants.
Leidy, Professor, 143
Leiodon, 142
Lias rocks, 35, 38, 40, 43, 47
Lyell, Sir Charles, on floods, 17;
on ideas of the ancients, 34;
on sudden destruction of fish-lizards, 51;
on tracks in Connecticut Sandstone, 81;
on Mammoth, 213
M
Mammals, evolution of, 152
Mammoth, distinct from living elephants, 193;
finding of, by Adams, 201;
by Benkendorf, 205;
how preserved, 209;
food of, 210;
extinction of, 213;
primitive drawing of, 214;
legends of, 195-200
Mantell, Dr. G. A., 63;
on "Medals of Creation," 85;
discovery of Iguanodon, 93, 98;
on jaws and teeth of ditto, 96;
on Wealden strata, 96;
discovery of Hylæosaurus, 103;
on analogies of Iguanodon and Sloths, 96;
on discovery of Mosasaurus, 135
Mantell, Mr. Walter, on Moa-birds, 230-232
Marsh, Prof. O. C., on classification of Dinosaurs, 65;
on Brontosaurus, 66;
on Atlantosaurus, 70;
his collection at Yale College, 72;
on Megalosaurus, 78;
on tracks of Dinosaurs, etc., 79;
on Ceratosaurus, 84;
on ancient vertebrate life in America, 110;
on reptiles and birds, 109;
on Stegosaurus, 110, 114;
on Triceratops, 115, 119;
his collection of Pterodactyls, 129;
on Sea-serpents, 139;
on Dinocerata, 149, 153;
on explorations in the Far West, 159, 160;
on footprints of Mylodon, 185
Mastodon, 218;
bones and teeth first described, 220;
discovery of, by M. de Longueil, 221;
exhibited as "the Missouri Leviathan," 222;
legends of, 225
Medals of Creation. Vid. Mantell.
Megaceros. Vid. Irish Elk.
Megalosaurus, 76;
localities of, 76;
teeth of, 77;
habits of, 78;
skeleton of, 78 (Fig. 8)
Megatherium, 181;
habits of, 182
Miller, Hugh, 26
Miocene period, 161, 219
Moa-birds, first discovery of, 227;
letter to Prof. Owen, 228;
W. Mantell on, 230;
species of, 232;
native traditions of, 234;
Æpyornis, 235;
geographical distribution of giant birds, 236;
a new find of Moas, 237
Monitors, 136
Morosaurus, 71
Mosasaurus, head, etc.,
found by Hoffman, 134;
origin of name, 135;
head of, 137;
structure of, 142;
habits of, 139;
Cuvier's opinion of, 136;
Cope on Sea-serpents, 139;
Marsh's collection of ditto, 139
Museum at Brussels, 99
Mylodon, 183, 185
N
Neusticosaurus, 59
New Red Sandstone period, 79;
tracks in New Red Sandstone, 80
Nodules, phosphatic, 13
O
Old Red Sandstone, 26, 27
Omosaurus, 110
Ornithopoda, a group of Dinosaurs, 87
Ornithopsis, 74
Ornithosauria, 132. Vid. Pterodactyls.
Owen, Sir R., 2, 37, 40, 88;
on Ichthyosaurus, 45, 49;
on Plesiosaurus, 54, 58;
on Dinosaurs, 64, 73;
on Cetiosaurus, 73;
on Megalosaurus, 77;
on Iguanodon, 95;
on Scelidosaurus, 106;
on Pterodactyls, 125, 130;
on Sea-serpents, 138;
on Megatherium, 181;
on Mammoth, 210-212;
on Mastodon, 219;
on Dinornis, 227, 232
P
Parish, Sir Woodbine, 177, 178
Pauw, M. de, 99
Peat, human bodies in, 18;
Deer in, 244
Pelorosaurus, 74
Petrifactions, 9
Phillips, Prof., on Megalosaurus, 76
Plesiosaurus, origin of name, 52;
length of, 55;
skin, 54;
limbs, 54, 57;
habits, 57, 58;
relations, 59, 60.
Vid. Buckland, Conybeare, and König.
Pliosaurus, 59, 60
Polacanthus, 106
Pterodactyls, C. Kingsley on, 121;
origin of name, 122;
sizes of, 122;
first discovery of, 123;
structure of, 123, 124;
Dimorphodon, 124;
P. spectabilis, 126;
Condyle of, 127;
Ramphorhynchus, 128;
specimens at Yale College, U.S., 129;
range in time, 132;
whether warm-blooded, 130.
Vid. Seeley, Marsh, Owen.
Pterygotus, 26
Pythonomorphs. Vid. Sea-serpents.
R
Ramphorhynchus. Vid. Pterodactyls.
Record, imperfection of the, 19
Rhinoceros; tichorhine or woolly, 224;
legends founded on, 225
Rhytina, or "Sea-Cow," 246
Rocks, how made, 14-16
S
Sacrum, the, 113
Sauranodon. Vid. Ichthyosaurus.
Scelidosaurus, discovery of, 105
Scelidotherium, 183
Sclerotic plates, of Ichthyosaurus, 46
Sea-Cow. Vid. Rhytina.
Sea-scorpions, 25;
habits of, 31;
relations of, 24, 29, 32;
discovery of, 26;
"Seraphim," 27;
Woodward on, 31;
range in time of, 33
Sea-serpents, Chap. IX.
Vid. Mosasaurus, Leiodon, Clidastes.
Seeley, Prof. H. G., on Dinosaurs, 65, 72, 74;
on Pterodactyls, 131
Sivalik Hills, 162-170
Sivatherium, 163-169
Sloths. Vid. Megatherium, Scelidotherium, Mylodon.
Solenhofen limestone, or lithographic stone of Bavaria,
13, 85, 86, 125
Specialisation, 119, 151
Stegosaurus, 110;
skeleton figured, 117;
restoration of, 113;
second brain, 113;
discovery of, 110, 111;
bony plates, 115
Steller's "Sea-Cow," vid. Rhytina.
St. Fond, M. Faujas, 135
Stonesfield slate, 76
Stratified rocks, table of, Appendix I.;
how formed, 14-16
Stylonurus, 30
Sydenham, models of extinct animals at Crystal Palace, 34
T
Theropoda, 75
Tinoceras, 149, 151
Triceratops, 115;
teeth of, 118;
skull, 116;
spines, etc., 119;
extinction of, 119
Trilobites, 25
U
Uintatherium, 154
Uniformity, 17
V
Vegetation of Jurassic period, 70;
of Wealden period, 96;
of Eocene period in America, 159
Von Meyer, on Dinosaurs, 64
W
Water, action of, on organic matter, 10, 11;
on fossils, 12
Waterhouse Hawkins, 34, 103
Wealden strata, 96, 97, 103
Williams, Mr. R., on Great Irish Deer, 244
Wings, of Pterodactyls, 122, 125, 127, 129;
of Moa-bird, 227
Woodward, Dr. Henry, 31, 33, 149, 246
Workmen (in pits and quarries), carelessness of, 23, 41, 198
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
_Recently Published, by the same Author. Price 5s._
THE
STORY OF THE HILLS.
_A POPULAR ACCOUNT
OF MOUNTAINS AND HOW THEY WERE MADE._
BY THE
Rev. H. N. HUTCHINSON, B.A., F.G.S.,
AUTHOR OF "THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE EARTH."
_OPINIONS OF THE PRESS._
"This work belongs to that useful class whose intention is to
arouse interest in the works of nature, and quicken the
faculty of observation."
_Manchester Guardian._
"It tells in the pleasantest way the first things that
geologists learn and teach crabbedly about the heaving up of
hills, the wearing of them down by the weather, the breaking
out of volcanoes, and kindred matters."--_Scotsman._
"The author is a man of wide geological and physiographical
reading, possessed of the gift of clearly interpreting the
writers he reads, and of reproducing their facts and
conclusions in easily understood and even attractive
language."--_Science Gossip._
"It will be read with pleasure and profit by the tourist who
likes to know just enough about the sundry points of interest
connected with the scene of his wanderings to make the
enjoyment of his outing intelligent."--_Nature._
"Mr. Hutchinson's book deals with the slow moulding of
mountain forms by streams and by weathering, and with the
forces by which mountains have been upheaved, and will double
the pleasure of a mountain trip. It is of a handy and
portable size, and is illustrated with several excellent
reproductions of photographs by the late Mr. W.
Donkin."--_Knowledge._
"A charmingly written and beautifully illustrated account of
the making of the mountains. An admirable gift
book."--_Yorkshire Post._
"This is a popular and well illustrated account of mountains
and how they were made. The illustrations are especially
excellent, being reproductions of photographs taken by the
late Mr. W. Donkin, Messrs. Walentine and Sons (Dundee), and
Mr. Wilson (Aberdeen). Mr. Hutchinson writes interestingly,
and evidently knows geology and physiography."--_Journal of
Education._
SEELEY AND CO., Limited, Essex Street, Strand.
_Recently Published, by the same Author_
THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE EARTH.
_A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF GEOLOGICAL
HISTORY._
BY THE
Rev. H. N. HUTCHINSON, B.A., F.G.S.
_Crown 8vo, cloth, with 27 Illustrations, price 7s. 6d._
Contents.--1. Cloud-land, or Nebular Beginnings--2. The Key to
Geology--3. An Archaic Era--4. Cambrian Slates--5. The Slates and
Ashes of Siluria--6. The Old Red Sandstone--7. The Mountain
Limestone--8. Forests of the Coal-period--9. A Great Interval--10. The
Cheshire Sandstones--11. New Phases of Life--12. Bath Oolites--13. An
Age of Reptiles--14. The Chalk Downs--15. The New Era--16. The Ice-Age
and Advent of Man.
_SOME OPINIONS OF THE PRESS._
"His sketch of historic geology has a genuine continuity. It
is so written as to be understanded of plain people, and is
illustrated by some very good woodcuts and
diagrams."--_Saturday Review._
"This most interesting book."--_Spectator._
"A delightfully written and thoroughly accurate popular work
on geology, well calculated to engage the interest of readers
in the fascinating study of the Stony Science."--_Science
Gossip._
"In this work the Rev. H. N. Hutchinson produces a popular
account of geological history, and explains the principles
and methods by which that history has been read. He
endeavours to interpret the past by the light of the present,
first acquiring a knowledge, by direct observation and
self-instruction, of the chief operations now taking place on
the earth's surface, and then employing this knowledge to
ascertain the meaning of the record of stratified rocks. This
principle of 'uniformity' knocked the old teaching of
catastrophism on the head. The author is accurate in all his
details, yet his subject is touched into something not at all
unlike romance. The illustrations are good."--_National
Observer._
London: EDWARD STANFORD, 26 & 27, Cockspur Street, S.W.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note
Spelling and hyphenation was standardized. All OE and oe ligatures were
converted to "Oe" and "oe" respectively. The word Garuda has a macron
over the u in the printed version.
Missing endquote from the quoted passage, beginning in the last paragraph
on page 85, was confirmed by consulting Mantell's "The Medals of Creation"
(p. 17).