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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1903)
What Monster Killed the Monster Saurians? (Copyright, 1903, by T. C. McClure.) iHB whale Is as mysterious an ani mal as the Ichthyosaurus. Once it was believed that all the link forms that red to tho whale and creatures like It wrre In plain sign. AH nrnmnmlir that had adapted themselves to oecanh? ttfb were simply thrown into rnio great group of "sea mam mal.'' Thus the whales went Into the tame pot with the- eomnvm, weft known seals, and wlfh a third rrt out peculiar form of animal the ungainly sea-cows, fsmra? as the ereatsre that Rare riss to the first stories of mermaldw. 8lnee seals and sea oowa were ho srrnllar to land animals, the seal especially reeembring certain beasts of prey, like the sen otter and others, the bridge seemed a plain one. ftut It was only a dream of the old systems" of natural science. Totoiy the "sea mammals." hav been separated Into vastly different species. Tlie seal have actually turned oat to be true descendants of beasts of prey which have notions at ill to do with whale. Tbt set-cows mint l:e considered now as befog closely related to the liort animals of the land. Their xWit to to be ex ptalnexi ore tle therry that genuine hoofed land animals went Into the wntrr after the manner ef the living hlpplotamua gralna,lty accustomed themselves ta a, eom alew Bf In the water by a process of adaptation rarried to an extreme point. The whale dolphin and true whiUes remain. naexpUmtil. And to this hour no menu, knows from what group of mammal hey can hare descended. llurckel thinks that I kin group Itself must he separated Inito two branches and must have dose-ended fnrm two slffurent sources. But where the sowrce may be he diws not know either. The whales appear all at once us did the Ichthyosaurians. with the. one great difference that the whales appeared lust a: the ichthyosaurlans dis appeared. The Icythyusaurlar.s enlivened the sens throughout the entire Jurassic period. Tlie Jurasaic period was followed by the Cre taceous or cluilk period. In its remnants we find remnants of Ichthyosaurlans In f.11 parts of tho world where the oceans rolled their floods. Then, with the dawning of the Tertiary period, the spoor" dhtappears to tally. Animal bones in enourmotia masses re main on earth from that Tertiary period. But the Ichthyosaurus is missing totally. Tils hour rrrost hare struck. Tnstead of hmr. there appear. In the first chapter of Tertiary times, great mammals belonging to the whsles. vTTmt Is It that drove the monster saur ian, a mode of ierfect adaptation, ho twm pletely from the scene? Birch a nuestlon ta n Important for true Investigation as the pwsaBnjr question, "Whence nme thepe wonderful forms?'" Why dlir srlendtnTy fitted animal forma, thnt had spread themserrea art oyer the grorj and" that absolutely ruled for Una periods of time, dlsippear ns suddenly as If they had been swallowed? The most convenient solution would lie to say, of course: the time was fulfilled, room had to be made in the world-seas for new creatures, for the time of the mam mals had begun; so the Ichthyosaurians. suddenly became lame nnd decrepit as elsewhere over the single animal, so old age crept ov?r a whole animal world, and soon, tho entire, once so powerful, race was destriTTed to the test om. But. young: as or natural sciences are. we- hare actaatty seen how spec-ire dte. And ba every such ease there were distinct, tangible reason. W'3 know haw the herd Dodo af Mauri tius ebrdL Ne-rer agahs wilt he. wheaa oM mitch menagerie wars fed and sansr-d In Hsttand fairs, ore a met oat af oar soologirnl gardens. Ind Bred ob a hsaerr Islana ha the PacMc eceaa. Ue had iw enemira there- Km largKr bad threatened bias. That anevt hare heea for thaaUBto af rears moA aaore I The I tie etadua athipted theoaaereea ac (Coatyrixht. by ARvrt Soaalrhses.) f 1 p. average- Hiwanna mmtt nr I of the sea, sMoo-g In his sou L Therrfrrf. says the bandsman, too sullur its a brave bus; he is In truth the hravrst of am. tar he Goes dawn to the drep with a roUiesJag song aa his Hps and a tferfl-may-care gait that slKnlfy utter Indifference to the known ond unknown perils thut beset hlin on all eidca. Five years of experience at tiea lias loved lo me that the landsman has a vastfy exaggerated Idea of the snttor's bravery- SVhfe sen life does attract men who hava a natural disregard for personal danyrer, ft may safely be sahf that tho t) pleat sailor is a strange cortrradlcthm of reckless bravery and arrant eowar.ttve. Here la an Incident in point. It occurred aboard a. vessel tn which I made my first trl: to sea. We were sailing before a five-knot brveze through a tropical sea. For several da3 blf sharks, on the lookout for refuse, had Xj cording to natural law to the care-free life; they became enormously fat and lazy, their wrngs lost their power and at last itecame quite incapable of raising tho heavy Mrd from the ground. This si i rely waa bo seaillty." Tbta was Hannibal In Capaa. the reaott of a Ittxa Hous fife, that waa safe ao inmg aa the henutiful days cowtinoet!. and that eouM hare continued with then Ucroogh eter fifty. Mnt one day maa arrived on the Island of Mauri tins, lie appeared In the form of rhrtc-h sailors, hungjy as beara, n the days when man had not beenn to t revet In swift steamers) that carried ttaaed fondw. Man and dodo entered into emnpetitlna at once. Man wtehed to live aad the dodo wished to five ebon. Within a eetnry 150A-Tntt) the dedoa had heea eatea up systematically by the Hollanders. When the centorr ended the last dodo had gone the way of all Reeb. aad the species dodo, one of the most remarkable bird forms that ever lived Rig.btras pifreons as big ns iBrheys had ceased to he. A species had eipired. hot certainly not (mm age. Cmild the same thins; hare happened to tho k-hthyoeau-ue? We might set le arrival of aaaa on the stage into times so early that It would put his origin Into the tertiary period, yet even in the first third of that epoch, wherein the Ichthyosaurus la disappearing or has already disappeared, it Is impossible to find that man could have existed in a form that would hnve been dangerous to the huge, oceanic, rohher saurians. We, today, with united powers and with the Instruments of Industry, have not been able to exterminate the whale centuries after the "InventVm" rf the ship. So we must nsk: rfl the Ichthyosaurus bec.jme the vtctfm of a battle for ettonce with another monstrous onlmal of the ocean In the time when he had become bty and defenceless as n repult of thou sands of years of unchallenged mastery of the sea? There are some cartons facts ha watch the aoswer may Ire hidden. la the end of the serenlte Marsh found. In Jorasaac formatlona of North America, a genuine trhthyosaaroa which, strange ta say. waa entirety toothless. The gnats had neither teeth aor g,rooea ha which teeth could have been planted. The retnlottaa of the trc-bones Into ftns bad nreceeded to so extreme a stage fat thfit speermen that it was evident that a late, highly dtTt toped species bad been foand. S"ir& then traces of related ferms hare been found In RngUtrtd In the latest Jurassic foraatkms and in the chalk period. The Amerli.-as species was chrtstenrd Baptsnodca. What bad happened to this ichthyosaurus? Ichthyosaurus, the terrth'e armed robber, who had chewed strmortA Hahes snd stony citttte-lbdies with rese. ertdentry had "given np his whole dental apparatus in some pUces hite in his time. That mesas that ho had adapted himself to circumstances In such a manner that he had become as good ns helpless against any new, biting creature of the sea. Involuiitnrlly one Is reminded again of the whnlo and his relatives. The dolphin still has powerful teeth. T.ut the enormous Greenland whale, the extreme form of all whah-heasts, only hs "fringes" that give u's whalebone. Those frlng?:i evidently are very convenient for , him. With them he sieves the ocean for myrmds of little creatures which noirlnh him. What dnesi the eotoasas of the sos, need of teeth? Pbtnlr this whale proves by example that aaptalhra can te-vd to aa etieunntion of .he teeth. The herds lost thenv too; In the chalk anted thetr fcUTs rtiD were toothed: then came the toothless beak: the free life ha the ahr without competition. ill teeth oimecresary. It fc at parent that the trhthyoaaurlana aehirved ease in this manner In the end of the Jurasair periml. when there were no enenatea that detnanded battle. Aad yet with such resuncharJoai of their Is the Sailor a Brave Man or a Craven? been roikrwtng the ship. One morning a boy. painting over the etera. hist his hold and fell overbeard. All hands saw the ac ckleat. but it remained fur a young Eng Ilshnun to act. Brfure the cry had been raised he semrd a Of buTt and kaped over heard with rt- When the ship was hove to both men ntvre a mKe astern, and armMt an hous posseit before they wna picked up. Mvaia whfie the EngUahmna had reached the buy with tbe hfe bttt. fur tbe kuter could net swim. The EJigmtshmaa aha displayed great coolness ba beeping on" the sharks, remaiauag Quite Mill until they were chase, when ho frighten them off with a fear lively hick, for a shark at really a tbaud mature. But few asm have tha nraacaco of mind to think of thin when ba the water. Of course tbe man was made much of for has he roar act; to Wn awrboard tn shark-mfeaeed waters a a deed that ea eialty apueoJO to a ami aTa ailailialaia About n month afterwards we ran hato MM wsstkir, asm tnsnv man dark, night. m fighting- poweraf the Ichthansaurtans pro loinccd their own death sentence like the poor bird dodo. For the foes did arrive; with continuing development times altered, ani what had not been, developed Itself. 8o there arose the ooestion of nte or death death herns; the answer, of course, for the side that had become denuded of de fense through Its Ions; term of eaavful Incomplete aa our hnowledee aa. nutlini know at about the coining of Tertiary ttmo sometMRS decastve happened In the ocean. It was no mad catastrophe that choked uncounted winn of animal forms m steam or carbonic acid gas. It was snmethrne; that happened with the natural development of things. New hunters appesred tn the ocean hun ters that had not been there In sock form or might before. There waa Brst the family of sharks. It grew unexpectedly at that thne. T our imagination the shark stIU m the most hor rtbie creature of the sea. and with reason. Shark forma greater and more savage than "y now living surety meant for that ancient sea the gravest danger that could be hnar!ned far other living creatures. And In the beginning of Tertiary time sharks were developed that exceeded immeasurably anythfng known now. As a matter of fact, tbe rlm shark folk were very, very old. Long lfore the times of the Ichthyosaurlans they tumbled around In the ocean, Porhnps the higher verte brates once emerged from their ranks when certain sharklike animals achieved lungs and so gave the first opportunity for the development of the amphibian, from that to the reptile, the bird, the mammal. How that waa In detail la still hidden from us. At any rate, the sharks did not all develop into higher animals, but a great family of them retained Its characteristics and swam merrily through all earthly epochs Into the Tertiary one. And then, when the end of that epoch came. It was as if a particularly hot vitality shot through the tough, old race? Today, when that vlta'lty has long bn decaying again, there still remains a co lossus of twelve yards in length, the mam moth rhark Carcharadon. The teeth of thia Irving shark attain lengths of from two to two and one-uarter Inche But once there lived CareharadoB sharks whose teeth were almost six inches long and five laches thick. What could have withstood such assailants? Certainly no ichthyo saurus that had only remnants of teeth or entirely toothless Jaws. But ta addition to the sharks there ap peared with the beginning of Tertiary ,lme perhaps even In the last part of tho Cretaceous period. th whale-like swim ming mammals themselves. It is worth eonridering If the w ha fee, appearing so slznincajttty at the time of the disappear ance of the ichthyosaurus, did not really destroy It In the very early daya of their own existence. Although we do not knew anything about thoir ancestral tree, it U certain that tha whales did not begin with tooth less forms like our Greenland whale. Their first rt presentallves appear to have pos sessed the terrible, almost shark-like, teeth of certain dolphins, thut belong to the most dangerous creatures of tbe eca today. Our kl.lur whalo, or Orca, although gen erally only six yards long, succ:eJs with his ferocity and kcfn'tce.h In overcoming the Greenland whale?, twenty yards long, which has absolutely no enemies betide him except man. Such orcas, as large once as the Greenland whnlo Is now, must have been abie to si ty both Carth tradon shark and Ichthyosaurus. Added to their size and strength was the mammat train that gave Its posscFsor a further vast advant age over the weak organ of fijh and rep tlla. That the sea peopled with these giant Hharks and monster dolphins was an un canny home for all unarmored things at that time Is proved by certain, aioall, but Instructive, circumstances. Besides the ichthyosaurus a whole horde to-ountcrsd n stiff gale that made it neces sary to shorten sail rather suddenly. The lighter canvas was spevdily brought under control and farted, but by the .time this was dune the wind became so strong that all hands were called to far! a big tooartU. Even tho rook and the steward were obliged to go aloft with the rest of na, while the captain relieved the man at the wheel that he might afcM hetn with the suiL It was n tremendnua Job. far the heavy siH flapoed aad thundered over the Has of mem stretched Oct oa the frail spar, aaak-lng- the naast aa though cannon were bring daacharged from the dech. Finally, after an hour's struggle, the nail was tightly failed to the ynrd. nnd the men were jnsa nreporfaag to go down wheat the aaate. who had been supermtedrng tho Job. cried out: "Hold on. there, feDera, we've been one nana short! Has anybody gone overboard? Nobody bad been seen to faO. nrueaV bawled tbe mate, "name ant's has flag. Ton tallern stay up hern till I gs f swimming reptiles had begun to venture Into tli open ocetia In Triassle nnd Juras sic periods, fishing busily with his long neck, there swam the pleslosaurus, a funny animal of which it has been said graphic ally thai It resembled a turtle that sud denly had acquired the neck of a swan. But already in the chalk period we llnd the. ple8losauru3 retiring more and mora Into the mouths of the great ocean rivers. They were fleeing from something. Imagine a thin swan-neck In the Jaws of a giant shark. It would snap off like Htraw. These long-necks, then, first found good reason for flight It didn't help them, how ever. They disappeared with the Ichthy osaurus. Then there was the "paw" saurian. These "paw beasta," scientifically named teleo sauriarus, were crocodiles, swimming cheer fully In the open ocean In those days. And for these crocodiles, too. the seai had become haunted in the Cretaceous period. They, too, crowded to the river mouths and appeared more and more in fresh waters. They succeeded In their struggle, so that they remain to this day. The reason Is plain. They were not "paw beasts" for nothing. Never had they so far adapted themselves to the life In the ocean that they had changed their regular toed paws fcr flippers or fins. So they could escape to the la.nd. They were able to crawl over sand bars and swamps until they reached water again. And thus they were permitted to last through all the changes of things tilt Into those wondrous days of man, when In Kgypt and India humanity's blind groping for supernatural mysteries made those ancient comrades of ichthyosaurus and tele usaurus "holy." All Uiese pictures form one chain. The ichthyosaurus had made himself "comfortable." In many places, at teast, he had permitted his weapons to rust and degenerate. Then, suddenly, the ocean teemed with new, fierce adversaries. It was too late for a readaptatlon to the. land; too late even for acquiring fresh water habits. The very achievement of the ichthy osauruii, the magnificent fin-apparatus that liad made It so mighty through ages, be came the great obstacle to its continued existence. So came the end In the great drajra. Th "Hon" of the Jurassic sea vanished like a fat. stupid dodo btrd, conquered at last by those same laws of natural de velopment that had made him so great. If human eyes could have seen It they would have beheld the turning point of two periods. Shark and whale, still with us today, began their lordship of tho ocean. The crocodile went into the rivers and passed Into the heart of the warm parts of the earth. But Ichthyosaurus and plel3iosaurus passed as "unfit. In peaceful little corners of museums they sleep off their wild earth orgies to day, the last Ichthyosaurlans, no longer reckless swimmers In the ocean of pri meval worlds, but only quiet dreamers In the great blue ocean of human thought. As by enchantment fixed phantom-like In stone, the old, wonderful sea of Jurassic time lives there once more. The clean, orderly rooms, the shining glass cases, brightly colored paintings of restored pri meval, scenes, and outside of the windows the nodding green branches of the glad present that is the last station of a tre mendous pilgrimage. The monsters stare out of their kug eye sockets, with the young ones that failed to see the tight of tha world mil lions of years ago. And all bear placards with scientific names that man has given to them, man as master of earth not only today, but for all tho post master, too, of the lchthyosaairians in whose time he had not even begun to exist, and that yet be long to his "knowledge today as if he had been there when they began, conquered and died. That is the mightiest epic, the most won derful of tales; the epic of the Ichthyosaurus. down on deck snd And out who it is." Wha we came dosi the siate had found the shirker. It was the young Knglish man who had braved the sharks when the rest heattated. Had it been any other maa he would have been severely punished, but as It was, no one said a word nor even cist a reproach ful hint This the maa felt so keenly that when the port was reached he was obliged to be treated m a marine hospital for a nervous disorder. I met this man ashore seme years aft.sr ward. He waa on the rftta rranclseo police force, where be had secured employment,' for he never ventured to sea again. He voluntarily dtsrunaed hia case with me. Ha attributed hat cowardice tn the storm to heredity. He came of Italian stock prl aarily. and bis theory was that for cen tnrtes his sscestars had been used to the corjHpaarrveiy calm waters of the Mediter ranean, where ant of the sailing is dona m craft ao smaB that the sails can be bandied from am deck. The danger seamen
