TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reading edition
INTRODUCTORY AND EXPLANATORY
Use of scientific names,xvi; estimates of age of earth,xvii; restorations by Mr. Knight,xviii; Works of Reference,xix.
I. FOSSILS, AND HOW THEY ARE FORMED
Definition of fossils,1; fossils may be indications of animals or plants, 2; casts and impressions,3; why fossils are not more abundant,4; conditions under which fossils are formed,5; enemies of bones,6; Dinosaurs engulfed in quicksand,8; formation of fossils,9; petrified bodies frauds,10; natural casts,10; leaves,13; incrustations,14; destruction of fossils, 15; references,17.
II. THE EARLIEST KNOWN VERTEBRATES
Methods of interrogating Nature,18; thickness of sedimentary rocks,20; earliest traces of life,21; early vertebrates difficult of preservation,22; armored fishes,23; abundance of early fishes,25; destruction of fish,26; carboniferous sharks,29; known mostly from teeth and spines,30; references, 32.
III. IMPRESSIONS OF THE PAST
Records of extinct animals,33; earliest traces of animal life, 34; formation of tracks,35; tracks in all strata,36; discovery of tracks,37; tracks of Dinosaurs,39; species named from tracks,41; footprints aid in determining attitude of animals, 43; tracks at Carson City,45; references,47.
IV. RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS
The Mosasaurs,49; history of the first known Mosasaur,50; jaws of reptiles,53; extinction of Mosasaurs,55; the sea-serpent, 56; Zeuglodon,58; its habits,59; Koch's Hydrarchus, 61; bones collected by Mr. Schuchert,63; abundance of sharks,64; the great Carcharodon,65; arrangement of sharks' teeth,67; references,68.
V. BIRDS OF OLD
Earliest birds,70; wings,71; study of young animals,73; the curious Hoactzin,74; first intimation of birds,76; Archæopteryx, 77; birds with teeth,78; cretaceous birds,79; Hesperornis, 80; loss of power of flight,81; covering of Hesperornis, 82; attitude of Hesperornis,83; curious position of legs,84; toothed birds disappointing,85; early development of birds,86; eggs of early birds,87; references,88.
VI. THE DINOSAURS
Discovery of Dinosaur remains,90; nearest relatives of Dinosaurs, 91; relation of birds to reptiles,92; brain of Dinosaurs, 93; parallel between Dinosaurs and Marsupials,95; the great Brontosaurus,96; food of Dinosaurs,97; habits of Diplodocus,99; the strange Australian Moloch,100; combats of Triceratops,101; skeleton of Triceratops,102; Thespesius and his kin,104; the carnivorous Ceratosaurus,106; Stegosaurus, the plated lizard,106; preferences,109.
VII. READING THE RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS
Fossils regarded as sports of nature,111; qualifications of a successful collector,112; chances of collecting,114; excavation of fossils,115; strengthening fossils for shipment,117; great size of some specimens,118; the preparation of fossils, 119; mistakes of anatomists,120; reconstruction of Triceratops,121; distinguishing characters of bones,122; the skeleton a problem in mechanics,124; clothing the bones with flesh,127; the covering of animals,127; outside ornamentation, 129; probabilities in the covering of animals,130; impressions of extinct animals,131; mistaken inferences from bones of Mammoth,133; coloring of large land animals, 134; color markings of young animals,136; references,137.
VIII. FEATHERED GIANTS
Legend of the Moa,139; our knowledge of the Moas,141; some Moas wingless,142; deposits of Moa bones,143; legend of the Roc,144; discovery of Æpyornis,145; large-sounding names,146; eggs of great birds,147; the Patagonian Phororhacos,149; the huge Brontornis,150; development of giant birds,153; distribution of flightless birds,154; relation between flightlessness and size,156; references,156.
IX. THE ANCESTRY OF THE HORSE
North America in the Eocene age,160; appearance of early horses,163; early domestication of the horse,165; the toes of horses,166; Miocene horses small,167; evidence of genealogy of the horse,170; meaning of abnormalities,170; changes in the climate and animals of the West,174; references, 176.
X. THE MAMMOTH
The story of the killing of the Mammoth,177; derivation of the word "mammoth,"178; mistaken ideas as to size of the Mammoth,179; size of Mammoth and modern elephants, 180; finding of an entire Mammoth,182; birthplace of the Mammoth,184; beliefs concerning its bones,185; the range of the animal,186; theories concerning the extinction of the Mammoth,188; Man and Mammoth,189; origin of the Alaskan Live Mammoth Story,190; traits of the Innuits, 192; an entire Mammoth recently found,194; references, 195.
XI. THE MASTODON
Differences between Mastodon and Mammoth,198; affinities of the Mastodon,200; vestigial structures,201; distribution of American Mastodon,203; first noticed in North America, 204; thought to be carnivorous,206; Koch's Missourium, 208; former abundance of Mastodons,209; appearance of the animal,210; its size,211; was man contemporary with Mastodon?213; the Lenape stone,215; legend of the big buffalo,216; references,218.
XII. WHY DO ANIMALS BECOME EXTINCT?
Extinction sometimes evolution,221; over-specialization as a cause for extinction,222; extinction sometimes unaccountable, 223; man's capability for harm small in the past,224; old theories of great convulsions,226; changes in nature slow, 227; the case of Lingula,228; local extermination,229; the Moas and the Great Auk,232; the case of large animals, 233; inter-dependence of living beings,234; coyotes and fruit,236; Shaler on the Miocene flora of Europe,236; man's desire for knowledge,238.
Index,243