FOSSIL MAMMALS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 64, 27 December 1935, Page 8

FOSSIL MAMMALS.

FILLING A GAP IN TIME. A collection of 1500 fossil mammals from Sweetgrass County, Montana, which are said to supply the missing link in time 'sequence between classes of early animals, and which may cast “fight in tracing the ancestry of man,” has just been brought back by Dr. George Gaylord Simpson, assistant curator of palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History in Nei\ York, says the “Christian Science Monitor.” They are typical of a period 50,000,000 years ago. The expedition was carried on during the last four months by Dr. Simpson, and with the aid of Albert C. foilberlinsi, a Montana ranchman, who found the location of the fossils in 1908. Since then the late Dr. James W. Gidley, of Washington, D.C., obtained specimens which were placed on view in the National Museum but the result of the recent expedition is a collection “much larger than any in the world,” it was declared. “From the point of view of scientific study, it means a discovery of a crucial point in time sequence, as well as of superior specimens,” Dr. Simpson told reporters. “It provides a link between the insectivores, of which the hedgehog is an example, and the primates, including apes, monkeys, and lemurs.” Dr. Simpson hesitated when it came to announcing conclusions, but emphasised that this discovery of mammal relationships is “crucially important,’' and one that casts light on all otliei groups of animals, with the possibility of .revealing whether the ancestry of man traces back to North America or to Africa. Included in the specimens are about 650 jaws and skulls, be said, > explaining that the teeth are the best sources of historic explanation. Asked whether he had obtained enough pieces to reconstruct an entire animal, be replied in the negative, but added that he would probably be able to reconstruct the head of one. It will take two years to prepare alle the material,, but a. few of the best specimens will bit placed on exhibit at the museum soon}. The primates were found in what is “far and away the richest spot for animals of this age,” Dr. Simpson added. “It is one of the largest beds of the Gidley quarry, extending for about Isof’t in length and from 10ft to 20ft in width. The section was at that time a swampy place. Dr. Simpson told of opening a second quarry about fifteen miles away from the Gidley. It has been named the Scarritt Quarry, after H. S. Scarritt, of New York, who financed the expedition.