EIGHT MILLION YEARS OLD.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 35, 10 February 1906, Page 2

EIGHT MILLION YEARS OLD.

;..; > A fossilised monster discovered in Montana has been declared by Professor Henry Osbdrn and Dr Brown, of th-3 American Museum of Natural Hi&tory, to be the" Tyrannosaurus tiger. When it roamed ltx prehistoric ''jjingle eight million years'ago (says fc&e N.ew York correspondent of the " Daely^Exp'ress-") "this- gigantic beast ■-weighed about thirty tons. Its foot covered an area of about tAvelve square feet, but it was built for agility as Ayell as strength, being shaped like the foot qf a bird, Avith Three enormous toes in front and one extending backAvard. Each section of the gigantic backbone Avas ten inches in diameter, the highbone A\-as six feet long, and the beast probably measured forty 'feet from head to tail-tip. Contrary to the general rule Avitlr prehistoric animals, the Tyrannosaurus Avas admirably constructed to AV-alk or fight erect on his hind legs, the fore-legs, or paws, being used to defend himself, AA'hile most ot his attacking and rending AA'as done Avith his teeth. The teeth were, and still are, rauor-edged. The jaAvbone measures between three and four feet, and many of the teetli are a foot long. " Never "before in the history of the Avcrld, as Aye knoAv it," says Professor Osborn, "have there been such remarkable land scenes as AA-ere presented during the reign of the Tyrannosaurus —king of all the animal kingdom. Imagine herds of these enormous creatures, from thirty to eighty feet long, roving the earth and terrifying even the hnfer dinosaurs! Tlie extinction of the dinosaur dynasty is believed to have been simultaneous the earth over, this explanation being deduced from similar catastrophes to other large types of animals. When an animal of such huge bulk, Ayith a limited and specialised set of teeth fitted only tp * certain sort of food, is subjected to foreign conditions it at once becomes impossible for him to exist." ________