TIME SPENT (PALEONTOLOGY) 



477 



The Pleistocene period, in which modern man finally made his 

 appearance, and which probably does not include more than 50,000 

 or 100,000 years, is such an insignificant fragment of the whole that 

 it is scarcely worth while to attempt to include it in a percentage 

 column of known time. 



Kinds of Fossils 



A fossil is an indication of past life, not of recent past life but of 

 something that lived so long ago that ordinarily it would be forgotten 

 and disregarded entirely, except for the interest of the curious inquir- 

 ing paleontologist. 



Fossils are of many kinds. They may be the actual remains of 

 organisms preserved indefinitely from decay, as, for example, mixed-up 

 bones of struggling animals caught in the ancient asphalt pits at 

 Rancho La Brea in California ; insects imprisoned in transparent 



Courtesy of Los Anueles Mixscum 



Skulls and bones of bison, horse, and dire wolf are recognizable in this mass of 

 fossil bones ready for removal from one of the tar pits at Rancho La Brea, 

 California. 



