Animals Before JI( 



an 



fins that were a combination of saw and saber. 

 These fins were about 2^ feet long, gently 

 curved, notched like a saw on the under side, 

 and attached to the shoulder by an unusually 

 strong joint. Did this fish dasli in among a 

 school of smaller fishes, striking, maiming, and 

 killing with strokes of its wicked-looking fins ? 

 It seems very probable ; but that is really about 

 all that can be said, for we have no similarly 

 armed living fish to guide us. It was some 

 time after the discovery of this fish before an 

 entire fin was found, and the portions discov- 

 ered were so different that the fish received 

 two names, based on different parts of one fin. 



The real king among fishes — and a tyrant he 

 must have been — was a far-off relative of that 

 modern " silver king," the tarpon, so dear to 

 the angler's heart. Xiphactiniis audax,^ as this 

 is called, is found abundantly in the Kansas 

 chalk, and occurs also in Texas. It reached a 

 length of 10, 12, or even 20 feet, and the great 

 forked tail by which he was propelled is from 



* The bold, sword-rayed (fish), in allusion to the large, powerful 

 curved rays of the front fins. 



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