Animals Before Man 



while the older toothed forms were unlike any- 

 thing now living, the few Eocene birds that we 

 really know are without teeth, and practically 

 the same as those of to-day. 



Such was life around the inland lakes. 

 In the waters along the southern coast of our 

 continent prowled the hugest of sharks, Car- 

 charodon megalodon, the specific name, great- 

 toothed, referring to the size of the teeth, which 



are sometimes 



.1 



as large as a 

 man's hand. 

 This monster 

 must have 

 reached a length 

 of 70 feet, and 

 not impossibly 

 100, while the 

 jaws were not 

 less than 5 or 

 6 feet across. 

 Associated with this shark was a creature 

 known from the shape of its teeth as Zeuglo- 

 don, yoke-tooth, an animal very far from being 



234 



A tooth of the great Eocene shark Car- 

 charodon megalodon. The smaller 

 outline is a tooth of the living white 

 shark drawn to the same scale. 



