RULERS OF THE ANCIENT SEAS 43 



bulk of creature, the longest known, measuring from 

 fifteen to eighteen inches in length, and weighing in a 

 fossil condition fifty to sixty pounds. In life, the ani- 

 mal was from fifty to seventy feet in length, and not 

 more than six or eight feet through the deepest part of 

 the body, while the tail was much less; the head was 

 small and pointed, the jaws well armed with grasping 

 and cutting teeth, and just back of the head was a pair 

 of short paddles, not unlike those of a fur seal. It is 

 curious to speculate on the habits of a creature in which 

 the tail so obviously wagged the dog and whose articula- 

 tions all point to great freedom of movement up and 

 down. This may mean that it was an active diver, 

 descending to great depths to prey upon squid, as the 

 Sperm- Whale does to-day, while it seems quite certain 

 that it must have reared at least a third of its great 

 length out of water to take a comprehensive view of its 

 surroundings. And if size is any indication of power, 

 the great tail, which obviously ended in flukes like those 

 of a whale, must have been capable of propelling the 

 beast at a speed of twenty or thirty miles an hour. 

 Something of the kind must have been needed in order 

 that the small head might provide food enough for the 

 great tail, and it has been suggested that inability to do 

 this was the reason why Zeuglodon became extinct. 

 On the other hand, it has been ingeniously argued that 

 the huge tail served to store up fat when food was 

 plenty, which was drawn upon when food became scarce. 

 The fur seals do something similar to this, for the males 

 come on shore in May rolling in blubber, and depart in 

 September lean and hungry after a three months' fast. 

 Zeuglodons must have been very numerous in the old 

 Gulf of Mexico, for bones are found abundantly through 

 portions of our Southern States ; it was also an inhabit- 

 ant of the old seas of southern Europe, but, as we shall 



