The Los Angeles Basin 279 



moved for commercial uses. A tooth was discovered in the 

 year 1875, and this led to exploration and search for other 

 remains. Beds of skulls, teeth, and bones were exhumed, pre- 

 served by the asphaltum in which they had been buried. 

 Trunks of trees, many fragments of wood, and even leaves and 

 seeds of plants have been so perfectly preserved that the minute 

 tissues could be studied. 



Animals Trapped in Tar 



It is noteworthy that so many species of carnivorous ani- 

 mals have been recovered, which suggests that predaceous 

 animals were attracted to these pools in search of prey that had 

 been entrapped and mired in the pools. Specimens of skulls 

 and other bones of large cats, bears, wolves, and other flesh- 

 eating animals that are now extinct have been recovered, and 

 from these it has been possible to restore the complete skeletons 

 of these animals. Remains also of huge mastodons, mammoths, 

 elephants, camels, and deer have been recovered, showing that 

 these animals, many of which no longer roam the earth, lived 

 in Pleistocene time on what is now the plain of the basin of Los 

 Angeles. Restored skeletons of some of these animals are 

 shown in accompanying figures. 



Let the imagination dwell upon the menagerie of wild ani- 

 mals that once roamed the Los Angeles plain. The 3 -ring cir- 

 cus, with trained elephants, camels, trained tigers, zebras, and 

 monkeys, with the adjoining caravan of jungle beasts, seems 

 insignificant by comparison! 



The climate may not have been much different from now. 

 Perhaps there was somewhat more rainfall. Anyway vegeta- 

 tion evidently abounded upon which such monstrous beasts 

 as the mastodon, mammoth, elephant and camel subsisted. 

 Whether there was unusual food about the oil pools is not 

 known, but apparently plant-eating animals frequented the 

 pools and unfortunately for them it seems for they became 

 mired in the pools where they became (supposedly) easy prey 



