TITANOTHERES AND OTHERS 107 



wandered by the thousands over the plains of 

 Oregon and as far east as the lake region of South 

 Dakota, where once reigned the Titanotheres. If 

 all the animals then living, hideous though they were, 

 had entered a beauty contest, the Elotherium would 

 have stood a good chance of winning the booby 

 prize. 



Animals something like the living camel and 

 llama were in America in those days, strange though 

 it seems to us now. And fiercest among the flesh 

 eaters were the saber-toothed cats, some of which 

 were as large as tigers and had canine teeth seven 

 inches long. Many a time must they have crouched 

 in the shadows, their treacherous eyes gleaming as 

 they waited to pounce on their prey. For they were 

 all vicious and ever on the watch to kill. Then, 

 also, there was a rhinoceros, but it was not much 

 like the rhinoceros of our time. Skeletons of these 

 creatures have been found by the thousands in 

 Kansas, and so grouped as to show that hundreds 

 died together as the result of some terrible disaster. 

 And, living as neighbor to all these big animals, was 

 the ancestor of the horse, which had gained in size 



