102 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



along down slrcp.m, Still ! There was a rise, down where the 

 ■water taking a deep swirl under the overhanging rock forms a 

 handsome pool shallowing toward us to the shore. Wait a 

 minute, till he gets settled. Now ! Mv mate's flics tall, light 

 as snow flakes, right over the spot where the hungry fellow 

 broke. Jewrewsalem ! Three jump clear out of the water. 

 Mate is a little startled, and for an instant hi3 right hand for- 

 gets its cunning. He only hooks one, and that a light one, 

 which he lifts easily to hand. Tho other two were whoppers. 

 We draw carefully back out of sight and seat ourselves " sub 

 tegmine fagi." Mate declares he'll never give a big trout any 

 slack again, and lamenting hisluck, we while away a quarter of 

 an hour. This time we practice a little strategy. We divide 

 our forces. I give mate the post of honor— the attack in 

 front. I hobble a circuit, and, approaching above, take po- 

 sition to charge the rear. 



One 1 The casting lines are tossed from the thumb and 

 finger of the left hand ; up goes the tip with a jerk, and ten 

 yards out behind go the flies. Two ! Forward, out over the 

 pool a yard above it they go, and, slightly recoiling, fall upon 

 the water side by side like insects wearied with a Tong flight. 

 The inonarchs of the pool cannot endure that. Splash, plash, 

 how the water flies and foams. We have them both. No 

 slack this time ; and, after a long labor of love, we lay them 

 in our creels. Starry and mottled sides, scarlet fins and rose- 

 pink bellies ; one pound four and one pound six. 



Again w r e move gently down the stream. There the caprici- 

 ous brook sheers to the left and eats in under an alder-shaded 

 bank, bound and kept in place by the interlaced roots. A 

 dark, deep pool, and half over-reached by the branches droop- 

 ing into the water, there is an open space like an arch beneath; 

 but no skill of casting avails to enter it. How? There is a 

 slight current. I hook the stretcher into a small piece of dry 

 bark, place it carefully in the water some yards above, follow 

 it. giving line, and it floats slowly down through the leafy 

 arch to the lower end of the pool. Wait a second. Just a 

 shake of the rod and the stretcher is free of the bark. The 

 gay deceivers move up stream agitated by a scarce visible 

 tremor of the rod, the dropper dabbing and dancing as it 

 goes. The stretcher is just emerging from the green arch. 

 "A water haul," says mate, "I guess you— thunder !" as a 

 monster breaks like a sperm whale— only with a motion 

 quicker — and gobbles the stretcher. The good line twangs 

 like -a fiddle string as the rod comes to its work. But if he 

 gets down among those roots alt is lost, and he is too heavy 

 and too ugly for a main pull. O, St. Izaak ! we vow a great 

 chub to thy altar, if everything holds for the space of seven 

 wiggles of a trout's propeller! 



In that time, forgetful of neuralgia and rheumatism, I leap 

 in and stride to the opposite bank, keeping a tight rein. 

 Then, risking the last fibre upon the strain, I succeed in per- 

 suading the contestant up stream far enough to clear the 

 drooping branches and bring him outside. Here is room and 

 verge enough, and here, after a brave struggle, the gallant fel- 

 low surrenders, and floats unresistingly to hand. Killed he 

 weighs by the pocket spring one pound fifteen ounces. We 

 couldn't make him bring down the other ounce, without bal- 

 lasting him with pebbles, as I once knew an ambitious fisher- 

 man to do with a huge lake salmon. 



TJgh! how these muscles twinge and these old joints grate 

 as I wade carefully back and mate helps me up the bank. 



Upon taking an observation we perceive the clouds have 

 been gathering, and in a moment come a few drops of rain. 

 Below us begins a long ripple, ending in a dark-looking pool 

 seven or eight rods long and two or three wide. It is embow- 

 ered with high, o'er-arching birches, and on the farther side, 

 toward which the current inclines, the bottom is rough with 

 large stones, and from the bank projects a half sunken tree 

 top. 



" Now, mate, while the clouds favor and the frequeut drops 

 ripple the surface, cast your flies and your fortunes upon that 

 pool. Hold! what have you ?" "Auld Johnny's l grizz1ey 

 king' for a stretcher, then the 'poor man's fly' and the 

 1 dark fox ' for a dropper. " 



"All right." I sit down and have the envious pleasure of 

 seeing mate take a pair of half-pounders from the head of 

 the pool. Another and another and another cast, lower and 

 lower down, then over by the tree tops. "There she blows I 

 clear out of (he water and looking a cloth-yard long." By 

 the eyes of our dame lie hath nooked him ! "Room enough 

 — give him line but no slack." Mate and monster ha%e It, 

 forward and back, cross over, ebasse down, outside and up 

 the middle, till mate's partner wearies and is handed to a 

 gr&ggy seat. Sure as you live he weighed— the trout did — 

 two pounds and seventeen— no, seven ounces. That beats 

 me and mate is "high hook." What a beauty! — the trout, 

 not mate. By the way I never knew a very handsome man 

 to be a good trout fisher, always excepting the present com- 

 pany, and, perhaps, old Dr. Bethune of blessed memory. 



Then we discovered that it was 8 p. m. and raiuing. Tak- 

 ing shelter under the leaning trunk and wide leaves of a great 

 basswood — " writer den linden "—we spread our humble scrip, 

 and made a late but delicious dinner. There, while the warm 

 show T er passed over us, were reviewed our exploits of the day 

 and of oi her days, discussed the merits and defects of rod and 

 line and flies, forgot the vexations of the world, and were 

 happy. 



The rain ceases, the sun blazes out in the West, and the 

 bow of promise springs its seven-hued arch from one hill-top 

 to the other, far to our left, as it were a great bridge spanning 

 the gulf between. The gra?s shows a fresher green, the air 

 is pure and exhilarating. The ephemeras again hover over 

 the stream, and under the dripping birches the small fry are 

 leaping in the pool before us. 



"Mate, you are young (he's only about fifty) and a poet 

 withal. Does not this scene of beauty inspire you? Give 

 us an wqiri'iy'Mitlo/i." 



"'Tis pretty," says he. "Nature looks as if she had just 

 washed her face and combed her hair." Throwing back his 

 head he spouted : 



" The rainbow tn the morning 

 'S the sailor's warning ; 

 The rainbow at night 

 'S the sailor's delight." 



Tickler said to the shepherd? S. ys he: 'James, never 

 make verses when you can catch trout with a fly.' " Saving 

 which, mate strode toward the pool. But the flies fell' not 

 with the grace and softness which mark the "casts" of the 

 adept, but wilh a heavy splash as if delivered from tho blow 

 of a whip. The result— nothing. It may have been that the 

 trout's "pertikler vanity" wasn't any fly on that line, or it 

 may have been— as I am inclined to believe after all— that he 

 had resolved not. to rise. Mate casts along down the pool and 

 lifts to hand a dozen small fry to fill the chinks iu his creel. 

 Returning, he tries for the sole monarch again, but repeated 

 casts fail to entice him. 



"Come, mate, we have enough; let's go. You forget 

 we've twenty miles to drive. Come again some warm even- 

 ing at dusk, string out the ' Seth Green,* the 'Quaker' and 

 the 'Red Fox,' and you'll raise him the first throw." 



And thereby hangs a tale. H. 



INTRODUCTION AND SUCCESSION OF 

 VERTEBRATE LIFE IN AMERICA.* 



By 0. C. Maesh. 



PEESIDENT OF THE BIOLOGICAL SECTION OF THE AMERICAN 

 ASSOCIATION. 



" Seems to me I've heard that before." "Seems to me I 

 have too. I'll give you something new : 



" The sailor's warning 

 '8 the rainbow in the morning; 

 The sailor's delight 

 'S the rainbow at u— '' 



Whutter r-r! plung g ! and a great boilingedely goescirchng 

 away from just outside the old tree-top. The young dog fin- 

 ished his new stanza with a " Whoop-la," as he" sprang to his 

 feet and clenched his rod. 



"Hold on, male, I hoped to hear from you a real burst of 

 poetic feeling." "Hang it. 1 it's all butsted now, And don't 

 you know expression destroys feeling? A'O; let us enjoy it 

 in expressive silence. And don't ybu remember what Mr. 



Second Papep. 



REPTILES and Birds form the next great division of ver- 

 tebrates, the Sauropsida, and of these the Reptiles are 

 the older type, and may be first considered. While it may 

 be stated with certainty that there is at present no evidence of 

 the existence of this group in American rocks older than the 

 Carboniferous, there is some doubt in regard to their appear- 

 ance even in this period. Various fool-prints which strongly 

 resemble those made by Lizards ; a few well preserved remains 

 similar to the corresponding bones in that group ; and a few 

 characteristic specimens, nearly identical with those from 

 another order of this class, are known from American Coal 

 Measures. These facts, and some othgrs which point in the 

 same direction, render it probable that we may soon have con- 

 clusive evidence of the presence of true Reptiles in this for- 

 mation, and in our over-lying Permian, which is essentially 

 a part of the same series. In the Permian rocks of Europe, 

 true Reptiles have been found. 



The Mesozoic Period has been called the Age of Reptiles, 

 and during its continuance some of the strangest forms of rep- 

 tilian life made their appearance, and became extinct. Near 

 its commencement, while the Triassic shales and sandstones 

 were being deposited, true reptiles were abundant. Among 

 the most characteristic remains discovered are those of the 

 genus Befodon, which is well known also in t he Trias of Europe. 

 It belongs to the Thecodont division of Reptiles, which have 

 teeth in distinct sockets, and its nearest affinities are with the 

 CrocodUia,of which order it may be consideredthe oldest known 

 representative. In the same strata in which the Belodonts 

 occur, remains of Dinosaurs are found, and it is a most inter- 

 esting fact that these highest of reptiles should make their ap- 

 pearance, even in a generalized form, at this stage of the 

 earth's history. The Dinosaurs, although true reptiles in all 

 their more important characters,. show certain well marked 

 points of resemblauce to existing birds of the order Balitin, a 

 group which mcludes the Ostriches ; and it is not improbable 

 that they were the parent stock from which birds originated. 

 During Triassic time, the Dinosaurs attained in America an 

 enormous development both in variety of forms and in size. 

 Although comparatively few of their bones have as yet. been 

 discovered in the rocks of this country, they have left unmis- 

 lakable evidence of their presence in the foot-prints and other 

 impressions on the shores of the waters which they frequented. 

 The Triassic sandstone of the Connecticut Yalleyhas long been 

 famous for its fossil foot-prints, especially the so-called "bird- 

 tracks," which are generally supposed to have been made by 

 birds, the tracks of which many of them closely resemble. A 

 careful investigation, however, of nearly all the specimens yet 

 discovered, has convinced me that there is not a parti#lc of 

 evidence that any of these fossil impresdons were made by 

 birds. Most of these three-toed tracks were certainly not made 

 by birds ; but by quadrupeds, which usually walked upon their 

 hind feet alone, and only occasionally put to the ground their 

 smaller anterior extremities. I have myself detected the im- 

 pressions of these anterior limbs in connection with the pos- 

 terior foot-prints of nearly all of the supposed " bird-tracks " 

 described, and have little doubt that they will eventually be 

 fotmdwith all. These double impressions are precisely the 

 kind which Dinosaurian reptiles would make, and as the only 

 characteristic bones yet found in the same rocks belong to 

 animals of this group, it is but fair to attribute ail these foot- 

 prints to Dinosaurs, even where no impressions of fore-feet 

 have been detected, until some evidence appears that tbey 

 were made by Birds. I have no doubt that Birds existed at 

 this time, although at present the proof is wanting. 



The principal genera of Triassic Reptiles known from os- 

 seous remains in this country are, AmpJiuaurus (Megada-ctylus), 

 from the Connecticut Valhy, Batfiygnutlius, from Prince Eel- 

 ward's Island, Belodon and (Aepsysawus. Other generic names 

 which have been applied to foot-prints and to fragmentary re- 

 mains.need not be here enumerated. A few remains of Reptiles 

 have been found in undoubted Jurassic rocks of America, but 

 they are not sufficiently well determined to be of service in this 

 connection. Others have been reported from supposed Jurassic 

 strata, which are now known to be Cretaceous. It will thus be 

 seen that, although reptilian life was especiallv abundant dur- 

 ing the Triassic and Jurassic periods, but few bones have been 

 found. This is owing in part to bjie character of most of the 

 rocks then formed, which were not well fitted for preserving 

 such remains, although admirably adapted to retain foot- 

 prints. 



During the Cretaceous Period, Reptilian life in America 

 attained its greatest development, and the sediments laid down 



* Delivered before the American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, at KashVllle, Teun., Ang3t, 1857, 



in the open seas and estuaries were usually most f;i ■ 



the preservation of a faithful record of its vare 



Without such a perfect matrix as some of these dep. t 



many of the most interesting vertebrates recently 



light from this formation would probably have n i 



known. The vast extent of these beds insures, moreover! 



many future discoveries of interest. 



In the lowest Cretaceous strata of the Rocky Mountain 

 region, the Dakota group, part of which at least 

 the Wealden of Europe, remains of Ghebnia, or Turtles Croc 

 odiles, and Dinosaurs occur, the last being especially' gM 

 daut. The Ohelonia, although known from the JurasdSH 

 Europe, here appear for the first time in American rocks 

 Some of the earliest forms are allied to the modem genue 

 Trfonyx. In the higher Cretaceous beds, some Chelonians oj 

 eno mous size have been found. They belong to the genu 

 Ml ntoe.hdys, which has the ribs separate, as in the existing 

 tiphargis, and presents other embryonic characters. A few 

 genera appear to be related to the modern genus Ghelone The 

 remaining Cretaceous species were mostly of the EmyfflH 

 type. ; and others were related to Glulydra. The more ire. 

 portant geneia of Cretaceous Chelonians known from charac- 

 teristic specimens are AUantockelys (Protoskga), AdtcmJgM 

 rernys, Gompsemys, Plastomenus, Oste&pygis, Propkura, Luto- 

 lomd, and l'aphrosphys. Most of these genera were represent- 

 ed by several species, and the individuals were numerous 

 No land Tortoises have as yet been found in this formation.' 

 In American Tertiary deposits, Chelonians are abundant' 

 especially in the fresh-water beds. Thev all show near affinj! 

 ties with modern types, and most of them can be referred lo 

 existing genera. In the Tertiary lake-basins of the West 

 land Tortoises are very numerous, and with them are man? 

 fresh-water forms of THonyx and allied genera. 



A striking feature of the American Cretaceous fauna, R8 

 contrasted with that of Europe, is the almost entire absence 

 in our strata of species of Idhyoiaurvs and Ple^wsan, 

 abound in many other regions, but here seem to be replaced 

 by the Mosasaurs. A few fragmentary remains have iudee: 

 been referred to these genera, but the determination may fairly 

 l»e questioned. This is more than true of the proposed new 

 order Str(pt>ixt.nm'a, which was founded wholly on error. The 

 order Plmomuria, however, is well represented, but mainlSI 

 by lorms more nearly related to the genus Pliosaurvx than to 

 the type of the group. These were marine reptiles, all c« 

 large size, while some of them attained vast dimensions So 

 far as at present identified, they may be referred to the genera 

 CiriHiUomwrtii, Bkimaarm 0la$mosaitru&), and Pliosaurusl 

 The number of tpeeies is comparatively few, and none are 

 known above the Cretaceous. The important suggestion of 

 Cegenbaur, that the EaUmuria, which include the Plesiosaurs, 

 blanched off from the Fishes, before the Amphibians, finds 

 some support in American specimens recently discovered. 



The Reptilesmost characteristic of our American Cretaceous 

 strata are Momsauria, a group with very few representatraH 

 in other parts of the world. In our Cretaceous seas, they ruled 

 supreme, as their numbers, size, and c: raiverous habits, enabled 

 them to easily vanquish all rivals. Some were at least sixty 

 feet in length, and the smallest ten or twelve. In the inland 

 Cretaceous sea from which the Rockv Mountains were henin. 

 mng to emerge, these ancient " Sea Serpents" abounded ; and 

 many wcreentombed in its muddy bottom. Cn one occasion, 

 as I rode through a valley washed out of this old ocean bed 1 

 saw no less than sev. n different skeletons of these monsters in 

 sight at once. The Mosasaurs were essenthdlv shimming Liz4 

 ards, with four well developed paddles.and they have hale af- 

 finity with modern serpents, to which they had been compa- 

 ed. The species are quite numerous, but they belong to com- 

 paratively few g. neta, of ^hichMommtir >/.-,, 7V 

 toxaurv-v and BdM»mvnt.x, have alone been identified with 

 certainty. Tho genua Mbmsamus was first found in Europe. 

 AlUhe known species of the group are Civtaceous. 



The Crocodiila are abundant in rocks of Cretaceous age in 

 Ami riea, and two distinct types arc represented. The oldffl^ 

 type, which is foreshadowed by Belodon of the Triiis, bus bi- 

 concave vertebra, and shows marked affinities with the genua 

 Tekmntriu, from the Jura of Europe. The best known 

 genua is Hppowwrw, of which there are several species, all 

 more or less resembling ia form the modern Gavial of the 

 Ganges. A peculiar intermediate form is seen in Dipfoxa-uru*. 

 from the Wealden of the Rocky Mountains. The second typajl 

 which now makes its appearance for the as prr> 



cceliau veitebra?. and uiotlie: Jingt , 



odiles. The genera described are Boltomwru.% H>- 

 raeosailrUs, none of which, so far as known, pass above the 

 Cretaceous. Of QroCod ttiaw it h opisthoeccloiis'vei 

 ica, so far as we know, has none. Specimens similar to those 

 so termed in Europe are not uncommon here, but thev per- 

 tain to Dinosaurs. In the Eocene fresh-water beds of the 

 West, Crooodilians are especially abundant, and all, with the 

 exception of Irnmosmirus, belong apparently to 'the genus 

 Grocodilus, although some species show certain points of re- 

 semblance lo existing Alligators. The .Miocene lake-basins of 

 the same region contain no remains of Crocodiles, so far as 

 known, and the Pliocene deposits have afforded only a single 

 species. The Tertiary marine beds of the Atlantic Coast 

 contain comparatively few Crocodilian remains, and all arc 

 of modern types ; the genus Gavialus having one Eocene 

 species, and the Alligator being represented only in the lat- 

 est deposits. 



It is worthy of special mention in this connection, that no 

 true Lawtilia, or Lizards, and no Ophidia, ca- Serpents, base 

 yet been detected in American Cretaceous beds ; although 

 their remains, if present, would hardly have escaped observa- 

 tion in the regions explored. The former will doubtless be 

 found, as several species occur in in the Mesozoic of Europe ; 

 and perhaps the latter, although the Ophidians are apparently 

 a more modern type. In the Eocene lake-basins of West- 

 ern America, remains of Lizards are very numerous, and indi- 

 cate species much larger than any existing to-day. Some of 

 these, the GlypU/saurnfre, were protected by a highly orna- 

 mented bony coat of mail, and others were covered with scales 

 like recent Lizards. A few resembled, in their more important 

 characters, the modern Iguana. The genera best represented in 

 the Eocene, are, Glyptosawrus, Iguanwms, Ore^eavrus, Thin- 

 osmmis. Tinomuru* and Sanima, Some of these genera ap- 

 pear to have continued into the Miocene, but here, as wed as 

 in the Pliocene, few remains of this group have been found. 

 it is not improbable that some of our extinct reptiles may 

 prove to belong to Rynchocephala, but at present this is un- 

 certain. The genus j\'otomtiru*, from Brazil, has biconcave 

 vertebra?, and some other characters which point to that 

 group. No Dicynodonts or Theriodouts have as yet been found 

 in this country! 



The first American Serpents, so far as now known, a; 

 in the Eocene, which con' uins also the of lest Etiroppan apt 

 On the Atlantic border, the genus Titatwi>Mi [Binoplu 

 represented by several speei thirty 



feet in length, and all doubtless inhabitants ■ if t be sea. 1 



