FOREST AND STREAM. 



103 



umdant, 



ol 1 these were related 



Jto the. modem Boa Constrictors. The genera described are 



■fill's nn d I, im unpins The Miocene and Pliocene 

 11 are kndwn only from a few frag- 



(mentaiy remains 

 atria, or flying Hazards, are among the most iu- 

 Mcsozoio time, and many of them left 

 j their remains ir. the soft, sediment of our inland Cretaceous 

 WS . These were veritable Dragons, having a spread of wings 

 " Tom ten to twenty-five feet. They differed essentially from 

 iftllel Pterod&Ctyls found in the old world, in the enl ire 

 •nee of teeth, showing in this respect a resemblance to 

 lern birds ; and i hey possess other distinctive characters. 

 -.y have therefore been placed iu a new order. Ptertmodon- 

 from the typical genus Pteranodon, of which five species 

 known. The only other genus is JS'i/cUisaurns, represented 

 a single species, AH the specimens yet found are from es- 

 islly the same horizon in the Chalk of Kansas. The report- 

 ivery of remains of this order from older formations in 

 country is without foundation. 



be strange reptiles known as Dinosauria, which., as we 

 seen were numerous during the deposition of ourTriassic 

 and sandstones, have not yet been found in American 

 lie, but were well represented here throughout the Cre- 

 ais. and at US close became extinct. These animals possess 

 terest to the anatomist, since, although reptilian 

 all their main characters, they show clear affinities with 

 liirds, and have some features which may point to Mara- 

 The Cretaceous Dinosaurs were all of large size, and 

 of them walked on the hind feet alone, like modern Stru- 

 ms birds. Two well marked types may be distinguished 

 ; mains discovered in deposits of this age : the herb- 

 orous forms, represented mainly by ]Jtulrosavni.s,a near ally 

 ortoii of Europe; and their carnivorous enemies, 

 .jut whicti Ihffjisosii tints ( Ltdi/px) may be considered typical in 

 tliis country, and HrrgitfaMurux in Europe. Near the base of 

 our Cretaceous formation, iu beds which 1 regard as the equiv- 

 alent of theEuropean Wealden, the most, gigantic forms of this 

 order yet, discovered have recently been brought to light. One 

 of these monsters ( Titanomurm riiontanvs), from Colorado, is 

 largest land animal yet discovered ; its dimensions 

 greater than was supposed possible, in au animal that 

 and moved upon I he land. It was some fifty or sixty 

 in length, and when erect, at least thirty feet in height. 

 ioubtless fed upon the. foliage of the. mountain forests, 

 ions of which are preserved with its remains. With Titan- 

 us, the bones of smaller Dinosaurs, as well as those of 

 Liles and Turtles, are not uncommon. The recent dis- 

 of these interesting remains, many and various, in 

 that had long been pronounced by professional ex- 

 barreu of vertebrate fossils, should teach caution to 

 who decline to accept the imperfection of our knowledge 

 as a fair plea for the supposed absence of intermediate 



the marine Cretaceous beds of the West, only a single 

 iu r ( Uadrosaurus agilw), has been found but in the higher 

 j-waier beds, which mark the close of this formation, their 

 tins are numerous, and indicate several well marked spe- 

 }; if not, genera, In rhe marine, beds on the Atlantic Coast, 

 bones of Dinosaurs are frequently met with, and iu the 

 iper Cretaceous Creen-sand of New Jersey, the type speci- 

 als of lfiulrosnvrus and Dryptosaurm were found. In Cre- 

 sous fresh-water deposits ou the coast of Brazil, remains of 

 Ks order occur, but the specimens hitherto discovered are not 

 Sufficiently characteristic for accurate determination. This is 

 toifortimately true of many Dinosaurian fossils from North 

 America, but the great number of these reptiles which lived 

 Ittere during the Cretaceous period promises many future dis- 

 coveries, and substantial additions to our present knowledge of 

 the group. * 

 The first appearance of Birds in America, according to our 

 ssent knowledge, was during the Cretaceous Leriod, although 

 ly announcements have beeu made of their existence in 

 ling epochs. The evidence of their presence in the Trias, 

 on footprints and other impressions, is, at, present, as 

 we have seen, without value ; although w T e may confidently 

 await their discovery there, if not in older formations. Ar- 

 , ryx, from the European Jura, the oldest bird known, 

 and now fortunately represented by more than a single speci- 

 men, clearly indicates a much higher antiquity for the class. 

 The earliest American forms, at present known, are the Odon- 

 UiruU/tes, or Birds with teeth, which have been exhumed with- 

 in the last few years, from the Chalk of Kansas. The two 

 genera, 'ffcspcroriUK and Icthyomk, are types of distinct or- 

 ders, and differ from each other and from Arahmopteryx much 

 more than do any existing birds among themselves ; thus 

 showing that Birds are now a closed; type, and that the key 

 to the history of the class must be sought for in the distant 



tn HttsperomU, we have a large aquatic bird, nearly six 

 feet.- in length, with a strange combination of characters. 

 The jaws are provided with teeth, set in grooves; the wings 

 Were rudimentary and useless, while the legs were very simi- 

 lar to those of modern diving birds. This last feature was 

 merely an adaptation, as the more important characters are 

 Strufhious, showing that Uesperornis was essentially a car- 

 nivorous swimming Ostrich. Ichthyornw, a small Hying bird, 

 was stranger still, as the teeth were in sockets, and the verte- 

 brie biconcave, as in Pishes and a few Reptiles. Ajtato-mix and 

 other allied forms occur in the same beds, and probably all 

 were provided with teeth. It is strange that the companions 

 Of these ancient toothed birds should have been Pterodactyls 

 without teeth. In the later dretaccous beds of the Atlantic 

 coast various remains of aquatic, birds have been found, but 

 all are apparently distinct from those of the West. The 

 known genera of American Cretaceous birds arc: Apatornui, 

 'jiaptorni*, (-Ivii.culnvus, Hesperornia, JcMhyornis, Lwmi*, 

 LeMorni*, Paheotringa and Tchnatornis. TheBe are repre- 

 sented by some twenty species. In Europe but two species 

 Sf Cretaceous liirds are known, and both arc based upon frag- 

 mentary specimens. 



I Hum- the Tertiary Period Birds were numerous in this 

 Country,' and all yet discovered appear to have belonged to 

 modern types. The Eocene species described are mostly 

 Wading birds, but here, and in the later Tertiary deposits, 

 Borne characteristic American forms make their appearance, 

 Strongly foreshadowing our present avian fauna. The extinct 

 genera are the Eocene Dintornis, related to the Woodpeckers, 

 and AUtornis, which includes several apecieB of Waders. 

 Among the existing genera found in our Tertiary beds are : 

 Aquila, Bubo, Meleagris, Grus, Grwmltts, Butfinns and 

 daturractes. The Great Auk (Alca impe/mis), which was 

 ery abundant on our Northern Coast, has become ex- 

 tinct within a few years. 



In this brief summary of the past life of Reptiles and Birds 



rlca, I have endeavored to exclude doubtful forms, and 



Uwse very imperfectly known, preferring to present the con. 



elusions readied by careful study, Incomplete though thev be, 

 rather than weary you With a descriptive catalogue of ail the 

 fossils to which names have been applied. Even this con- 

 densed review can hardly fail to give you some conception of 

 the wealth of our continent in the extinct forms of these 

 groups, and thus to suggest what its actual life must have 

 been. 



Although the Trias offers at present the first unquestioned 

 evidence of true Reptiles, we certainly should not be justified 

 m supposing for a moment that older forms did not exist. So, 

 too, in considering the different groups of Reptiles, which seem 

 to make their first appearance at certain horizons, flourish for 

 a time; and then decline; or disappear, every day brings evi- 

 dence to show that they are but, fragments of the unraveled 

 strands which converge iu Hie past to form the mystic cord 

 uniting all life. If the attempt is made to follow back any 

 singh; thread, and thus trace the lineage of a group, we are 

 met by difficulties which the science of to-day can only par- 

 tially remove. And yet the anatomist constantly sees in the 

 fragments which he studies hints of relationship which are to 

 him sure prophesies of future discoveries. 



The genealogy of the Chdonia is at present unknown, and 

 our American extinct forms, so far as we now have them, 

 throw little light on their ancestry. This is essentially true, 

 also, of our Pkttiosauria, Litceriilia and Ophidia, although 

 suggestive facts are not wanting to indicate possible lines of 

 descent. With the Grocodilia, however, the case seems to be 

 different, and Huxley has clearly pointed out the path for in- 

 vestigation. It is probable that "material already exists iu our 

 museum for tracing the group through several important step3 

 in its development. We have already seen that the modem 

 proccelian type of this order goes back only to the Upper Cre- 

 taceous, while the Belodonts of our Triassic rocks, with their 

 biconcave vertebrae, arc the oldest known Crocodilians. Our 

 Jurassic, uu fortunately, throws but little light on the inter- 

 mediate forms, but we know that the line was continued, as it 

 was in the old world through Teleosaurm. The beds of the 

 Rocky Mountain Wealden have just furnished us with a genu- 

 ine "missing link," a saurian {Diplosaurus) with essentially 

 the skull and teeth of a modern Crocodile, and the vertebra; 

 of its predecessor from the Trias. This peculiar reptile 

 clearly represents an important stage in the progressive series. 

 and evidently one soon after the separation of the Crocodile 

 branch from the main stem. The modem Gavial type ap- 

 pears to have been developed about the same time, as the 

 form was well established in the Upper Cretaceous genus, 

 Thoraepsmtrus. The Telcosaurian group, with biconcave ver- 

 tebra, evidently the parent stock of Crocodilians, became ex- 

 tinct with Hyposaunis of the same horizon, leaving the Croco- 

 dile and Gavial, with their more perfect proccelian vertebras. 

 to contend for the supremacy. In the early Eocene both of 

 these types were abundant, but some of the Crocodiles pos- 

 sessed characters pointing toward the Alligators, which do not 

 appear to have been completely differentiated until later. 



Nothing is really known to-day of the early genealogy of 

 the Pterosmtria, but our x\merican forms, without teeth, are 

 clearly the last stage in their development, before this peculiar 

 group became extinct. The oldest European form, IHmor- 

 phodon, from the Lower Lias, had the entire jaws armed with 

 teeth, and was provided with a long tail. The later gonus 

 (Pterodactylm) retained the teeth, but had essentially lost the 

 tail; while Ramphorhyncfmt had retained the elongated tail, 

 but had lost the teeth from the fore part of both jaw*. In the 

 genus Pteranodon from the American Cretaceous, the teeth 

 are entirely absent, and the tail is a mere rudiment. In the 

 gradual loss of the teeth and tail, these reptiles followed the 

 same path as Birds, and might thus seem to approach them as 

 many have supposed. This resemblance, however, is only a 

 superficial one, as a study of the more important characters of 

 the Pterodactyls shows that they are an aberrant type of Rep- 

 tiles, totally off the line through which the Birds were devel- 

 oped. The announcement made not long since in Europe, 

 and accepted by some American authors that the Pteromuria, 

 in consequence of certain points in their structure, were es- 

 sentially Birds, is directly disproved by American specimens 

 far more perfect than those on which the conclusion was 

 based. 



It is now generally admitted by biologists who have made 

 a study of the vertebrates that Birds have come down to us 

 through the Dinosaurs, and the close affinity of the latter with 

 recent Struthious Birds will hardly be questioned. The case 

 amounts almost to a demonstration, if we compare, with Di- 

 nosaurs, their contemporaries, the Mesozoic Birds. The 

 classes of Birds and Reptiles as now living are separated by a 

 gulf so profound that a few years since it was cited by the op- 

 ponents of evolution as the most important break in the animal 

 series, and one which that doctrine could not bridge over. 

 Since then, as Huxley has clearly shown, this gap has been 

 virtually filled by the discovery of bird-like Reptiles and 

 reptilian Birds. Gompgognatlius and Arclimopteryx of 

 the Old World, and laMkyornU and Hesjjerarnis of the 

 New, are the stepping stones by which the evolutionist of to- 

 day leads the doubting brother across the shallow remnant of 

 the gulf once thought impassable. 



{To be continued.) 



For Forest and Stream and Hod and Gun. 

 ON THE SAUBLE. 



I HAD often heard of the great sport incident to the pursuit 

 and capture of the celebrated grayling, but had looked 

 upon him as a sort of mythological specimen akin to the sea 

 serpent or dolphin of old. I had heard of him as a bold, free 

 biter, gamy as a trout, and of a flavor equal, if not superior, 

 to his speckled congener. Among my acquaintances none had 

 ever seen him, so I could get no light from that source. 

 Taking down my "Fishing Tourist" and "Sportsman's 

 Gazetteer," I gleaned a little Information relative to Thyrnal- 

 Im tricolor. I found that he existed nowhere in America, 

 but in the northern part of the southern peninsula of Michi- 

 gan, in the Mainstee, Au Sable, Muskegon, and a few smaller 

 creeks and rivers. But that was a long way from home, and 

 I never dared hope to match myself against this noble game 

 fish. Be that as it may, when I received an invitation from a 

 friend in Jackson, Mich., to join a party bound for Higgins' 

 Lake and the Au Sable River, there to camp, rest, and try the 

 realities of the grayling fishing, I dropped everything, and 

 the 7th of August, 1877, found me en route for Jackson. 

 Arriving at Jackson I found my friend awaiting me. A day 

 of busy packing followed, and we were off via the Jackson, 



Lansing and Saginaw and Mackinaw division of the Michigan 

 Central Railway ( through the courtesy of the superintendent 

 we were provided a special car at, a merely nominal cost). 

 Our party consisted of about twenty-five ladies and gentle- 

 men, and a merrier company one seldom sees. Give me 

 young married people for real fun. 



After leaving Bay City we were soon in the pine woods; 

 past 8aw r mills, lumber piles and rafts of logs we sped, getting 

 occasional glimpses of burned tracts, where charred and 

 blackened tree-trunks, standing naked and desolate, gave 

 token of the terrible work of recent forest fires. The smoke 

 hung in thick masses ahead of us, and soon we were plunging 

 through a tract of burning woodland. The heat was intense ; 

 windows were dropped, and the curious who stood on the 

 platform were only too glad to retreat within the cars. This 

 was soon passed, and, emerging into the pleasant sunlight, the 

 ladies insisted upon a ride on the pilot. In vain anxious 

 young husbands dilated on the folly and danger incident to 

 such a proceeding. So, under the careful guidance of the 

 conductor, they enjoyed this novel way of riding, and with 

 the exception of dishevelled tresses, an occasional grease spot 

 aud an uncomfortable ringing in the head, were none the 

 worse for the experience. 



Eighty-six miles from Bay City the station of Pere Choney 

 was reached. Here we were, indeed, in the heart of the 

 wilderness, Long reaches of pine woods stretched away in 

 every direction, the home of the deer and the bear. Our 

 snorting, panting locomotive looked strangely out of place in 

 the midst of this primeval solitude. 



Cheney's consists of two hotels, a large saw-mill, a school 

 house, a country store, and a number of dwelling houses. 

 The place is new and situated on a gentle elevation, with pure, 

 balsamic air. After an early supper we started in lumber 

 wagons for Higgins' Lake, eight miles distant, arriving there 

 at dusk. This is a lovely sheet of water seven miles in length 

 by four in width, and is hemmed in on all sides by forests. 

 Deer are plenty, aud numbers of them are shot by fire hunt- 

 ing from a boat, as they come down to the lake to drink or to 

 escape the torment of the fires. The lake strongly recom- 

 mends itself to pleasure seekers and persons in cmest of health. 

 Its merits are complete isolation, fine springs, good perch and 

 bass fishing, natural advantages for bathing, the water being 

 perfectly clear and pure, while the bottom is the whitest sand. 

 It is also safe for ladies and children to boat upon, being 

 shallow for forty rods from shore. The balsamic odor of the 

 pines and spruces, which one inhales at every respiration, is 

 of great benefit to those suffering from pulmonary difficulties ; 

 and all through these extensive pineries may be found con- 

 sumptives deriving benefit from this life-impregnated air. 



A few happy days at Camp Jackson sufficed for W. and I, 

 and so bidding the friends good-by one fine morning, wo were 

 off for the Au Sable — or, in the vernacular, Sauble. Re- 

 tracing our old route through the forest we arrived at the sta- 

 tion at noon, whence we again took the road which intersects 

 the State road, seventeen miles from Cheney's. This latter 

 crosses the peninsula east and west, from Lakes Michigan to 

 Huron. Cheney's is undoubtedly the centre of all that region, 

 taking in parts of Crawford and Roscommon counties, and 

 will, 1 think, in time, become an important point of Michigan. 



After a ten-mile drive over a gently rolling country, varied 

 by alternate patches of woodland and open, we arrived at the 

 cabin on the bank of the Au Sable, erected by Mr. Cheney for 

 the accommodation of sportsmen. Here we were left in 

 charge of that prince of guides and polemen, Mr. John 

 Jenkins, called for short, Jack ; and right here let me say to 

 any one who contemplates visiting the Au Sable for fishing or 

 hunting, that Jack's cabin is situated in the midst of the best 

 grayling ground on the river, and near some of the best cross- 

 ways for deer. Jack himself is a ekillf ul poleman, hunter and 

 cook ; has a good dry cabin with comfortable bunks, staunch, 

 well-made boats, and, best of all, he is not afraid of a wetting. 

 This last is a great accomplishment for an Au Sable polemau, 

 for when the boat, in shooting a rapid, becomes a trifle un- 

 manageable, the alternative is for one to get out and draw the 

 boat from the suction, or for all to get wet. Jack boasts that 

 he " never ducked a man yet;" and with him to detach, you 

 will seldom lose a leader. 



The Au Sable at our cabin is a stream of perhaps thirty 

 yards in width and averaging from one to six feet in depth, 

 with a current like a mill race. Rapid follows rapid in quick 

 succession, varied by an occasional swirling eddy where per- 

 haps a fallen tree lies just far enough beneath the surface to 

 show the jagged crests of its gnarled branches above the water, 

 rising like a bristling cltevaux de frise. It takes a quick and 

 dextrous hand at the setting pole to pass these unscathed. I 

 remember noticing a boat wedged tightly under one of these 

 snags, where some poor voyageur had been spilled. 



W. and I seated ourselves in the bow with rods, pipes and 

 tobacco, and straw hats stuck full of flies, while Jack occupied 

 the stern with setting pole and anchor, ready to land Csh, ad- 

 just flies, impale hoppers or get out and wade, if such a thing 

 need be to prevent a swamp. Pushing out into the current we 

 were soon gliding down the river, when the rattling of the 

 anchor chain and an admonitory " Now, boys!" from Jack, 

 warned us that the time for our first cast had come. With a 

 brown hackle and a snell baited with a kicking hopper 

 whipped on our leaders, we cast. A rise, a strike, a little 

 jerk to fasten him as we do the trout in New York, you know, 

 and he was off ; another and another cast, but with the same 

 result. A few words of advice from Jack and we tried again. 

 This time we had him sure, for by simply holding the rod 

 stiff he firmly hooked himself the instant he struck the fly. 

 How he did fight ! How our reel did buzz and our nine-ounce 

 rod bend under that frantic tugging ! We were sine, as we 

 played him back and forth, that he would go fifteen inches, 

 but when we reeled him in all tired and submissive, and Jack 

 lifted him out, imagine our surprise to find a fish only about 

 eight inches in length. 



Having learned the lesson we profited by it, and soon the 

 well— a compartment in the centre of the boat havinga hole in 

 the bottom to let in the water— was a pretty sight. I never 

 enjoyed such fishing ; it was the acme of refined sport and 

 equal to trout fishing every whit. 



During our forenoon's fishing W. and I simultaneously got 

 heavy strikes. So w r ell did our captives use their " crowning 

 glories" (dorsal fins) that against the heavy current we could 

 hardly budge them. After playing them in the usual manner 

 we reeled them in, when a cry from Jack, " You have both 

 got dubs (doublets.)," explained the heavy pull, and we each 

 drew in a ten and a twelve inch grayling, both flies and grass- 

 hoppers having been seized at the same instant. 



So we angled until 3 p. it, , and then came back to camp 

 highly pleased with our first day's work among the grayling. 



Thus the happy days passed on; we were always successful 

 and the sport never cloyed. So when we bid Jack and the 

 little log cabin on the banks of theAu^Sable f are well, j and 



