Scientific American, Vol. XXXIX.No. 6. [New Series.], August 10, 1878Various
Science
Scientific American, Vol. XXXIX.No. 6. [New Series.], August 10, 1878
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Mr. S. W. Williston, the assistant of Professor Marsh, has been giving
to the Omaha _Bee_ some interesting facts with regard to the great
reptilian fossils recently discovered in Wyoming and Colorado. The bones
found represent reptiles of many sizes, from that of a cat up to one
sixty feet high. The latter, found at Como, Wyoming, belonged to the
crocodile order; but the remains give evidence that the animal stood up
on its hind legs, like a kangaroo. Another found in Colorado is
estimated by Professor Marsh to have been 100 feet long. A great many
remains of the same general class, but belonging to different species,
have been collected and sent East. Among them from three to four hundred
specimens of the dinosaur, and about a thousand pterodactyls, have been
shipped from Colorado, Wyoming, and Kansas. The wings of one of the
latter were from thirty to forty feet from tip to tip. Seventeen
different species of these flying dragons have been found in the chalk
of western Kansas. There have also been found six species of toothed
birds. Comparatively little has been done toward classifying the late
finds, the task is such an enormous one. Great importance is attached to
them, however, since nothing of the kind had been found in America until
a little over a year ago and great stress had been laid by certain
geologists on their absence. Another remarkable feature of the discovery
was that the fossils which had been reported as not existing in this
country had hardly been brought to light in one locality before
thousands of tons of them were simultaneously discovered in half a dozen
different places.
* * * * *
=Trying to Save a Hundred and Fifty Million Dollars a Year.=
Professor Riley, recently appointed Government Entomologist and attached
to the Agricultural Department, reports that specimens of insects
injurious to agriculture are constantly being sent to the department
from all parts of the country, with requests for information. In every
instance, if a proper examination could be made, an effectual remedy
could be found, and not less than $150,000,000 saved to the country
annually. Recently a worm entirely new to science was sent to the
department by an Iowa farmer, whose orchard of several thousand apple
trees had been rendered unproductive for several years by the new
depredator. For the interests of Western fruit growers this insect
should immediately be investigated. Professor Riley asserts that the
$5,000 recently voted by Congress for the investigation of the cotton
worm, which has sometimes damaged the cotton crop of the South as much
as $20,000,000 in a single fortnight, might have been used to better
advantage by the department; the salary of the entomologist will use up
all the money, leaving next to nothing for experiments for the
eradication of the pest.
* * * * *
=Industrial Education.=
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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