ZEUGLODON, THE PRIMITIVE WHALE. The masters of the ocean in Eocene times, whose skeletons are found in many parts of the world, America included.] “Even the body was only about seven feet thick,” the scientist replied. “With those sharp teeth,” he stopped and picked one from the ground, “yoke-shaped, as you see; with powerful paddles like those of a fur seal and with that tremendous tail, Zeuglodon must have been able to get around pretty lively.” “Mammal, of course?” “Certainly.” “How about its hind feet, then?” asked the boy. “I know the whales have lost theirs; did their great-great-great-grandfather who left his bones here have any hind legs?” “He did,” said the scientist, “but they were rudimentary and he kept them tucked away under his skin. Some skeletons show them plainly. In the still earlier form, Prozeuglodon, these rudimentary forms are a little more distinct.” “Why do you suppose the Zeuglodons died out?” queried the lad. “Hard to say,” his uncle replied; “possibly because they had too much tail for the head. So big a tail needed a lot of feeding and so small a head made it necessary for him to dine off small fish. He may have dived deep for squid, the way whales do, but, even so, the Zeuglodons seem to have been driven out by the fossil sharks.” “Were they bigger than modern sharks?” “They were,” answered his uncle dryly. “One of these sharks, who has been christened the _Carchadodon Megalodon_, or the great-toothed shark, may have been over a hundred feet long, and certainly was not less than seventy-five, and his teeth were three times as big and as long as the teeth of the biggest man-eating shark in the seas to-day. They had a few score of these teeth each.” “I should think they would have made it hot for the Zeuglodons.” “They probably did. Those shark teeth are found everywhere. They must have made the seas a terror during Miocene times.” “And then what happened?” “Who knows? Probably, like the Kilkenny cats, after they had eaten everything else in sight they started to eat each other up, and either were eaten or perished for lack of food. At least it is sure that after the Miocene sharks came on the scene the Zeuglodons disappeared. And their greatest burying-ground is here.” “I’ll take a bunch of their teeth home,” said Perry, filling his pockets, “but what are you going to do about full-sized specimens, Uncle George?” “I shall not try to take any,” the scientist answered him. “This is a difficult place from which to transport a large complete skeleton. There is no need. The National Museum at Washington has a very perfect example of Zeuglodon. We’ve already got a few score tons of fossil material imbedded in plaster and strongly boxed for shipment at the camp, and I hardly feel like bringing a caravan here to try to transport an entire Zeuglodon away. I shall be satisfied to make sure that there is not some species showing up above the ground, heretofore unknown to science.”