Naturalist.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 429, 11 August 1904, Page 7

Naturalist.

THE CERATOSAUEUS

39|%£4.TAGONIA, at the extremity of q|Cj£ the South American Peninsula, aKw? have long been the happy hunting ground of searchers after the remaics of extinct animals, and it was to thie country that many explorers looked for a living specimen of the giant sloth. The evidence in favor of a surviving monster was rendered so strong that tha Paris Museum of Natural History recently Sfnt Professor Anire Tournouer to make an extensive seareh. On his return from Patagonia Professor Tournouer, although he brought home no specimen, Btates that after two years' search he was rewarded with a view of a living creature which, in some respect) resembled what he was seeking for. While lying on the bank of a stream near a cave, where many remaine of the giant sloth had been found, he was suddenly startled by a great commotion among the reeds bordering the stream. A gigantic head, followed by an enormously long body was different from any known animal. There were, according to the professor, large pointed excrescences above the noE trite, the head and neck were covered with brown fur, and there grew out from each side of the nose and jaw long waving streamers. The eyes, which were curiously elongated, were without external eyelids, a«d the tseta were very large. Professor Tournouer had barely time to observe these points before the monster saw him and hastily dived under water. What, then, was it he saw? The most probable creature is the Ceratosaurus. The Ceratosaurus was a creature of immense size and formidable aspect. It, too, belongs to the Dinosaur family, and its long neck, elongated eyes, huge teeth and active movements all conform with the description given by the French professor of what he saw. The Ceratosaurus was very ferocious and carnivorous, having a head somewhat like an aligator's, a long flexible neck and a huge body. Professor Tournouer is most positive and emphatic in regard to the monster he saw, and, moreover, his description is graphic and deliberate. It would thus seem that whatever the creature was that he saw, it was totally different from any living animal that we are acquainted with. At all events, there certainly seema sufficient presumptive evidence that Patagonia is the horns of at least a few living specimens of morsters which we had supposed ttf be long ago extinct.

ANIM4LS THAT ABE PRICELESS.

Unquestionably ib out of the way places of tho globe there are animals lurkiag that are still unknown to man. Any lack? man who captures one such curiosity could almost command his own price from circus people and museums. For instance, it was only a short while ago that Sir Harry Johnson, in wandering over the uninhabited portion of East Africa, discovered there was such a strange animal on this earth as the creature now called the okapi. All the zoos aud circus people are now strivisg their hardest to gei one of these animal! alive, and the first man to land one under a circus tent will no doubt mske a handsome fortune out of the curious public. Several energetic expeditions, outfitted at big expence, are now striving to capture an okapi in the wilds of Uganda. Up in the mountains of Eastern Tibet there is a bear which is generally known, or at least among scientists he is generally known, as Fere David's bear. There's only 'one of him,' as far as is known at present, and he is accorded that rare privilege among bears of occupying a class of the TJrsus all to himself, He seems to deserve the privilege, for he's a big fellow, with a very large, wide head. In color be is white, shading into brown. Much as the menageries would like to ewn him he seems likely to remain 1a his native mountain s for som? time to come. There are difficulties ia the way of his capture. The native Tibetans are auspicious people, anal have a disagreeable trick of sticking red-hot irons i& the eyes ef strangers, besides practising other deviltries.

I South America appears, indeed, to have its fall f hare of curiosities, In the Andes, about the equator, faea been seen a true rodent like the rat. This fellow is close!? related to the chinchilla and other Sooth Ameriean rodents. His chief claims to distinction are his enermons bibb Mid •urioas markings. He stands three or four feet high, sad his coat is brown with white spots. If the hide should prove to be as soft as the chinchilla's it woald make up into a 'swell' garment. So far &s known, only one specimen has ever bssn aotraally identified. Another rara avis of South America is the bell bird. Its plumage is red, green and grey, and is exceedingly brilliant in the males. The bird lives in the tops of the highest trees. It has a curious spiral erectile process of caruncle on its forehead thinly covered with white feathers, whioh it apparently erects at will. The bird is named from its clear bell-like notes uttered with the caruncle erected. Speaking of birds, there was once, and maybe yet, somewhere in the world a lizard bird; not a flying lizird, but a true connecting link between the lizard and the bird. Darwin always believed in snoh an animal, and now its existence has been fully proved. The first trace of it was found as a fossil in the slate formations of Bavaria. It is called for Bhort the Archaeopteryx Lithogra phica. One of its characteristics was its long lizardlike tail, with twenty-one vertebrae. The Sis'; twelve each bore a pair of large feathers. There is said to be one o? these animals in New Zaaland. One explorer followed footprints in the snow of the high mountains there, but never came up with the beaat that made them, Bat they were such strange footprints that other scientists agreed with him that the thing that made them was quite unknown to the world and must be a wonderful being. The hairy-eared rhinoceros is another much sought prize of the menageries and zoos, The London zoo had one once, but he went the way of all rare rhinos, and now the world is without a specimen—at, least in captivity. If you want him you must go down into Burmah. He ia there all right, for hid brothers have at rare intervals of time been captured there. In the Himalayas a man has b ;en looking for years for a unicorn. The Chinese firmly believe in the existence of the unicorn. The unicorn > and the dragon are united in their worship. Aside from this, which after all amounts to little by way of proof, the story of* a one-horned antelope-horße is common t) both Asia and Africa. The hunters of the Himalayas are especially circumstantial in their accounts of this wonder. Travellers frequently meet people there wko claim to have both seen and killed this wonderful antelope horee, having but one horn. But as yet no civilised white man's eye has ever been gladdmed by the sight of this singular animal.

MB. LANDOB.

For thn past ten years Mr. Lindor has wholly devoted himself to producing photographic pictures of various animals. * What are your methods of work P How do you get your animals to pose before the camera P' are the natural questions one is first prompted to ask Mr, Lander. The method varies according to the animals to be photographed. For instance, a gronp of kittens is one of the most difficult of all pictures to produce. In the first place, Mr Landor endeavours to establish friendly relations between h'mself and every kitten in the gronp, which ha does by an infiaite amount of coaxing and patting, taking care however, at the same time not to encourage that frolicsome spirit which is so readily aroused in cats of tender age. The next step is to place the kittens in a row before the camera, and Mr Landor then endeavours to concentrate the joint attention of all the little pussies on himself.

To accomplish this end he will sometimes shake at the infantile group of cats a baby's _ rattle If this failo in producing the desired effect, he may make soma mystic passes in the air with a bundle of stiawj keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the row of little pussies before him—then the instant may arrive wh9n the joist gaze of some seven or eight pairs of very bright and roguish eves may be iixs.■'. ou the camera for a fleeting moment, and behold ! the picture is secured. Tae attention of a kitten is very easily disturbed. A noise that would quite escape the ear of a human being smites readily upon the ear of a kitten, and would cause her to cease even from such an interesting occupation as lapping milk, la one of the groups of kittens recently taken by Mr Landor, after he had spent tour hours in trying to attract; the undivided attention of the party, one of them evidently heard seme noise, and turned her head just as the oamera opened. Fortunately, the rest of the group remained quite still and the artistic beauty of the picture was, therefore, not marred.

When the age of kittenhood is passed through a cat is naturally more disposed to take life seriously, but she still remains a difficult subject for the oamera, unless bleßsed with a very sweet temper. ' Never hit a cat' is a maxim that Mr Lwdor has always rigorously observed If you cannot get her to do what you want by gentle means, better wait until the animal is in a better temper } hut if once you strike her or speak roughly to her, you will spoil all chanca of getting a good picture. There iB less difficulty in posing dogs before the camera, as the canine race are by heredity, even if not by training, more easily subjected to the word of command