New-York tribune., 1873-06-14

PADDLE oP LEsTosAURUs sIMUs-(NARsr) -. -,
,ts1,s syai a oor.cod b. scsplla; humerus Tldia
u,n1 four Of The the eSTPal S2 to 9o9's' {" "''''''F
The Yale party discovered about 90 different kinds OF
these saurans in Southwestern Kansas wnere the ere
taceous specially developed These rePeS'
whose remains are abundant In TINS country aro OK
ceedinglyrare in Europe little is known there ABOUT
them One Of the most interesting fossils IN Europe
historically speaking, is the famous Mosdsa"" skull
now IN Paris which was the subject OF treaty 1t was
discovered in 1850 in the quarres OF st. Peters kocks
near Maesricht city of the Netherlands on the DanhS
OF the Meuse. Its geological position was In tno
most modern Of the cretaceOus deposits Ihe natura
sts OF that day expended vast amount Oh dlScuSsloh
upon this skull One saw in it the head OF crocode
another that OF whale Tie controversy extended nto
the nresent century collection Of bones found In
those nporries before the skull brought to light
was boueht by the British Museum and removed To
London The skull itself exceeding six feet IN length
when discovered by the quarrymen was bought OF
them by Hoffman, the surgeon OF the garrison
The Chapter OF the Church OF Maestrcht claimed
II under certain property rights and dispossessed Hoh
man. In 1924 the French Army Of the North, under
Kleber. bombarded and took Maestricht. French
savan Fauias do Sant-FOnd, was Kleber's stan az
Scientific COMMISSIONER he secured the fossil as part OF
the results OF the captulation, and dispatched IL 10
Paris It was until many years had elapsed during
which continual controversies had ragged over ths SKULL
that the views OF Cuvier ably seconded by Adrian
Camper found acceptance, and the saurian char
acter Of the animal established. Yale college
now possesses several Mosasaurus skulls which
ara FAR superior 70 the fossil Of Maestrlcht
The Yale party during their explorations in Kansas
decided many doubtful points in the structure OF these
animals and proved that they had p0sterlor uO9 ana
were covered with bony plates.
Among the other important discoveries by Prof Marsh
in this formation were the first Pterodactyls found in
this country These veritabe flying dragons, some
OF them having spread Of wings OF 25 feet-oreaures
that may easily have been able TO pick up and ny away
with as heavy an animal as sheep Ihree species
OF these were discovered the smallest having spread
of about 2 feet The first indication which led to these
discoveries was the finding Of part OF single bone OF the
wingnger I'm Western Kansas but this character
stic that after careful study OF It. Prof. Marsh
described the species although nothing of the kind had
been known in America and this far larger than
any pterodacty in Europe. The correctness OF this
determination OF the size was fully confirmed in the
following year when Prof Marsh went back to the
same locality dug the rest of the wing out OF the bluff
and found the measurement calculated almost abso
lutely accurate.
Yale College Museum has Just received from Europe
the most perfect Pterodacty found 1t was taken
from the photographic quarries Of Solenh0en, Bavaria
Your correspondent had the pleasure Of examining this
rare curiosity still in its packing case there not having
been yet time TO arrange place for it the shelves of
the Museum II has the membrane Of the wings perfectly
preserved, showing, what had indeed been inferred,
that this membrane was Of eathery character not
like the wing OF This fossil presented TO the
Museum by Prof Marsh. 1t has been the subject of
lively competition among naturasts in Europe, and was
secured by the payment 1000 FORMS net cost here
being about 81 200 The suboned drawing of the pero
dactyl is taken from Dana's Manual Of Geology.