Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-07-18
REPTILE SKELETONS.
huge Bones Unearthed and Prepared
for Exhibition.
some OF the Most Important pnle.
ontoloBical Work That Has
Ever Boon Done in
This Country.

IN time to make a complete biographical
survey of the fossil fauna Of North
Ac1nrica, and to add to its collections
skeletons OF every discoverahe species,
For eight years it has had parties work
ing Iii the field collecting fossil remains
OF eHtlnctlnulnmulS The collection now
on exhibition there is rema rl<ab one,
including every species which has been
discovered IN North America from the
hrst appearance of mammals down to
the Oligoccne period. At the present
rate of work the collection may be com
pleted to cover the entire Tertiary PC
Rod, some 100000 years, within the
next ten years. In addition 10 this,
work has recently been begun on the
geologic period just preceding this, tina
OF the gigantic reptiles, and the great
leg bones seen Mt the academy cxhibi-
ton are the first results now appearing
in the museum.
Livery summer the field expeditions
go to the great fossil beds of Wyoming
and Kansas, places where millions of
years ago, were the great fresh water
lakes, and about which lived the mon
sters, whose skeletons they are seek
ing Here they begin by prospecting
along the bluffs, or over the beds of
hard dry clay, in which the bones are
found. When one is found protruding
aboye the surface. work is begun by
cutting away the clay which surrounds
the bone. not enough to lay the bones
completely bare, but to take out the
mass of clay in which they are en-
bedded. The bones are often found
IY,fn &c
they are laid completely bare in the
field, as has always been done up to
quite recently, they would come apart,
and there would be great danger in
determining the relative positions of
the rest. The new method of handling
them is to leave them embedded in
enough of the original clay to hold
them together, and to cover tho whole
with plaster cast. This is boarded
up and wrapped With wet rawhidc.
which shrinks as it dries, and binds the
whole firmly together. These great
blocks, weighing from 100 to 1900
pounds, are then Grated and shipped to
the museum. where the mntriN is taken
OF and the fragments removed at once,
Just as they come out, thus avoiding the
difficulty of solving the dissccted puzzle
which would be encountered ii the
pieces were separated in the field. The
bones thus completed are mounted IN
as nearly as possible their relative po-
sitions. a complete record of every
stage of the proceedings is kept by pho
Biography, another new feature of the
work, atfording, as can readily be imag-
ined, a more adequate and graphic idea
OF the process than could be given by
many pages Of printed reports.
One Of the specimens thus uncarthcd
and prepared is part Of the skeleton Of
huge herbivorous reptile called by
Cope a camarasaur, and by the late
Prof Marsh a brontosaur. OF this skel-
eton the museum has two Of the dorsal
and 10 of the caudal vertebrate and
parts Of the pelvis and leg bones. The
scientist finds many points Of par
ticular interest in it, among others the
fact that It shows an error in Prof.
Marsh's restoration of the skeleton.
several dorsal vertebrae beng found
which Prof. Marsh had omitted But
to most people the interesting thing
about the skeleton is the fact TINT the
bones show unmistallable evidence of
the teeth of some other animal, presum-
ably one of the hesh-eating reptiles,
whose bones are found in the same
clay beds. It sets ones imagination a
hard task to picture the conf1ict-such
a one as might take place, for instance.
between an elephant and a tiger, if
the elephant We're 50 feet long and l6
feet high and the tiger in proportion.
a more perfect specimen is the skcl-
eton CT the diplodocus longus, an an
1mnl which must have been something
like 60 feet in length, His hind quar-
tiers, including some As feet of his back
and tail, have been found. The Serte
brae show marvellous combination of
lghtness and strength in their struc-
fure, and the pelvis shows that power
full muscles were attached to it, max
ing 1T clear that this tremendous tail
was no mere ornament to its wcarcr
but was strong propeller in the water
and an ugly weapon on land. Both this
beast and the brontosaur were SO bal
anced by their long tails that they
could rear up and get the benefit of al
most the whole Of their great length
when wading in deep water
Another skeleton which will soon no
put on exhibition is that Of d monosaur
or sea lizard, nearly 36 feet long, which
was found IN Kansas. 1t is the most
perfect one that has ever been round.
N. Y. Post
Hezekiah a Wnterworks Engineer.
Hezekiah, king of Judah who reigned