[Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. XXIV, pp. 19-22, 21 May, 1914] 



NOTES ON" CAMARASAURUS COPE 



By C. C. Mook 

 {Read before the Academy, 9 March, 1914) 



CONTP]NTS 



Page 



Original description 19 



Relationstiips 21 



Cope's restoration 22 



Original Description 



Camarasaurus was originally described by Edward D. Cope in "Pale- 

 ontological Bulletin 25," published August 23, 1877. The type species 

 is Camarasaurus supremus, and the type specimen consists of a cervical, 

 three dorsal and four caudal vertebra. These l)ones were found near 

 Canyon City, Colorado, and in the same quarry a considerable number 

 of bones were excavated, belonging to three or more individuals. These 

 bones were more or less associated with the type and it is impossible to 

 say which belongs to one individual and which to another. The vertebrae 

 of the original type may not all belong to the same individual. The 

 various remains are of the same general character and there need be no 

 hesitation in referring them to the same genus and species. Some of 

 these later bones were described in a subsequent paper in the American 

 NaturOilist for February, 1878, and figures of vertebrae, scapula and pubis 

 were given. All of these remains together now constitute numbers 5760, 

 5760', 5761, 5761', 5761", 5761a, of the collections of the American Mu- 

 seum of Xatural History. 



The original description by Cope confounds to some extent the generic 

 characters of Camarasaurus with the characters of the Sauropoda as a 

 whole. The hollow centra, and lightly built, laminated neural arches and 

 spines are possessed by all the Sauropoda, some members of the group 

 possessing the lightening structures to a much greater degree than does 

 Camarasaurus. 



The general characters of Camarasaurus, without giving detailed de- 

 scriptions, are as follows: 



Cervicals: Number probably thirteen, of moderate length, of considerable 

 height, with spines double, without a median tubercle, 



(19) 



