1899] Weston — Notes on a Geological Trip. 185 



lands, however, are precious to the g^eologist and osteologist, for 

 here was the home of the great dinosaurian, a huge kangaroo-like 

 reptile, probably from forty to sixty feet long and which as one 

 writer says " rivaled in bulk the yet future mammoth and masto- 

 don." 



To-day we have collected from these sands and sandstones 

 many important remains of this great reptile. Here on this slab 

 of sandstone is the right and left lower jaw, each about eight 

 inches long. One ramus partly covers the other, hiding the teeth, 

 but in the upper jaw the teeth are almost perfectly preserved, and 

 show that this creature, which existed — well, say 2,000,000 years 

 before man trod this earth — ^was a carnivorous animal, for the 

 teeth are flattened, serrated, and taper to a sharp point, showing 

 that they were formed for cutting and tearing flesh ; the enamel is 

 as perfect as when used. With these jaws — which lie on the roof 

 of the cranium — were found several claws — powerful talons; 

 dangerous weapons they must have been ; these, with the teeth, 

 make one think of Tennyson's lines : 



" Monsters of the prime, 



Who tear each other in their slime." 



Here is a femur or thigh-bone we have dug out of the hard 

 sand. It is almost five feet long and too heavy for me to lift, but 

 when lifted by two men crumbled into a thousand fragments. 1 

 had risked much to obtain this bone, and to see it crumble to frag- 

 ments was very annoying. But we have portions of similar bones 

 which are perfectly silicified and retain all the bony structure — 

 Haversion canals, &c., as in recent bone ; a thin slice of our fossil 

 makes an interesting microscopic object. Other bones of the fore 

 limbs show that they were small like those of the kangaroo, 

 almost useless for walking. This creature must have squatted on 

 its hind legs and supported itself partly on its heavy tail. Numer- 

 ous vertebra bones were found on these sandy buttes and plains. 

 Some dorsal and lumbar bones are three times larger than the 

 lareest vertebra of the buffalo. Other cordal looking vertebra 

 which probably belong to the same beast taper in size to an inch 

 in diameter. Overlying the sandstone which contained the lower 

 jaws, cranium and other bones just spoken of, was a thin bed of 

 hard sandstone holding on one side leaves of an exogenous tree, 



