DIVISION OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY — GILMORE 319 



U. S. GkOIX)GIC.\L SUIiVEY, 



Washingtov, D. C, December 8, 1899. 



Prof. S. P. Langley, 



Seei-eturu, Smithsonian Institute. 



Wafihiriffton, D. C. 



De.\k Sik: I have the honor to state that all the vertebrate collections of the 

 late Prof. O. C. Marsh, belonging to the Government, have been shipped from 

 New Haven, Conn., and are now transferred to the custody of the U. S. National 

 Museum, subject only to the use of such material as may be necessary for study 

 and illustration in the completion of the monographs that were in course of 

 ^reparation by Professor Marsh at the time of his death. 



The actual number of specimens represented in this collection cannot be stated. 

 They range in size from minute teeth of fossil mammals to individual specimens 

 weighing from 500 to 2,000 pounds each. The collections are rich in Dinosauria, 

 esi>ecially in examples of Triccratops and Htei/osaurus. while the series of Ti- 

 tanotherium skulls is one of the best, if not the l)est, in existence. It contains 

 fifty or more complete examples cleaned, and a number in the rough, besides 

 manv hundred bones. 



Amon- the specimens transferred are the types of forty or more species, 

 including dinosaurs, of Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary mammals. Among the 

 types are the following : ^' 



Dinosaurs 



Snakf.s 

 Coniophis precedens 



Diplodocus longus 



Labrosaurus ferox Jubassic Mammals 



Gamptosaurus nanus Paurodon valens 



Triceratops sulcatus 



Triceratops calicornis 



Triceratops obtusus 



Pleurocoelus nanus 



Cerutosaurus nasicornis 



Ceratops montanus Priconodon crassus '" 



Ceratops alticornis Cimolodon agilis 



Telacodon praestans 

 Crocodiles Oracodon conulus 



Menacodon rarus 

 Enneodon affinis 

 Enneodon crassus 

 Laodon venustus 



Cretaceous Mammals 



Ilhytinodon rostratus 



AUacodon pumilus 



The transfer of these great collections to Washington without the loss of any 

 material, either through imperfect recording or through misunderstanding as to 

 owner.ship of specimens, reflects the greatest credit on the businesslike methods 

 and the integrity of Professor Marsh. The addition of the material to the Na- 

 tional Museum places it in the front rank among museums in its collection of 

 vertebrate fossils. It is necessary that some gaps in the collections be filled, 

 and I sincerely trust that it will bo possible for the museum to do this at an 

 early date. 



Yours respectfully, 



(Signed) Chas. D. Walcott, 



Director. 



" This list is incomplete, as there were 50 original types, of which 21 were reptilian and 

 og were mammalian. Less than half of the tyi>es of the rare Jurassic and Cretaceous 

 mammals are listed here, as there were 12 of the first and 10 of the second. 



w An error, as the type is in the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 



"» Wrongly listed, as this is a dinosaur, not a mammal. 



