ON A NEWLY MOUNTED SKELETON OF DIPLODOCUS IN 

 THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



By Charles W. Gilmore 



Curator, Division of Vertebrate Paleontology 

 United States National Museum 



INTRODUCTION 



Eight years after the exhumation from its resting place in the 

 Dinosaur National Monument in northeastern Utah an articulated 

 skeleton of Diplodocus is now on display in the United States 

 National Museum. 



The quarrying of these bones was a slow and tedious process, 

 involving the skill of both the miner and the stone cutter, but the 

 magnitude of the task, by a small force, of preparing one of these 

 huge skeletons for public exhibition can be fully appreciated only by 

 those who have passed through such an experience. The extraction 

 of the bones, especially the vertebrae, from huge blocks of refrac- 

 tory sandstone, the restoration of missing parts, and the shaping 

 of the necessary irons to support the skeleton are all arduous, time- 

 consuming operations. It is therefore not surprising that so much 

 time has been required for the completion of this work. 



The skeleton has been given an upright quadrupedal pose, with 

 the head uplifted as if scanning its surroundings. It is thought 

 that the entire ensemble portrays this giant reptile more accu- 

 rately than any previous mount. The missing bones were, for the 

 most part, replaced by casts from the Diplodocus specimen in the 

 Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, all of the replaced parts being col- 

 ored to harmonize with the actual bones but with sufficient difference 

 as at once to be distinguished from the originals. 



The bones were prepared by Norman H. Boss, Thomas J. Home, 

 and John M. Barrett; the mounting was done by Messrs. Boss and 

 Home, but I alone am responsible for any anatomical inaccuracies 

 that may be detected in the reconstruction. 



The method of mounting adopted is, with some modifications, that 

 first devised by Arthur Coggeshall in mounting the skeleton of 

 Diplodocus carnegii in the Carnegie Museum at Pittsburgh — that 

 is, the vertebral column is supported by a linear series of steel cast- 

 No. 2941. -Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 81, Art. 18. 



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