THE HORNED DINOSAURS — GILMORE. 385 



from the tip of the tail to the end of the nose, with most of the bones 

 articulated in position. It was lying on its left side with the pha- 

 langes exposed and some of the bones were damaged, but parts of 

 all were present. Part of the skeleton was surrounded by sandstone 

 and ironstone matrix of such nature that much of the scientific value 

 of the skeleton would have been sacrificed by extracting it for a free 

 mount. Consequently, the skeleton has been worked out in relief 

 and mounted as a panel. This is probably the most perfect example 

 of a Dinosaur skeleton that has ever been found. 



The evolution of the ceratopsian dinosaurs, so far as we know it, 

 consisted in an increase in size, the development and perfection of 

 the bony frill, retrogression of the large nasal horn and reciprocal 

 increase in length of those borne above the eyes, until in the latest 

 types they have attained tremendous proportions. (Compare figures 

 1 and 3, plate 7.) 



Could the collectors of these specimens be induced to tell of the 

 privations endured, the difficulties encountered, and the obstacles 

 overcome in securing the remains of these huge reptiles, it would 

 form a most interesting chapter of North American vertebrate 

 paleontology. 



The collection of dinosaur bones nearly always involves much 

 hard, back-breaking labor, and especially the collection of the large 

 skulls of the Ceratopsia. This work ofttimes involves the tedious 

 task of chiseling the specimen out of the solid sandstone (see pi. 5, 

 upper figure) ; the bandaging of the fossil in a plaster of paris 

 jacket (see pi. 5, lower figure) in order to keep the broken pieces of 

 bone in their proper places as well as to protect the specimen from 

 damage while in transit to the museum laboratory. It also involves 

 the handling, often by primitive methods, of these heavy masses of 

 bone and rock ; the lowering down from precipitous places in order to 

 reach a level where they can be loaded on to wagons ; and the building 

 of roads through the roughest of rough country, that they may be 

 gotten out of the bad lands and to the nearest railroad, sometimes 

 as far as 150 miles away. 



The late J. B. Hatcher brought to light by far the greater number 

 of the known Triceratops specimens, comprising some 40 or more 

 skulls and partial skeletons, all from the now famous Lance Creek 

 locality in eastern Wyoming. One large skull collected by him, in- 

 closed in a concretionary mass of rock, when received at the Yale 

 Museum was found to weigh 6,850 pounds, and this great weight 

 had to be transported by wagon for nearly 40 miles through a country 

 which at that time was practically roadless. 



Though many different kinds of horned dinosaurs have been dis- 

 covered, it remained for the veteran collector of fossils Mr. Charles 

 42803°— 22 25 



