Geological Papers. 113 



skull of the large ram-nosed Tylosauncs dyspelor Cope. It is 

 four feet in length. I cleaned it so as to show the frontal ex- 

 posure, and have only seen one skull as large, the one mounted 

 in the Kansas University, discovered by the late Judge West. 

 The one I sold the American Museum is only three feet nine 

 inches long. A singular thing occurs, in connection with this 

 skull, I have never noticed in a Kansas mosasaur before. The 

 end of the ram, or end of the premaxillse, is missing, and the 

 distal end of the premaxillse shows the depressions and eleva- 

 tions of one-half the suture, as in the heads of young bones of 

 mammals, and there had evidently been a distinct center of 

 ossification in the ram, that had not yet united firmly with the 

 rest of the bone, and had dropped off. I found fourteen feet 

 of the tail of another individual. There are eighty-six pygal 

 and caudal vertebrae, and a complete pelvic arch with right 

 femur, tibia and fibula, one tarsal and metatarsal. The ischia 

 are directed upward and a little outward; their proximal ends 

 unite with the illia, that lie horizontally with the column; the 

 two pubis bones are out of place, but the right femur and other 

 bones of the limb are in position. This is the first time I have 

 seen these bones in place and they give the height of the illia 

 and ischia, 19 inches ; width at the upper ends of the ischia 22 

 inches, and 20 inches where they join the illia. A great 

 slightly curved basin is thus formed. The ischium is 12 

 inches long. The illium is 7^ inches long where it joins the 

 ischium. The proximal ends of the two bones are not united, 

 but separated by a space of several inches. The pubis is S^ 

 inches long, the femur is 9 inches long, and tibia 5| inches. 

 The length of the preserved limb is 18 inches. The base of the 

 abdomen would have the dimensions of about 20 inches in 

 width and over 30 inches high through the median line — a 

 powerful trunk region, indeed. The tail is a little longer than 

 the body, or about fifteen feet. 



To add to our good fortune we discovered a very beautiful 

 skull of Platecarpus corijphxus Cope, with one arch and front 

 limb. The teeth are beautifully preserved and all the bones, 

 evidently, of the head present, though slightly disassociated. 

 A very beautiful open mount can be made of this specimen. 



It would occupy too much time to tell of all the material 

 collected within a few miles of Elkader, the center of the rich- 

 est fossil field in Kansas. But I will close by mentioning the 

 fact that this season I succeeded in securing for Tubingen a 

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