Restoration of Platygonus. 



BY S. W. WILLISTON. 



(With Plates VII and VIII. i 



A short time ago. in an excavation made at the town of (ioodland, 

 in the extreme western part of the state, north of Ft. Wallace, a 

 number of fossil bones were found in such orderly preservation that 

 the proprietor of the brick yard in which they occurred, Mr. J. T. 

 Halstead, became interested in the discovery and took measures for 

 their preservation. A number of the bones were sent to the Univer- 

 sity for identification, and, recognizing a new or unusual animal for 

 Kansas, I immediately went to Goodland and secured the remainder 

 for the University. They were found about nine feet below the 

 surface, in a loose, sandy marl, lying closely together, as though a 

 herd of the animals had been overcome by some sudden catastrophe. 

 In all, nine animals have been uncovered, all lying close together with 

 with the heads directed toward the southwest, the heads of the 

 hinder ones lying upon the posterior parts of the more anterior ones, 

 and the bones all or nearly all in the position in which they had been 

 at the animals' death. Because of this fact, it is very probable that the 

 different individuals had all or nearly all belonged to one herd, and 

 had died at the same time. As will be seen, the animals were of 

 different ages and sexes, presenting characters which might have 

 been accredited with specific valuation had they been found isolated 

 and in different localities. The bones were received at Lawrence 

 mostly complete and by immersion in a dilute solution of glue have 

 been made sufficiently strong to mount in the manner of recent 

 skeletons. This has been done by my assistant, Mr. Overton, with 

 the skeleton of one adult female, and a photograph of the mounted 

 specimen is shown in an accompanying plate. 



The age of the deposit in which the bones were found is clearly 

 Pliocene, and from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five feet 

 above the base of the Loup Fork beds. 



The genus to which the species belongs is Platygonus, founded by 

 Leconte in 1848 upon fragments of the skull and portions of the 

 metapodials and humerus. Leidy has since added very materially to our 

 knowledge of the genus, still some very important characters have 

 hitherto been undetected. The described species are as follows: 



(23l KAN. UNIV. QUAB. VOL. Ill, NO. 1, .JULY. 1894. 



