XL A GROUP OF STENOMYLINS RECENTLY PREPARED 

 AND EXHIBITED IN THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM. 



By O. A. Peterson. 



(Plates XXI and XXII.) 



Paleontology is gradually reaching a stage where fossil remains 

 are not necessarily dry and unprofitable to the layman. There is 

 apparently no reason why the specialist should not impart to the 

 public his views of prehistoric life through carefully prepared specimens. 

 By such activities paleontology, which is generally regarded as rather 

 dull and unintelligible, would take its true position as a valuable 

 factor in the education of the people. 



From the remains of Stenomylus, which the Carnegie Museum has 

 recently obtained in the Miocene deposits of western Nebraska, it was 

 decided to construct a group of skeletons mounted to represent as 

 nearly as possible a life-like pose. For this purpose three skeletons 

 were selected, those of a male, a female, and a young animal. The 

 skeletons have been successfully and very creditably mounted by 

 Mr. S. Agostini of the section of paleontology. In order to add to 

 the group, Mr. Theodore A. Mills was detailed to make models from 

 the skeletons to represent the animals in the flesh. These models 

 are about one fourth of the natural size and are exhibited in the same 

 case (see pis. XXI and XXII). The male is represented with the 

 head erect, the female with the head down, and the young is placed 

 in front of the latter two. This is true both of the skeletons and the 

 models. 



It has already been ascertained through the studies of Professor 

 Loomis and Mr. Peterson 1 that these graceful little camels most 

 probably lived in an upland country. Their skeletons, when compared 

 with such recent forms as the llama, indicate analogies, which warrant 

 us in regarding them as having been somewhat similar to these animals 

 in their habits. The dentition shows plainly that they cropped grass. 

 However, in certain directions these Miocene camels were much further 



1 Ann. Car. Mus., Vol. IV, 1906, p. 41, 286; Amer. Jour. Set., Vol. XXIX, 1910, 

 p. 297; Ann. Car. Mus., Vol. VIII, 1911, p. 267. 



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