XIII. A MOUNTED SKELETON OF STENOMYLUS HITCH- 



COCKI, THE STENOMYLUS QUARRY, AND REMARKS 



UPON THE AFFINITIES OF THE GENUS. 



By O. a. Peterson. 



In the history of niamnialian paleontology it is seldom that the com- 

 plete knowledge of the osteology of a genus has been acquired so rapidly 

 after its discovery as that of the small aberrant camel, Slenomyliis. 

 Since the first remains discovered in the Miocene strata (Lower Har- 

 rison beds) a few years ago and described by the present writer, there 

 have been found more complete remains of this genus than of any other 

 Miocene mammal disco\"ered. This is mainly due to the fortunate 

 discovery by Dr. F. B. Loomis of a deposit of the remains of these 

 animals in a hill of closely packed and finely-grained sand having a 

 vertical thickness of about 60 feet overlaid by a more or less heavily 

 bedded sandstone in the Niobrara River \'alley, Sioux County, 

 Nebraska. 



The accompanying sketch-map (PI. XLI) represents a portion of the 

 quarry in which the greater number of skeletons were found, and con- 

 veys a general idea of the manner in which the remains of these delicate 

 camels occurred. A special feature of the illustration is the approxi- 

 mate location of the type of Stenomyliis hitchcocki Loomis' with relation 

 to the main mass of material in the c}uarry (see skeleton to the extreme 

 right on the map). When Dr. F. B. Loomis opened this quarry in 

 1908 the writer, who was then working in the Agate Spring Fossil 

 Quarries in the same general locality, asked and was granted the privi- 

 lege to continue the excavation for the Carnegie Museum when Loomis 

 and Dr. R. S. Lull of Yale L'ni\ersity were through that season. 

 An area about 75 X 20 feet was accordingl}- uncovered and the accom- 

 panying illustration is a horizontal plan of a portion of the cjuarry. 

 Each square on the plan represents one square foot and the shaded 

 outlines are those of the bones found in the upper bone-layer,^ about 

 eighteen inches above the main lajer. 



^Amer. Jour. Set., Vol. XXIX, pp. 297-323, 1910. 



2 This layer is not mentioned by Dr. Loomis, but he referred to one below the 

 main layer, which was not worked by the party from the Carnegie Museum. 



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