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TEE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



The American Museum has had parties 

 working in this quarry for several years 



past, and has been especially fortunate 

 in obtaining a whole series of more or 

 less complete and finely 

 preserved skeletons of the 

 Moropus, besides quanti- 

 ties of other material. 

 There are no fewer than 

 seventeen skeletons, each 

 being the bones of one in- 

 dividual, and the best of 

 them are virtually com- 

 plete. 



The task of extracting 

 and preparing these thou- 

 sands of fragile and deli- 

 cate bones has been a long 

 and difficult one, and it is 

 only now that we have 

 been able to place the first 

 skeleton of Moropus on ex- 

 hibition. ^ This is mounted 

 in a standing position, the 

 pose adopted representing 

 the animal as looking off 

 into the distance (toward 

 the visitor as he enters the 

 hall). Other skeletons, of 

 both male and female ani- 

 mals, will be added later to 

 form a group. 



The Moropus was a rela- 

 tive — albeit a distant one 

 — of the rhinoceroses, ta- 

 pirs, and horses, and be- 

 longs with them in the 

 order of Perissodactyls, 

 hoofed animals with an 

 odd number of toes on the 

 hind foot. The ruminants. 



Skeleton of Moropus, found in the great Agate Spring Fossil 

 Quarry, western Nebraska, and recently placed on exhibition in 

 the Tertiary mammal hall of the American Museum. Note the 

 large claws on the fore feet although it belongs to the ungulates 

 or hoofed animals. The big extinct Moropus was one of the 

 oddest looking beasts of its time, a combination of horse, rhinoce- 

 ros, and camel or giraffe in its general appearance, but as seen 

 here, with enormous claws on the front feet and smaller claws 

 on the hind feet. American Museum parties working in this 

 quarry for several years past have been unusually fortunate in 

 obtaining a large series of Moropus skeletons, no fewer than 

 seventeen representing the bones of as many single individuals, 

 and the best of them virtually complete 



^ The field work and prepara- 

 tion of the specimens have been in 

 charge of Mr. Albert Thomson of 

 the Museum staff. The skeleton 

 was mounted by Mr. Charles Lang. 

 The technical skill, carefulness, 

 and scientific accuracy through all 

 stages of the work make this skel- 

 eton one of the finest examples of 

 modern methods of dealing with 

 fossil vertebrates. The visitor 

 with a little constructive imagina- 

 tion can readily see in the skele- 

 ton the proportions and pose of 

 the animal ; and it is as accurately 

 true to life as the most careful 

 scientific study can bring about. 



