The American Museum Journal 
MOL. V. APRIL, 1905. No. 2 
THE MOUNTED SKELETON OF BRONTOSAURUS. 
Ey W. D. MatrHew. 
IGHT years ago the American Museum began a 
search for fossil reptiles in the Rocky Mountain 
States. The prime object of the search was to 
obtain skeletons of the Dinosaurs, those gigantic 
extinct animals whose fragmentary remains, dis- 
covered in that region and studied and described especially by 
the late Professor Marsh, have excited the greatest interest 
among men of science. In order to place these marvels of an 
antique world before the public in tangible form, a Dinosaur 
Hall was planned, in which should be exhibited mounted skele- 
tons of the principal kinds of Dinosaurs. To obtain these, a 
series of expeditions into the regions of the arid West, where 
such fossils are to be found, was inaugurated and carried on 
under direction of Professor Osborn, and the collections of the 
late Professor Cope, containing three splendid skeletons of Dino- 
saurs, were purchased through the liberality of President Jesup. 
This programme involved an amount of work hardly to be 
appreciated by outsiders, and it is as yet far from being com- 
plete. Nevertheless, the mounting of the largest skeleton, the 
Amphibious Dinosaur Brontosaurus, has been finished, the skele- 
ton of a remarkable dwarf Dinosaur, the ‘‘ Bird-Catcher,’’ has 
been mounted and placed on exhibition, the preparation and 
mounting of entire skeletons of three other large and very ex- 
traordinary types (the Carnivorous, Duck-billed and Armored 
Dinosaurs) are well under way, and diligent search is being made 
for complete and mountable skeletons of other important kinds. 
Many other more fragmentary specimens have been found, some 
of which are exhibited in the wall-cases around the hall. 
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