C. E. Beeches — Meconstruction of a Cretaceous Dinosaur. '-M^ 



The ossitied tendons were mostly weathered away or very much 

 broken and no attempt to restore them has been made. A small 

 group is preserved over the spines of the first five caudal vertebra^. 



From the foregoing soracAvhat detailed statement of the actual and 

 restored portions of this skeleton it is at once evident that for a fos- 

 sil vertebrate it is unusually comi)lete. The most important parts, 

 as the pelvic region, the hind limbs, most of the bones of the fore 

 limbs, and the head and neck, were not only well preserved but were 

 in their true sequence and largely in their normal position. 



Method of Mounting. — The skeleton of Claosaurus is mounted on 

 a slab consisting in part of the natural stone and in part of a rock 

 surface manufactured from ground and disintegrated Laramie 

 sandstone. The slab measures twenty-six feet ten inches, in length, 

 by fourteen feet two inches, in height ; and has a base two feet 

 two inches wide, extending out from the lower edge, and upon which 

 the feet rest. This method of mounting fossil skeletons has been 

 employed with great success in the American Museum of Natural 

 History, New York, and is especially well adapted for skeletons that 

 are somewhat compressed or are more or less imperfect on one side. 

 The present specimen is very much larger than anything heretofore 

 attempted, and the result shows that slab mounts can be practically 

 employed with success for animals of considerable size. 



For convenience in handling and to provide for the future possi- 

 bility of moving this specimen, it was mounted in four sections, 

 which may be detached by simply breaking the thin artificial rock 

 crust and removing the bolts holding them together. Each section 

 rests upon a truck supported on strong casters. This construction 

 is of course entireh^ concealed by the casing and framing of the fin- 

 ished mount. 



The sections were made of timbers measuring three by four inches 

 in section, with vertical and horizontal cross pieces at regular inter- 

 vals. The horizontal base was attached by means of heavy double 

 angle-irons. On these frames the pieces of rock carrying the 

 bones, together Avith the separate bones, were securely fastened and 

 the intervening spaces covered with wire netting of one-half inch 

 mesh. Over this netting was spread a thin layer of plaster of Paris, 

 and lastly a still thinner layer of ground Laramie sandstone mixed 

 with plaster of Paris and gum Senegal. Before the artificial rock 

 covering was thoroughly hai'dened the surface was tool-dressed, 

 thus giving it the same appearance as the surface of the I'eal rock 

 where it was chiseled away to expose the bones. The left fore and 



