READING RIDDLES OF THE ROCKS | 119 
quently weighing a ton. The largest single 
specimen is a skull of ‘Triceratops, collected 
by Mr. J. B. Hatcher, which weighed, when 
boxed, 3,650 pounds. 
Or, as the result of some mishap, or through 
the work of an inexperienced collector, a valu- 
able specimen may arrive in the shape of a 
box full of irregular fragments of stone com- 
pared with which a dissected map or an old- 
fashioned Chinese puzzle is simplicity itself, 
and one may spend hours looking for some 
piece whose proper location gives the clew to 
an entire section, and days, even, may be con- 
sumed before the task is completed. While 
this not only tries the patience, but the eyes 
as well, there is, nevertheless, a fascination 
about this work of fashioning a bone out of 
scores, possibly hundreds, of fragments, and 
watching the irregular bits of stone shaping 
themselves into a mosaic that forms a portion 
of some creature, possibly quite new to sci- 
ence, and destined to bear a name as long as 
itself. And thus, after many days of toil, the 
bone that millions of years before sank into 
the mud of some old lake-bottom or was 
