298 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



"(3) A large collection of the gigantic horned Dinosaurs of 

 the Laramie, one of the most unexpected discoveries made in 

 paleontology. 



"(4) From the same horizon, a large series of Cretaceous 

 mammals, a discovery of still greater importance, as such fossils 

 had long been sought in vain in various parts of the world. 



" (5) The discovery and full investigation of the remains of a 

 new order of gigantic Eocene mammals, the Dinocerata, known 

 only in this country, and from a limited area. 



" (6) From the Miocene formation, a large series of the remains 

 of another group of gigantic mammals, the Brontotheridce, also 

 unknown except in this country; and the investigation of all the 

 important forms of this family." 



When Marsh was forced to relinquish field-work for the Survey 

 in 1892, he stated that during the preceding ten years the number 

 of large bones shipped from the West alone was over one thousand, 

 averaging more than one hundred a year. Several hundred small 

 boxes and parcels containing vertebrate fossils, many of them of 

 great value, were also sent as part of the same collections made in 

 the West by his division. The scientific value of this entire collec- 

 tion Marsh believed to be far greater than that of any other collec- 

 tion of fossils made by any geological survey in any part of the 

 world. 



It has been stated elsewhere that "the methods of collecting 

 and preparing these fossils for study and exhibition which he ... 

 introduced in the course of his long experience form the basis 

 very largely of all similar work in almost every paleontological 

 laboratory of the world, and it is a matter of common remark that 

 nearly all the noted collectors and preparateurs have acquired 

 their training under his influence." 



Marsh surely deserved all the praise accorded him at home and 

 abroad for his skill in accumulating the vast amount of material 

 going to make up the Government collections, as well as those 

 belonging to him personally. A firm believer in the theory of 

 evolution, he was naturally gratified over the light thrown on 

 geological history by his western discoveries, for among the speci- 

 mens acquired were many forms which filled gaps in the paleonto- 



