54 Life f a Fossil Hunter 



for the labor of his pencil. He has certainly put 

 life into this denizen of the old Cretaceous ocean, 

 and I do not believe that anyone, after a careful 

 study of the skeleton, could find any fault with the 

 restoration, from a scientific standpoint. 



In this connection, I should like also to call at- 

 tention to the beautifully preserved skull I sent to 

 the Carnegie Museum. This specimen shows a com- 

 plete side view of the head, with mandibles and 

 maxilla, the teeth interlacing as perfectly as in life. 

 The sclerotic plates that protect the eyeball are also 

 in natural position. 



The luxuriant life of the Cretaceous ocean was 

 certainly remarkable. Fish swarmed everywhere, 

 and often, as the specimens are uncovered, the scales 

 are picked up by the wind, crumbled into dust, and 

 scattered in every direction. 



Among the most common of the fossil bones in 

 those early days were those of a huge fish, whose 

 vertebrae, with fragments of heads and jaws, were 

 found in great abundance, although no perfect speci- 

 men has been discovered. Professor Cope, who de- 

 scribed this fish, called it Portheus molossus. I se- 

 cured a fine specimen on Robinson's ranch, in Logan 

 County. It lay in a small exposure of chalk along 

 a grassy hill slope, within a stone's throw of the 

 ranch buildings. My son George was my assistant 

 then, and we got out this specimen in the month of 



