1 1 6 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



on page 282 of the Memoirs, under the heading 

 " Specimen No. 1421, Carnegie Museum Catalogue 

 of Vertebrates " : 



" This fine fossil is from the Niobrara Cretaceous 

 of Hackberry Creek." (I should like to correct this 

 mistake. It was found about three miles northwest 

 of Monument Rocks in a ravine that empties into 

 the Smoky, east of where Elkader once stood.) 

 * The ex situ portions of the original skeleton, which 

 had weathered out and are secured in more or less 

 complete condition, include the left humerus, radius, 

 ulna, etc. The in situ portion consists of the right 

 anterior part of the skeleton, and was secured on a 

 single slab of matrix, in which it still remains in- 

 tact, as shown in the accompanying drawing by Mr. 

 Prentice, including the lower jaw in oblique inferior 

 view, the skull, the T-shaped nuchal (plate) and 

 two marginals. It will be seen what exceedingly 

 satisfactory information is furnished by the present 

 specimen as compared with all other examples of 

 Protostega hitherto found. Specimen 1420 [my 

 first specimen] is more complete than any other at 

 present discovered. As originally embedded in its 

 matrix of chalk, nearly every element was present 

 in an exactly or approximately natural position. 

 Unfortunately, the collector of this surprisingly 

 complete fossil, in an attempt to remove and separate 

 the bones from their original matrix of chalk, 



