Animals Before Man 



specimens before they became entombed in rock 

 is shown by the experience of the American 

 Museum party at one of its collecting grounds, 

 known as the Bone Cabin Quarry.* Many car- 

 loads of valuable specimens have been obtained 

 from this one locality, but the majority seem to 

 have belonged to animals that had suffered the 

 fate of Clonglocketty, and been divided close 

 to the waist. There are tail-bones and leg-bones 

 a-plenty, even complete hind legs, but forward 

 of the hip-bones almost nothing has been pre- 

 served. That one or two specimens should be 

 found in this shape would not be surprising, 

 but it is difficult to imagine conditions that 

 would sweep away the front half of one animal 

 after another, and leave the rear portion of its 

 anatomy almost intact. 



Neither is it surprising that entire skeletons 

 are rare, for when a creature was .as large as 

 Brontosaurus, 60 feet long and 14 high, in- 

 cluding yards of neck and tail, the chance of 

 its being all preserved was naturally small. 



* So-called because cattle-herders had used the abundant dino- 

 saur bones in the construction of a hut. 



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