Hooks and Specimens 



Herat College has the large series of footprints* 

 brought together by Professor Hitchcock ; the State 

 University of Kansas is very rich in mosasaurs and 

 pterodactyls, and the University of Wyoming in dino- 

 saurs. 



This must be understood as merely pointing out a 

 few of the particularly good things in these various 

 institutions, and is not intended to be a full state- 

 ment of their riches, or as making invidious compari- 

 sons with others. 



Finally, it remains to be said that the work of pre- 

 paring fossils is extremely slow and tedious, and even 

 after specimens have been collected it requires a long 

 time to prepare them for exhibition. So, when one 

 reads that such and such a museum has received a car- 

 load or two of fossils, it does not mean that these may 

 be seen in the halls in a few weeks. Also, a large num- 

 ber of specimens are of little interest to the visitor, 

 and a specimen that may solve some problem of impor- 

 tance to the naturalist, may be to the average observer 

 a piece of stone containing a few irregular fragments 

 of petrified bone. 



* Yale University Museum has perhaps a still larger collection, 

 but owing to lack of room few examples are on exhibition. 



285 



