150 Ancient Giants 



water, that he was filled by the expanding gases 

 after death, that his body was lifted to the sur- 

 face and floated with the current, thus forcing 

 the head back under the shoulders. When the 

 gas escaped, the abdominal walls fell in ; the wat- 

 er rushed in to fill the cavity, the body became 

 heavier than water, and sank to the bottom. 

 There the fine sand drifted over it, and forced 

 the yielding skin deeper into the body cavity. 

 The decay of the contents of the visera and the 

 flesh occurring more rapidly than the skin, the 

 latter was forced closer and closer to the bones 

 until the specimen, as now mounted in the 

 American Museum New York, shows a resem- 

 blance to a mummy. So Dr. Osborn in describ- 

 ing it suggested the name "Dinosaur Mummy." 

 Before this discovery, it was supposed that the 

 reptile was a land animal, that he used his pow- 

 erful hind limbs in connection with the tail, to 

 form a tripod on which his powerful weight rest- 

 ed, while he fed off the tender foliage of tree. It 

 was also believed that he was plated with derm- 

 al, or skin scutes, to protect him from his carniv- 

 erous enemies. However as the "mummy" proves, 

 and as the living creature proved, his skin was 

 thin, with no dermal plates. His front feet were 

 webbed, and his habitat the bayous and swamps 

 along the sea-plain. I was glad, as my saurian 

 was through breakfast to see him lift his body, 

 head and front limbs up, and look towards shore, 

 and beyond a few rods away, to a sheet of water 



