176 The Cretaceous Seas 



meal, from the countless panic stricken fishes, 

 that vainly sought to escape their tooth-armed 

 jaws. I told Maud of a complete skeleton that had 

 once been found by a farmer in the Kansas chalk 

 of Butte Creek, Logan County. He started to 

 excavate a place for a stable when he uncovered 

 some huge vertebrae, and ribs over five feet long. 

 He supposed they were elephant bones, and as 

 they were broken, he thought they could not be 

 saved, and so dug up the bones with the chalk. 

 They were dumped into a cow yard and beaten 

 to powder under their feet, and could never be 

 restored. I grieved much over the loss to science 

 of that splendid specimen that has never been 

 duplicated. Dr. S. W. Williston, the oldest liv- 

 ing American Vertebrate Paleontologist, de- 

 scribed the few bones I was able to save from 

 the general wreck. He did me the honor of nam- 

 ing it after me." "What a pity," cried Maud. 

 "It must be terrible for you to learn of such van- 

 dalism." "Yes, dear," I replied. "I doubt 

 whether any mortal suffers more from this kind 

 of vandalism due entirely to ignorance than I. 

 I remember finding some very large turtles in 

 the Upper Miocene of Phillips County, Kansas, 

 that had been killed evidently by a sand storm, 

 as they were all resting on their carapaces, as 

 if traveling in one direction. I secured over 

 twenty of these land turtles, and among them 

 was the most perfect and beautiful one I have 

 ever collected, although Dr. Weiland of Yale 



