DISCOVERY OF THE TITANOTHERES AND ORIGINAL DESCRIPTIONS 



sible to disinter them whole; and the means of transportation to 

 the Missouri were insufficient, even if these interesting remains 

 could have been extracted in good condition. 



Figure 84. — "Vertical view of the posterior tooth belonging to the lower jaw of 

 Mr. Prout's Palaeoiherium; natural size." After Prout, 1846 



Owen also gives (1852.1, p. 200) a tabular "Section 

 of beds constituting the early Tertiary (Eocene) of 

 the Badlands." This section, reproduced below, was 

 doubtless taken by Evans. 



143 



The detailed description of the mammalian and 

 chelonian fossils collected by Owen, Evans, and others 

 was intrusted to Dr. Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia, 

 and was published in Owen's report 

 of 1852 (1852.1, pp. 551, 552), 

 already cited. In this publication 

 Leidy describes Prout's original 

 specimen and gives a poor figure 

 of Evans's principal specimen, an 

 imperfect lower jaw of a titanothere. 

 He adopts provisionally the 

 name Palaeotherium? proutii Owen, 

 Norwood, and Evans but con- 

 cludes his description of these fos- 

 sils with the following significant 

 remark : 



AU the preceding specimens, except, probablj', the latter two 

 (fragments of upper molars), I suspect belong to a different 

 genus from either Palaeotherium or A nchitherium, and should the 

 suspicion prove correct, Titanotherium would be a good name 

 for the animal, as expressive of its very great size. 



Section of beds constituting the early Tertiary {Eocene) 

 of the Badlands (Mauvaises Terres) 



30 



[Numbered in descending order] 



1. Ash-colored clay, cracking in the sun; con- 



taining siliceous concretions 



2. Compact white limestone 



3. Light-gray marly limestone 



4. Light-gray indurated siliceous clay (not effer- 



vescent) 



5. Aggregate of small angular grains of quartz, 



or conglomerate, cemented by calcareous 

 earth; slightly effervescent 8 



6. Layer of quartz and chalcedony (probably 



only partial) 1 



7. Light-gray indurated siliceous clay, similar 



to No. 4 but more calcareous, passing down- 

 ward into pale flesh-colored indurated 

 siliceous marly limestone (effervescent) ; 

 turtle and bone bed 25 



8. White and light-gray calcareous grit; slightly 



effervescent 15 



9. Similar aggregate to No. 5 but coarser 8 



10. Light-green indurated argillaceous stratum 



(slightly effervescent) ; ' ' palaeotherian bed" - 20 



Some of the specimens brought back by 

 Evans were referred to in a brief notice pub- 

 lished by Owen, Norwood, and Evans (1850.1), 

 in which the name "Palaeotherium proutii" 

 was proposed "in compliment to Dr. Prout, 

 of St. Louis." 



The next year (1850) after Evans's journey 

 Mr. Thaddeus A. Culbertson visited, under 

 the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 the same region (Leidy, 1854.1, p. 12) 

 and "made a good collection of its animal 

 remains," including skulls of Oreodon culbertsoni 

 and the titanothere upper premolars which Leidy 

 afterward described (1852.2, p. 2) under the names 

 Rhinoceros americanus and Eotherium americanus. 

 The locality was Bear Creek, a dry tributary of 

 Cheyenne Kiver. (See Chap. II, p. 104.) 



Figure 85. — Original figures of Prout's "gigantic Palaeotherium," the 

 first titanothere discovered. After Prout, 1847 



A, "Fragment of the inferior maxillary of the left side," one-fourth natural size; B, last lower 

 molar, left side, four-fifths natural size. 



Thus was proposed the name Titanotherium, which 

 has figured so largely in the literature of American 

 paleontology and was consequently chosen as the basis 

 for the title of this monograph. 



Two years later Leidy (1854.1) gave a revised and 

 extended description of the available remains of titano- 



