274 



NA TURE 



[Januakv 19, 1899 



which passes through the neural canal, this in turn being 

 supported by two heavy uprights. The weight of this 

 skeleton is enormous, yet it can be moved about without 

 the least danger. It is perfectly rigid, and every part 

 can be freely reached for purposes of 

 study. As completed it stands about 14 

 feet long, S feet high, and 4 feet broad. 



Another skeleton, mounted by a sub- 

 stantially similar method, belongs to the 

 very rare animal Coryphodcii iFig. 3 . 

 This was also laboriously brought to- 

 gether after three separate e.vpeditions 

 •to New Me.xico and Wyoming, the com- 

 ■plete remains being finally found upon a 

 level in the Bad Lands adjoining the Big 

 Horn River in northern Wyoming. It 

 represents a number of different indi- 

 viduals, but there is no question that the 

 remains belong to one species, and are 

 of a fully adult type. In general one is 

 struck with the very large size of the head, 

 upon which can be seen swellings pro- 

 phetic of the posterior horns of Uinta- 

 •theriuni, the formidable tusks, heavy 

 ■girdles, powerful fore limb bent out at 

 the elbow, and a semi-plantigrade or sub- 

 •digitigrade step. Other peculiar features 

 are the shortness of the spines and the 

 shortness of the ribs. It is shown that 

 ■Coryphodon had a very short back, 

 spreading limbs, and a very clumsy 

 ■shuffling gait. 



A decided advance upon this method 

 ■was made in the remounting of the 

 famous skeleton of Phenacodus procured 

 ■with the Cope direction. It had been 

 mounted under Prof. Cope's collection as 

 found, laterally crushed, a large portion 

 ■of the vertebra; and ribs concealed, so 

 that their nimiber could not be definitely 

 ascertained, arid in such position as to 

 ■convey a false impression both of the 

 proportions and mode of locomotion of 

 this remarkably primitive ungulate. After 

 very careful deliberation, it was decided 

 to remove the skeleton entirely from the 

 matrix, and remount it as nearly as pos- 

 ■sible in the natural position. This re- 

 moval cost many months of labour, and 

 two months more were occupied bv Mr. 

 Hermann, preparator, in setting up the 

 animal as represented in the photograph 

 ■(Fig. 4). In the course of the removal of 

 the stone and plaster matrix the two 

 missing cervical vertebnc were found 

 inserted in the tail, and the number of 

 ribs was definitely ascertained to be fifteen 

 on each side, thus positively determining 

 the dorsal vertebral formula— a matter of 

 very great importance. These results 

 alone justified the labour and expense 

 involved, and the mount is now a model 

 of its kind, since it not only displays the 

 real anatomical character and natural 

 position of the animal, but every bone on 

 one side of the body or the other can be 

 removed for purposes of detailed study. 

 It strikes us as a rather slenderly built, 

 straight-limbed animal, digitigrade like 

 the tapir, five-toed, but almost exclusively 

 supported upon three toes. Sir William Flower's restor- 

 ation, in his volume upon the Horse, is very nearly 

 correct ; the upwardly arched back, powerful lumbar 

 verlebr;e, long hind quarters and long powerful tail, 

 NO. 1525, VOL. 59] 



when contrasted with the much shorter fore quarters 

 rather low withers and small head, are all reminiscent >tif 

 the clawed ancestry of this hoofed animal. 



Of much more recent as;e is the skeleton of Teleoceras 



fossiger, a feebly horned rhinoceros living in great 

 numbers at the top of the Miocene. This animal re- 

 presents an aged female, of very large size, mounted 

 from materials belonging to probably twenty individuals. 



