XVIII BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN BELL HATCHER. 



foundation of his first very exact observations of the stratigraphic succession of the species of 

 titanotheres. This he subsequently made the subject of an important paper in which these 

 beds were subdivided into three levels. In this paper he refers to his work as follows: 



Early in the season of 1886 it became apparent that certain forms of skulls were characteristic of certain horizons in 

 the beds. This fact showed the importance of keeping, so far as possible, an exact record of the horizon from which each 

 skull or skeleton was taken. From actual measurement the vertical range of the Titanotheriidse was found to be about 180 

 feet. For convenience in keeping a record of horizons the beds were divided into three divisions of 60 feet each, and each 

 of these three divisions was subdivided into three divisions of 20 feet each. The different skulls and skeletons, when dug out, 

 were each given a separate letter or number, and this letter or number was placed in that subdivision of the beds from which 

 the skull or skeleton was taken. 



In 1901 Hatcher again made a tour of these beds in the interests of the Brontotheriida? 

 monograph, which had been transferred after the death of Professor Marsh to Professor Osborn's 

 hands; he was accompanied by N. H. Darton, of the Geological Survey, and Prof . Eberhard 

 Fraas, of Stuttgart. By means of this second trip practically every species of titanothere was 

 placed in its exa.ct geological level. 



During the late autumn and winter months of 1887 Hatcher made collections in the older 

 Tertiary 11 deposits around Washington, D. C, Richmond, Va., and at the Egypt coal mine in 

 North Carolina, searching for the remains of Belodon and Dromatherium in the upper Triassic 

 beds of that locality, which resulted in the finding of a fine specimen of Belodon. In the mean- 

 time a new problem came before the Survey; the age of the beds of the so-called Potomac 

 formation had not been satisfactorily determined. Here again Hatcher was successful in pro- 

 curing considerable dinosaur material, from which Marsh, in a series of papers, attempted to 

 prove that these beds were of Jurassic age. 6 



He concluded the season of 1888 with a trip to the north — to the Cretaceous beds of the 

 Judith River region of Montana. In this region, on the upper Missouri, Cope had explored in 

 1875 and 1876, finding the remains of Monoclonius recurvicornis and other species of the still 

 unrecognized suborder Ceratopsia. Hatcher procured remains of several skulls of related horned 

 dinosaurs, on which Marsh established the new genus Ceratops. 



In the same autumn— that of 1888— Hatcher's attention was first called to a pair of very 

 large horn cores found 35 miles from Lusk, Wyo., and early in the spring of 1889 this incident 

 led to the discovery of the great locality in Converse County, Wyo., which enabled Marsh to 

 establish and define the great suborder Ceratopsia, and fixed the scene of Hatcher's labors from 

 1889 to 1892. 



Hatcher's very important geological observations, together with his characteristically 

 brief and modest account of his labors, are found in one of his first published papers, entitled 

 "Some localities for Laramie mammals, and horned dinosaurs," from which the following is 

 quoted : 



In the nearly four years spent by the writer in working these beds, 31 skulls and several fairly complete skeletons of 

 horned dinosaurs were secured, besides two quite complete skeletons of Diclonius (Claosaurus) , about 5,000 isolated jaws 

 and teeth of Laramie mammals, and numerous remains of other dinosaurs, turtles, lizards, birds, and fishes, as well as exten- 

 sive collections of fresh-water invertebrates from the same beds. In all, over 300 large boxes of fossils were collected for the 

 United States Geological Survey and are now carefully stored in the Yale Museum, many of them as yet unopened. 



This brief summary conveys but a faint idea of the energy, persistence, and skill involved 

 in this work. The great skulls, themselves inclosed in hard sandstone matrices, give the best 

 impression; one huge box (about 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 6 feet deep), containing the 

 largest known skull of Triceratoys , had to be lifted out of a ravine 50 feet deep and hauled for 

 more than 40 miles over a trackless country to the railroad. 



Here also he made his important discovery of the remains of Cretaceous mammals in great 

 abundance, only two or three imperfect specimens having previously been found. This 

 discovery he described as follows : 



alt is my impression that these collections were mostly from the Eocene— T. W. S. 



l> The dinosaur material on which these conclusions were based was all from near the base of the Potomac, and the evidence for the Jurassic 

 age of even this portion has been questioned. The upper Potomac beds are now known to be well up in the Cretaceous.— T. W. S. 



