THE OSTEOLOGY OF THE DIADECTIDAE 



!33 



In specimen No. 1078, from which the description of the palate 

 is taken (with the exception of the vomer, which is taken from 

 No. 1076), the skull is slightly crushed, the palate lying a little 

 to the left of the normal position; but this has been so slight that 

 the displacement does not amount to more than a centimeter, and 

 the bones of the lower surface retain their connection with each 

 other and the bones of the roof. The bones have been readily 

 freed from a not very adherent matrix, so that the form and con- 

 dition are beyond question (see photograph, Fig. 4), but the sutures 



Fig. 4. — Photograph of the palate of specimen No. 1078 



are traced with difficulty. In specimen No. 1076 the skull was 

 crushed badly, and the whole posterior portion is missing, but the 

 lower jaws fortunately did not share in the crushing, and so show 

 the form perfectly. 1 



1 The matrix of specimen No. 1076 was a very hard calcareous material, which 

 was so closely adherent to the bone that there was no line of parting where alteration 

 due to weathering of the specimen usually marks the limits of bone and matrix. This 

 made it almost impossible to clean the specimen with the chisel, so that recourse was 

 had to the aid of acid, which readily attacked the matrix and the bone. As fast as a 

 portion of the bone was freed from the matrix, it was coated with paraffin of a low 

 melting-point, about 55° C, and the place was heated with the thin point of a blow- 

 pipe flame until the paraffin sank into the bone, after which the attack with acid was 

 resumed. It was found that the thin flame of the blow-pipe readily controlled the 

 location of the paraffin, and that the heating was necessary, as simply coating the 



