Mat 28, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



529 



wished to begin witli that group, through 

 general interest in the reptilia. But two 

 other subjects also claimed attention — the 

 fossil cycads and the great turtles of the 

 Pierre. The cycads I had wished to hunt 

 for when in the Black Hills; and the studies 

 begun with the discovery of the huge 

 Archelon, the most remarkable of sea-turtles, 

 urgently needed continuation. However, as 

 to which subjects should take the precedence 

 Professor Marsh was close to obdurate — they 

 should be within my interest. This I recall 

 pleasantly; for mayhap vertebrate paleontolo- 

 gists are a bit prone to use the word " direct " 

 with a sort of obviousness. It may occur on 

 labels in letters of inconsistent size, or in 

 descriptions. But this was not Marsh, as I 

 can testify. He advised with others, however 

 meager their experience, was anxious for 

 their best word, and valued the mental sanc- 

 tion of those he worked with. Only may this 

 be called direction in the sense of singling out 

 the roadway along which to make history. 

 An d in this sense, when it came to the fossil- 

 bearing horizons of the west, was there ever 

 another such a man as Marsh? He said, as 

 I left for the field—" The Black Hills are a 

 diamond edition of geology, prepared espe- 

 cially for the use of geologists by the 

 Almighty." 



Accordingly, in the latter part of August, 

 1898, I began the excavation for Barosaurus. 

 This I carried out alone. The quarry was 

 extended to a sixty-foot front, and ran some 

 thirty feet back to a depth of ten feet. The 

 first material secured was fragmentary and 

 seemed to run out following a group of good 

 caudals. Then a well-conserved portion of a 

 proximal caudal, probably No. 1 was un- 

 covered; but on interrupting the work for 

 further prospecting for the cycads and dino- 

 saurs, the centrum was found cut off by an 

 ugly shear. ISTearly decided that the lead had 

 come to an end, on working down to a two- 

 foot lower level, various dorsals, a few 

 chevrons, rib fragments, and a sternal plate, 

 promised a rather featureless aggregate. 

 Much checking with extreme lightness of the 

 vertebral structure made it necessary to hold 



all parts in place as uncovered. This slow 

 task lasted into the late fall, when cold and 

 dust storms made excavation difficult. 



Finally, in the course of working forward, 

 there came four cervieals running up to one 

 with a centrum three feet long, a-c once 

 recognized as unparalleled in the Dinosaxiria; 

 though much more robust types as long are 

 now known. It then appeared that the main 

 group of skeletal elements, although much 

 displaced, or only partly conserved, repre- 

 sented a single individual; but unluckily the 

 long cervieals led out to a gullied surface. 

 All possibility of further recovery was at an 

 end. Yet the result seemed a real triumph, 

 over which Marsh was quite elated; he held 

 in hand novel Dinosaurian material new from 

 the field. 



And now, after twenty-two years Professor 

 Lull, of Tale, has described this unique type 

 in the excellent memoir of the Connecticut 

 Academy cited. Since its discovery, Riggs 

 has named a very striking sauropodan from 

 Colorado, Brachiosaurus altithorax, from the 

 huge humeri exceeding in size the femora; 

 while the related Gigantosaurus was later 

 found in the Tendaguru of East Africa. 

 These are quite the largest of Dinosaurs. 

 Also, Diplodocus has been redintegrated with 

 signal success at the Carnegie Museum of 

 Pittsburgh. 



The Barosaurus has, as Marsh thought, 

 some resemblance to Diplodocus. In that 

 genus length of neck, dorsal shortness, and 

 great caudal length, are correlated with light- 

 ness of vertebral structure. In Barosaurus 

 the vertebral type is very similar, with short- 

 ness of the dorsum. But Professor Lull finds 

 a strong presumption that the humerus ex- 

 ceeded the femur in length, as in the Amer- 

 ican and African high-shouldered sauropods; 

 while the length of neck is extreme, with a 

 lesser caudal length. 



Fortunately Barosaurus (type) includes in 

 good condition at least the proximal half of 

 the pubis. The pubis is one of the most 

 variable and characteristic skeletal elements 

 throughout the Dinosauria, and Lull finds a 

 primary resemblance to Diplodocus which may 



