l^OVEMBER 16, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



759 



lections ia October of that year. One of 

 the constant aims of the curator has been 

 to obtain complete skeletons for the exhi- 

 bition eases ; and an inspection of the cases 

 will show the extent to which this aim has 

 been attained. Pains and expense have not 

 been spared in the effort to make the col- 

 lection attractive in appearance, as well as 

 useful to the student. The primary idea 

 in the arrangement of this collection is to 

 show the evolution of the various tj'pes of 

 animals represented, while the geological 

 association is secondary. Thus on the 

 south side of the room we have the perisso- 

 dactyls, beginning with the titanotheres 

 and passing on through the tapirs, lophio- 

 donts, rhinoceroses and paleotheres to the 

 horses. On the north side of the room, 

 and beginning, as before, at the west end 

 of the hall, we have the amblypods (pan- 

 tolambdas, coryphodonts and uintatheres), 

 the elotheres, the oreodouts and the ances- 

 tors of the llamas and the camels. 



Among the sets just mentioned are some 

 specimens that deserve more than the pass- 

 ing notice that can be given them here. 

 Cope's type specimen of Phenacodus primos- 

 vus, the collateral ancestor of the hoofed 

 animals, was acquired with the purchase of 

 that famous scientist's collection of fossil 

 mammals in 1895. It has been worked out 

 of the matrix since it came to the Museum 

 and mounted, so that every bone on one 

 side can be removed readily for the purpose 

 of examination or study. Hophlophoneus 

 primcevus Leidy, the ancient saber-toothed 

 tiger, is represented by an absolutely com- 

 plete skeleton, even the smallest bones of 

 the tail having been preserved. This, too, 

 has been mounted so that every bone can 

 be readily removed for study. Patriofelis 

 ferox Marsh, the ancient aquatic tiger-cat, 

 Coryphodeyi testis Cope and Palceosyops palu- 

 dosus Leidy are represented by specimens 

 which are almost equally good. An im- 

 mense Titanotherium skeleton, which has 



been made up from but two individuals, 

 shows an interesting fracture of one of the 

 ribs on the right side which was healed 

 during the life of the beast. Four rhinos- 

 ceros skeletons show the long-legged, agile 

 and short- legged, sluggish types. These 

 have been described by Professor Osborn in 

 a Memoir of the Museum. The bones of 

 one of these skeletons are so perfect that 

 they hardly look like fossils. The evolu- 

 tion of the horse is represented by a series 

 of skulls as well as by the more familiar 

 series of leg bones. 



The subject of reptiles is now receiving 

 much attention and some remarkable speci- 

 mens have been placed on exhibition, the 

 most noteworthy of which is the nearly en- 

 tire skeleton of a mosasaur ( Tylosmirus dis- 

 pelor (Cope) ) from the Upper Cretaceous of 

 Kansas. The individual must have been 

 originally more than thirty feet in length. 

 About twenty-eight feet of it have been 

 preserved in this specimen, which has been 

 mounted in the original matrix in which it 

 was found and placed in a shallow case 

 against the wall near the entrance to the 

 hall. Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and other 

 herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs from 

 the western Jurassic and Cretaceous beds are 

 represented in the cases by sets of vertebrse, 

 pelvic bones, ribs and legs which give the 

 visitor a very good idea of the immense 

 size and the proportions of these ancient 

 lizards. 



In 1895 the mammal remains in Profes- 

 sor Cope's famous collection were purchased 

 by the Museum, and in 1898 the remainder 

 of his collection was acquired. These ac- 

 quisitions brought to the Museum a large 

 number of invaluable type specimens and 

 established the position of the institution 

 as one of the most important, if not the 

 most important, place in the world for the 

 study of vertebrate paleontology. Aside 

 from these types, the collection contains, 

 as a matter of course, all the material de- 



