164 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 266. 



capable of pursuing the subject in a com- 

 prehensive way is always a welcome event 

 in science, and the unusually auspicious cir- 

 cumstances under which this, the youngest 

 member of the fraternity, enters the list to 

 compete for honors gives promise of sub- 

 stantial additions to our knowledge in this 

 line of research. 



In conformity with the special wishes of 

 the founder of the Institute, Mr. Andrew 

 Carnegie, the department was duly estab- 

 lished during the early part of last year. 

 The present force is as yet small, but 

 this will in all probability be augmented 

 from time to time, as occasion requires, and 

 as the necessary space for the proper in- 

 stallation of the collections is secured. 



The purpose of the department is the 

 formation of a general collection illustra- 

 tive of extinct vertebrate life from its earl- 

 iest appearance up to the present period. 

 This we hope to secure partly by purchase, 

 but largely through expeditions into the 

 various fossil-bearing horizons wherever 

 such can be undertaken with reasonable 

 promise of success. 



The first expedition of this kind which 

 was undertaken into the Jurassic forma- 

 tions of Wyoming has recently been com- 

 pleted, and the success attending this pre- 

 liminary effort has been very gratifying 

 indeed. The party consisted of the writer, 

 in charge, Mr. W. H. Eeed and Mr. Arthur 

 Coggeshall, assistants, together with two 

 laborers. A month was spent in the early 

 part of the season prospecting in the vicin- 

 ity of the ' Freeze Out ' Range, on the west- 

 ern part of the great Laramie plain, Wyom- 

 ing, where comparatively few specimens of 

 interest were obtained. Early in July the 

 Lower Sheep Creek Basin, in the north- 

 western corner of Albany county, was vis- 

 ited by the party, and a new field of unusual 

 richness was discovered. 



That which will prove of the greatest 

 scientific interest and value in the collection, 



secured in this place, is the larger part of the 

 skeleton of an herbivorous dinosaur, which 

 was at first thought to belong to the genus 

 Diplodocus. Of this almost the entire series 

 of presacral vertebrse, the sacrum, and some 

 fourteen or fifteen of the proximal caudals 

 were secured. There are also a complete set 

 of ribs, a scapula, coracoid, and sternum, a 

 complete pelvic girdle lacking one ilium, 

 and one complete femur ; all in a most ex- 

 cellent state of preservation. The remain- 

 der of the limbs and the skull were not 

 found, but there is much reason to believe 

 that further excavation will bring them to 

 light. No extended search was undertaken 

 in view of the small force and the compara- 

 tive lateness of the season when the other 

 parts of the skeleton had been made ready 

 for shipment. 



This material, at the present writing, is 

 but partially worked out and prepared for 

 study and exhibition ; but from the material 

 already prepared it would appear that the 

 genus which it represents is most nearly 

 allied to, if not identical with that described 

 by Professor Marsh from the Black Hills, 

 South Dakota, under the name of Baro- 

 saurus. If it should transpire that it be- 

 longs to Diplodocus, which is somewhat 

 doubtful, it will prove very acceptable in 

 that it will supply us with nearly all the 

 missing parts of the skeleton of this inter- 

 esting group of dinosaurs. Should it, on 

 the other hand, prove to be a species of 

 Barosaurus, it will be yet still more inter- 

 esting, since the genus is known from but 

 a few fragments of caudal vertebrse, at least 

 so far described. 



One other specimen, which is certainly 

 that of Diplodocus, was secured, in which a 

 few characteristic bones of the skeleton are 

 represented. Other specimens include con- 

 siderable parts of the skeleton of Bronto- 

 saurus, among which is an exceptionally per- 

 fect hind limb, most beautifully preserved. 

 This will enable us for the first time to fix 



