C. SchucJiert — Mounted Skeleton of Triceratops prorsiis. 459 



of this enthusiastic student. From this one region he col- 

 lected the remains of more than forty individuals of the 



Ceratopsia, a record that has never been equaled. 



x -K- -* * # * 



From the tip of the beak to the end of the tail the skeleton 

 as restored is 19 feet 8 inches in length. The skull, which is 

 6 feet long, equals nearly one-third of this length. At the 

 highest point (the top of the sacrum) it is 8 feet 2 inches above 

 the base. The mounted skeleton presents several features 

 which would otherwise be lost to the observer if seen in the 

 disarticulated condition. The short body cavity, the deep 

 thorax, the massive limbs, and the turtle-like flexure of the 

 anterior extremities are characters only appreciated in the 

 mounted skeleton. The position of the fore limbs in the 

 present mount appears rather remarkable for an animal of such 

 robust proportions, but a study of the articulating surfaces of 

 the several parts precludes an upright mammalian type of 

 limb, as was represented by Marsh in the original restoration. 

 Moreover, a straightened form of leg would so elevate the 

 anterior portion of the body as to have made it a physical 

 impossibility for the animal to reach the ground with its 



head In constructing these parts we have followed 



.Marsh's drawing, assisted somewhat by fore-foot material kindly 

 loaned by Dr. H. F. Osborn, of the American Museum of 

 Natural History, New York City. 



The nasal horn of the skull used in the present skeleton 

 appears to be missing, and on account of the unsatisfactory 

 evidence as to whether the horn is wholly or' only partly gone, 

 it was decided not to attempt a restoration at this time. This 

 will account for the absence of one of the important features 

 upon which the name of the animal is based, Triceratops 

 meaning three-horn face, in allusion to the presence of the 

 two large horns above the eyes and the third smaller horn on 

 the nose. 



It may be of interest to mention here that Prof. O. C. Marsh 

 used this skeleton (No. 4842), supplemented bj^ other remains 

 now preserved in the collections of the Yale Museum, for. the 

 basis of his restoration of Trieeratops prorsus, published as 

 Plate LXXI in the Dinosaurs of North America. ... A com- 

 parison of the above restoration by Marsh with the mounted 

 skeleton [see Plate XY] shows several differences in points 

 of structure, due chiefly to the better understanding of these 

 extinct forms. The most striking dissimilarity is in the 

 shortening of the trunk by a reduction of the number of 

 presacral vertebrge. . . . Mr. Hatcher determined, from a well- 

 preserved vertebral column in the Yale Museum, the number 

 of presacrals as twenty-one, this being six less than ascribed 

 to the animal by Marsh. 



