J. L. Wort/man — Cope's Tertiary Vertebrata. 295 



Art. XXXIX. — Cope's Tertiary Vertebrata;* by J. L. Wortman". 



The exceptional facilities which this country affords for re- 

 searches into the history of its extinct vertebrate inhabitants 

 have been well known ever since the rich fossiliferous deposits 

 of the Eocky Mountain region were first brought to the atten- 

 tion of students of geology. 



The unusual qualifications necessary for a successful prose- 

 cution of investigations in this branch, as well as a general 

 lack of the requisite facilities in the way of large osteological 

 collections in this country, have no doubt prevented many 

 from entering this field of study. 



The expense likewise attendant upon the collection, prepara- 

 tion, and illustration of material is so considerable that only 

 those who have a comparatively large amount of means at their 

 disposal can make much headway in it. While these causes 

 have necessarily limited the number of investigators to an 

 extent by no means commensurate with the material to be 

 investigated, activity has nevertheless been proportionately 

 great since Leidy, Cope and Marsh began making collections 

 of fossil remains in the West. Later Scott and Osborne of 

 Princeton have been more or less actively engaged in the same 

 pursuit. 



As a result of the study of these collections great contribu- 

 tions to our knowledge of the extinct vertebrate fauna have 

 been made. Those of Leidy were the first, and their superior 

 excellence must always remain a monument to his scholarly 

 attainments. 



Contributions by Cope and Marsh have followed from time 

 to time, some of which have been complete and handsomely 

 illustrated ; their value is of high order. Up to within a 

 comparatively short time however, the greater part of their 

 immense collections, especially those from the Tertiary horizons, 

 have been made known only through preliminary descriptions 

 and stray papers in which little else was attempted than a brief 

 and hasty description of the most salient characters of the new 

 species and genera discovered. 



Within the present year two notable quarto volumes have 

 been issued by the IT. S. Geological Survey, forming the 

 most considerable contributions to the subject which have yet 

 appeared in this country. One of these is -by Professor E. D. 

 Cope of Philadelphia, and is devoted to the vertebrate fauna of 

 the older Tertiary deposits of Western America. It comprises 

 somewhat over one thousand pages of text, which is illustrated. 



* TJ. S. Geolog. Surv. Territories. The Yertebrata of the Tertiary formation 

 of the "West. Book I. By Edw. D. Cope. Washington, 1883-1884. 



