Nodosaurus textilis Marsh. 99 



Quarrv 13 which was so highly productive of dino saurian 

 life (Gilmore 1914, pp. 2-24), and as it lay on the easterly 

 slope of the Como anticline was therefore considerably 

 above the Morrison stratigraphically. The label bears 

 the statement ''400 feet above the Dacota sandstone" m 

 Professor Marsh's handwriting, while Reed's letter of 

 July 17, 1881, says: ''I found a saurian today in the 

 Cretaceous between the Dacota rocks and the shale above 

 them." This would bring it within the limit of the 

 Benton sands and therefore in marine deposits, a not 

 infrequent occurrence with the plated dinosaurs. The 

 specimen lay in one or more concretions of dense bluish 

 limestone which is extremely difficult to distinguish in 

 some instances from the bone itself. The material was 

 collected in fragments and its reconstruction has been 

 a three-dimensional puzzle of great difficulty, especially 

 as all of the pieces are evidently not preserved. Reed 

 himself says in a letter dated July 12, 1882: ''It is not 

 very good and all in concretions so I could make no 

 diagram of it. ' ' 



Extent of Material. — The material as now prepared 

 (1920) consists, first, of the pelvis, including the armored- 

 over sacrum with the well preserved ilia attached. What 

 appear to be the spinal ends of the scapulae are also 

 present, together with a detached mass containing 

 portions of at least three imperfect vertebrae with their 

 attached ribs and overlying armor. Yet another large 

 piece contains a number of ribs with the highly nodular 

 overlying armor. There is, however, no present connec- 

 tion between this and the other masses. Thirteen caudal 

 vertebrae are also present. Of the appendicular skeleton, 

 one approximately complete left femur is preserved, and 

 parts of the other, the left tibia, and part of the fibula, a 

 considerable portion of the right tibia, together with an 

 almost complete left hind foot. Of the fore limbs, 

 fragments of the humeri are present, together with the 

 incomplete left radius and ulna, and portions of the 

 fore foot. There are also a number of detached dermal 

 elements. 



The specimen bears the catalogue number 1815, 1815a, 

 and 1815b Y. P. M., but there is no reason to suppose it 

 to be other than one individual, and the number 1815 only 

 will be used hereafter. 



Original description. — Marsh (1889, p. 175) thus 

 describes the animal : 



