South Dakota School of Mines 1 71 



COLLECTING AND MOUNTING 



In the earliest explorations in the Badlands little careful 

 effort was made to secure complete skeletons, the explorer ap- 

 parently contenting- himself with securing only the better heads 

 or other fragments lying on or near the surface. Later exten- 

 sive digging was resorted to, but for some years this was done 

 in a crude way. The bones are generaly more or less broken 

 and disarticulated and when once the fragments become separ- 

 ated the proper assembling of the pieces again becomes a diffi- 

 cult task. In course of time a method of bandaging developed. 

 Now the fragments while being excavated are fastened to- 

 gether by means of burlap or other coarse, loose-woven cloth 

 laid on with flour paste, plaster of paris, et cetera. Soft bones 

 are treated with some preparation of shellac or gum to harden 

 them for transportation. Exact location of the skeleton and 

 every bone in the skeleton is of the greatest importance. A 

 knowledge of the stratigraphical horizon is essential to deter- 

 mining much of the relationship and life history of the animal 

 and the proper location of each bone with reference to neigh- 

 boring bones of the same excavation may serve greatly in the 

 mounting of the restored skeleton. Sketches and photographs 

 of the excavation as the work progresses, together with careful 

 labeling of the various pieces aid materially in this and are often 

 utilized. 



Reaching the preparator's laboratory the bandages are 

 carefully removed, all useless matrix cleared away and the bone 

 fragments assembled and cemented together. Injured bones are 

 then repaired and missing bones reproduced in some suitable 

 artificial preparation. The mounting is often facilitated by study 

 of the living relatives of the fossil form. Where there is no 

 living animal nearly related, recourse is had to the studies of the 

 rugosities of the bones where the main muscles were attached 

 in life, the facettes of the joints and the general shape and char- 

 acter of the various bones. 



All this work, if properly done, requires much patience 

 and skill in manipulation as well as intelligent insight into the 

 general nature of the animal to be mounted. Many weeks or 

 months may be required in the laboratory work alone, the ex- 

 pense of preparation usually far exceeding the time and money 

 spent in collecting the specimens in the field. It may be readily 

 inferred that the money value, to say nothing of the educational 



