THE MOUNTED SKELETON OE BRONTOSAURUS 9 



braces and buttresses of thin bony plates connecting the broad 

 articulating surfaces and muscular attachments, all the bone 

 between these thin plates being hollowed into a complicated 







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1 





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FIQ. 3. MODEL OF BRONTOSAURUS. BY CHARLES R. KNIGHT, 1905 

 Executed from the mounted skeleton, under direction of Professor H. F. Osborn 



system of air-cavities. This remarkable construction can be 

 best seen in the unmounted skeleton of Camarasaurus, another 

 Amphibious Dinosaur. 



The teeth of the Brontosaunjs indicate that it was an her- 

 bivorous animal feeding on soft vegetable food. Three opinions 

 as to the habitat of Amphibious Dinosaurs have been held by 

 scientific authorities. The first, advocated by Professor Owen, 

 who described the first specimens found forty years ago, and 

 supported especially by Professor Cope, has been most generalh' 

 adopted. This regards the animals as spending their lives en- 

 tirely in shallow water, partly immersed, wading about on the 

 bottom or, perhaps, occasionally swimming, but unable to 

 emerge entirely upon dry land. More recently Professor Osborn 

 has advocated the view that they resorted occasionally to the 

 land for egg-laying or other purposes, and still more recently 

 the view has been taken by Mr. Riggs and the late Mr. Hatcher 

 that they were chiefly terrestrial animals. The writer inclines 

 to the view of Owen and Cope, whose unequaled knowledge of 

 comparative anatomy renders their opinion on this doubtful 

 question especially authoritative. 



The contrast between the massive structure of the limb-bones, 

 ribs and tail, and the light construction of the backbone, neck 



