Dinosaurs, with Special Reference to the American Museum CollectionsMatthew, William Diller
Science
Dinosaurs, with Special Reference to the American Museum Collections
Matthew, William Diller
Dinosaurs
_Diplodocus._ The _Diplodocus_ nearly equalled the Brontosaurus in
bulk and exceeded it in length. A skeleton in the Carnegie Museum at
Pittsburgh measures 87 feet in total length; although the mount is
composed from several individuals these proportions are probably not
far from correct. The skull is smaller and differently shaped and the
teeth are of quite different type. In the American Museum of Natural
History, a partial skeleton is exhibited in the wall case to the left
of the entrance of the Dinosaur Hall, and in an A-case near by are
skulls of _Diplodocus_ and _Morosaurus_ and a model of the skull of
_Brontosaurus_. The Diplodocus skull is widely different from the
other two in size and proportions and in the characters of teeth.
When the first remains of these amphibious Dinosaurs were found in the
Oxford Clays of England, they were considered by Richard Owen to be
related to the Crocodiles, and named Opisthocoelia. Subsequently the
finding of complete skeletons in this country led Cope and Marsh to
place them with the true Dinosaurs and the latter named them
Sauropoda.[13] Remains of these animals have also been found in India,
in German East Africa, in Madagascar, and in South America, so that
they were evidently widely distributed. In the Northern world they
survived until the Comanchic or Lower Cretaceous Period, but in the
southern continents they may have lived on into the Upper Cretaceous
or true Cretacic. Some of the remains recently found in German East
Africa indicate an animal exceeding either _Brontosaurus_ or
_Diplodocus_ in bulk.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.--The Largest Known Dinosaur. Sketch
reconstruction of _Brachiosaurus_, from specimens in the Field
Museum in Chicago, and the Natural History Museum in Berlin.]
At the date of writing this handbook only preliminary accounts have
been given of the marvellous finds made near Tendaguru by the
expedition from Berlin. From these it appears that in length of neck
and fore limb this East African Dinosaur greatly exceeded either
_Brontosaurus_ or _Diplodocus_. The hinder parts of the skeleton
however, were relatively small. The proportions and measurements given
tally closely with the American _Brachiosaurus_, a gigantic sauropod
whose incomplete remains are preserved in the Field Museum in Chicago
and to this genus the Berlin authorities now refer their largest and
finest skeleton. If the Berlin specimens are correctly referred to
_Brachiosaurus_ they indicate an animal somewhat exceeding
_Diplodocus_ or _Brontosaurus_ in total bulk but distinguished by much
longer fore limbs and an immensely long neck--a giraffe-like wader
adapted to take refuge in deeper waters, more out of reach of the
fierce carnivores of the land.[14]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 11: The mounted Skeleton of Brontosaurus, by W.D. Matthew,
Amer. Mus. Jour. Vol. v, pp. 63-70, figs. 1-5.]
[Footnote 12: Professor Williston makes the following criticism of
this theory:
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