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
"Although attaining a height of fifteen to sixteen feet the trachodons
were not covered with scales or a bony protecting armature, but with
dermal tubercles of relatively small size, which varied in shape and
arrangement in different species, and not improbably associated with
this varied epidermal pattern there was a varied color pattern. The
theory of a color pattern is based chiefly upon the fact that the
larger tubercles concentrate and become more numerous on all those
portions of the body exposed to the sun, that is, on the outer
surfaces of the fore and hind limbs, and appear to increase also along
the sides of the body and to be more concentrated on the back. On the
less exposed areas, the under side of the body and the inner sides of
the limbs, the smaller tubercles are more numerous, the larger
tubercles being reduced to small irregularly arranged patches. From
analogy with existing lizards and snakes we may suppose, therefore,
that the trachodons presented a darker appearance when seen from the
back and a lighter appearance when seen from the front.
[Illustration: Fig. 31.--The Dinosaur Mummy. Detail of skin of
under side of body. _After Osborn_]
[Illustration: Fig. 32.--Skin impression from the tail of a
_Trachodon_. The impressions appear to have been left by horny
scutes or scales, not overlapping like the scales on the body of
most modern reptiles, but more like the scutes on the head of a
lizard.]
[Illustration: Fig. 33.--Skull of Gila Monster (_Heloderma_), for
comparison of surface with skin impressions of _Trachodon_.
Enlarged to 4/3.]
"The thin character of the epidermis as revealed by this specimen
favors also the theory that these animals spent a large part of their
time in the water, which theory is strengthened by the fact that the
diminutive fore limb terminates not in claws or hoofs, but in a broad
extension of the skin, reaching beyond the fingers and forming a kind
of paddle.[18] The marginal web which connects all the fingers with
each other, together with the fact that the lower side of the fore
limb is as delicate in its epidermal structure as the upper,
certainly tends to support the theory of the swimming rather than the
walking or terrestrial function of this fore paddle as indicated in
the accompanying preliminary restoration that was made by Charles R.
Knight working under the writer's direction. One is drawn in the
conventional bipedal or standing posture while the other is in a
quadrupedal pose or walking position, sustaining or balancing the fore
part of the body on a muddy surface with its fore feet. In the distant
water a large number of animals are disporting themselves.
"The designation of these animals as the 'duck-billed' dinosaurs in
reference to the broadening of the beak, has long been considered in
connection with the theory of aquatic habitat. The conversion of the
fore limb into a sort of paddle, as evidenced by the Sternberg
specimen, strengthens this theory.
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