The Ceratopsia (1907) (20595714461)

Title: The Ceratopsia

Identifier: ceratopsia00hatc (find matches)

Year: 1907 (1900s)

Authors: Hatcher, J. B. (John Bell), 1861-1904; Lull, Richard Swann, 1867-1957; Osborn, Henry Fairfield, 1857-1935; Marsh, Othniel Charles, 1831-1899

Subjects: Ceratopsia

Publisher: Washington, Govt. Print. Off.

Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries

Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

Text Appearing Before Image:

190 THE CEEATOPSIA. the skeleton bears its catalogue number, and all plaster bones are marked with a red +. There is thus preserved a definite record of all the associated material comprising the composite skeleton. * * * The skeleton as mounted is standing on a base of artificial matrix intended to represent the color and texture of the Laramie sandstone in which the remains of these animals are found. From the tip of the beak to the end of the tail the skeleton as restored is 19 feet 8 inches in length. The skull, which is 6 feet long, equals nearly one-third of this length (a re- markable proportion). At the highest point (the top of the sacrum) the back is 8 feet 2 inches above the base. The mounted skeleton presents several features which would other- wise be lost to the observer if seen in the disarticulated condi- tion. The short body cavity, the deep thorax, the massive limbs, and the turtle-like flexure of the anterior extremities are characters appreciated only in the mounted skeleton. The position of the forelimbs in the present mount appears rather remarkable for an animal of such robust proportions, but a study of the articulating surfaces of the several parts precludes an upright mammalian type of limb, (such) as was represented by Marsh in the original restoration. * * * The (tail and) forefeet are perhaps the most conjectural parts of the whole restoration. (The tail is restored almost wholly from Marsh's drawing of this animal.) Mr. Hatcher, after a careful study of all the forefoot material (of this group) known, was unable to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as to the arrangement or the number of bones comprising the manus. In constructing these parts we have largely followed Marsh's drawing, assisted some- what by forefoot material kindly loaned by Dr. H. F. Osborn, of the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. (It seems probable that a similar condition prevailed in this animal to that found in the other better known dinosaurs, so instead of introducing a full complement of carpal and tarsal bones, as was done in the first restoration, only two elements were modeled to represent the carpus, while the astragalus alone comprises the tarsus.) The nasal horn (core) of the skull used in the present skele- ton appears to be missing, and on account of the unsatisfactory evidence as to whether the horn is wholly or only partly gone, it was decided not to attempt a restoration at this time. This will account for the absence (or rather the apparent lack of development) of one of the important features upon which the name of the animal is based, Triceratops meaning three-horn face, in allusion to the presence of the two large horns above the eyes and a third,smaller horn on the nose. It may be of interest to mention here that Professor Marsh used this skeleton (No. 4842), supplemented by other remains now preserved in the collections of the Yale University Mu- seum, for the basis of his restoration of Triceratops prorsus, published as PI. LXXI in the Dinosaurs of North America (fig. 125).« Pis. LXIV-LXVTII in the same work were also largely reproductions of parts of this same individual A comparison of the above-mentioned restoration by Marsh (fig. 125) with the. mounted skeleton (PI. XLTX of this work) shows several differences in points of structure, due chiefly to the better understanding of these extinct forms. The most striking dissimilarity is in the shortening of the trunk by a reduction of the number of presacral vertebrae. Marsh's error was due to an overestimate of the length of this region, a mistake also made in his restoration of Brontosaurus (=Apatosaurus), as has been shown by Riggs.b Mr. Hatcher determined from a well-preserved vertebral column in the Yale University Museum the number of presacrals as twenty-one,c this being six less than was ascribed to the animal by Professor Marsh.

Text Appearing After Image:

a Sixteenth. Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 1, p. 386. b Science, new ser., vol. 17, March 6, 1903, pp. 393-394. cDoctor Lull now recognizes twenty-two presacrals (see p. 47).

цератопсия 1907 ископаемые иллюстрации трицератопса книжные иллюстрации естественная история государственная типография Американский музей естественной истории каталоги динозавры палеонтология изображения из интернет-архива

1907

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