Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/85

 f Prof O (, Maisl The few repieaecta t of tl 3 collect on s He n the seconrt floor rooms ami Ibc h<il! n a a j c ilont? sufficient to stamp tl e

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��I pre in thia I ne but thej a e merelv an advert semei t of wliat cellar an 1 att c contnin It s not too mach to sa^ tbit in re to \ertebrite pale itology (outs de of fi h ') tbib m iseun s not surpassed in the worM. Where other collections own fragments or single skeletons. Professor Marsh boasts scores or hundreds of individaala. while many extinct rtice.s are known only by theii- lU remAins in his pos- uon. ' This is the result of lely directed energy. 1 the ftbilitj' to spend jiey promptly ami lib-

"y. Marsh's IVequent ^Hoc^Kn '^oT* ^he Klitions to the far i-'he ««. a. c, oi.usd t are well known to ufh^'t'ih abuh-k or iotogists. Many car- *'^"- •ds resulting (Vom these

rere not only shipped home by himself, but his ^nt« have been forwarding enormous iiiianti- ^ver since, from Wyoming and Colorado piarries.' Jnst before the holidays, a single alment of two hundred and seventeen lai'ge Kses flUed with hones from the western ter- riea arrived at the museum, and were stored a the basement lobby for lack of space in any hipartment.

In respect to mammals, a series of fragmen- y remains, chiefly jaw-bones from the eocene, resent the first primates, cheiropters, ami rsnpials discovered in Xorth America. No ) popularly interesting deduction is likt'ly to be drawn from a study of them, than that which traced the genealogy of the horse from the diminutive five-toed progenitor of the early eocene to the present friend and servant ol' wkind. There are hundreds of specimens f these little horses at Vale.

In the class of birds, still rarer ti-easurea uy be catalogued. Along the eastern foot f the Rocky Mountains, certain strata of the Iddle cretaceous period have been exposed, Bsponding to Meek nud Unyden's ' Number ,' but termed ■ Pteranodon be<is ' by Pi'o-

��fcsBor Mash lleso lels consist of fine \ elion uhilk r ell adapte 1 to preserving Ihe re- miiQS of dehcate structures and here were gath- ere I the skeletons of those remarkable 'birds \ th teeth (Hesperorn s and Ichtbyornis) , ipon whch Irofessor Marsh has published an elaborate nemo r 1 hese were collected dur- ng hs e-(:pedtois of 18 0. 1871, and 1872. in lei the greatest \ enla aud hardships ; and tlej lite graduallj iieen added to. until now Iht museum conta s a hundred or more indi- d lals includmg twenty species of nine or ten genera There are hfty specimens of Hea- perornia alone, ^^e^eral of the most perfect of these are on exhibition ; and, as any intelligent person can comprehend their peculiarities, they never fail to interest thoughtful visitors.

Another fossil, appealing strongly to popu- lar fancy, is the fine ptcroiiactyl, — that same ' first specimen brought to light ' which showed the bat-like flying membranes attached to the wings and tail. Thia came from Europe, where these winged lizards are so great a rari- ty in museums, that a fVagment of one is highly prized ; but Marsh now possesses from Ameri- can rocks no leas than six hundred individuals. Some are of great size, spreading wings that

���measured from fifteen to twenty-five feet from tip to tip. These huge pterodactyls form the new order Pterodontin. .tnd their

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