The Ceratopsia (1907) (20402436269)

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:
APPEARANCE OF THE CERATOPSIA. 189 THE LARAMIE TYPES. Marsh has given us the first skeletal restoration of Triceratops in the Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey (PI. LXXI), reproduced here as fig. 125. This restoration is very accurate except for the number of presacral vertebra?, which has been overestimated. As Hatcher has shown, in Triceratops brevicornus at least (p. 46, fig. 48), the number of presacrals is not more than twenty-two, while in Marsh's figure there are twenty- one without the cervicals, which probably number at least eight more. Another feature about which doubt may be expressed is the correctness of the restoration of the feet, for while odd foot bones have been brought to light, no com- plete manus or pes of this interesting animal has yet been found. Knight has essayed at least three restora- tions of Triceratops, the first two, a statuette and a drawing, being based largely, if not wholly, upon that of Marsh. The statuette was made for the American Museum, and a view of it is shown as fig. 26 in F. A. Lucas's Animals of the Past (McClure, Philips & Co., New York, 1901), while the drawing was also published by Lucas." The restoration of Triceratops which forms the frontispiece of the present volume was made under Hatcher's personal supervision, and is one of the most successful of Knight's artistic reconstructions. The general proportions are markedly different from those of the preceding conceptions of the animal, notably in the shorten- ing of the back and in placing the highest point in the arch of the vertebral column over the sacrum rather than farther forward. The propor- tion of head to trunk is also greater, the skull be- ing almost one-third of the entire length of the animal, including the tail. The length of the tail is conjectural, as a complete caudal series is unknown and it is possible that it may have been reduced somewhat, as it no longer subserved the function of a counterpoise, as in bipedal dinosaurs. The skeleton of Triceratops prorsus which has recently been mounted at the National Museum is that upon which Marsh based his restoration, and a comparison of the results is of great interest. The skeleton was mounted by Mr. C. W. Gilmore, of the Museum staff, and his description of the specimen is hero given:6 The skeleton of Tririralojis jiiorsnx, recently placed on exhibition in the court devoted to Vertebrate paleontology, is the first one of this extinct genus to 1>:' mounted. As all f the specimens (of Triceratops) referred to above were more or less fragmentary, the most complete one (So. 4842c) (Sk. C, 2082 and 20S1) was used as a basis for the present restoration. The missing parts (including the skull (No. 2100)) were substituted from other individuals of about the same size and belonging to the same species. Where suitable bones were not available, as was the cas ! in a lew instances, these parts were restored in plaster, colored to somewhat resemble the bones, but having the shade differ sufficiently to be easily recognized. Thus we have been able to present a fairly accurate representation of the skeletal si incline of I his peculiar reptile. I'! very bone used in "Ann. Kept. Smltbsoni n Institution for 1901, p 644, PI. I. & Gilmore, C. W., A mounted skeleton of Triceratops: Proc. r. 8. Nat. Mus., vol. 29, 1905, pp. 433 486. Some won is in brackets have been since added by Mr. Gilmore. cCatalogue number of the U. s. National Museum. d Marsh's original numb
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 124.—Restoration of Tricerntops. Rear view of the mounted skeleton in the U. S. National Museum. (See also PI. XLIX.)