From The Pittsburg Press, 9 August 1899.
Good Digging in a Wyoming Quarry for the Museum. Scientists in
the Field Exhumed a Diplodocus near Laramie--Nearly All the Bones of the
Head and the Complete Pelvic Arch Recovered.
News comes to-day from Wyoming that a fine fossil
specimen has
been discovered by the scientists sent out by Dr. W. J. Holland, of the
Carnegie Institute, who are now engaged in the fossil quarry near Laramie.
They have exhumed the remains of a dinosaur of the
jurassic period, called
a diplodocus. Dr. Holland stated he had nearly all the bones of the head
and some of the feet and legs and the complete pelvic arch, a most unusual
find.
This animal had a long neck, tail and hind legs, and short fore legs, with
a head like a frog. It was pretty long and stood 20 feet high at the hips.
The thigh bone was 6 feet in length and 15 inches in diameter, the ribs 6
feet long, and the diameter of the vertebra of the backbone being 12
inches. These bones are in perfect condition and will weigh several tons.
They are imbedded in a matrix of clay, which breaks away readily under the
geologist's pick, and are in a perfect state of preservation. They were
not exposed, being in a kind of bluff, the formation being what was part
of the bed of an ancient lake.
The Century dictionary defines the diplodocus as a genus of sauropod
dinosaurs, based on remains of the upper jurassic of Colorado. It is
characterized by a weak dentition confined to the forepart of the jaws and
the ischia straight, not expanded distally, and meeting in the middle
line.
Frederic S. Webster, chief of the department of preparation at the
Carnegie museum, is preparing five groups of birds for the museum, and
expects to have them ready for founder's day, in November.
The five groups now in course of preparation will be groups of robins,
Baltimore orioles, cedar or cherry birds, chestnut-sided warbler and
golden-wing warbler. The large group will be made of large, odd-looking
birds of a species which is never seen in these regions. The name and
nature of it is to be kept a secret until founder's day. Each of these
groups will show the bird in its natural environments, also the manner of
life and breeding habits of the birds. They will be made as nearly natural
to life as it is possible to make them.
