that of Marsh's _Brontosaurus excelsus_, the
finest specimen ever secured here, which is now one of the treasures
of the Yale museum. More frequently a half or a third of a skeleton
lies together.

In the Bone-Cabin Quarry, on the other hand, we came across a
veritable Noah's-ark deposit, a perfect museum of all the animals of
the period. Here are the largest of the giant dinosaurs closely
mingled with the remains of the smaller but powerful carnivorous
dinosaurs which preyed upon them, also those of the slow and
heavy-moving armored dinosaurs of the period, as well as of the
lightest and most bird-like of the dinosaurs. Finely rounded, complete
limbs from eight to ten feet in length are found, especially those of
the carnivorous dinosaurs, perfect even to the sharply pointed and
recurved tips of their toes. Other limbs and bones are so crushed and
distorted by pressure that it is not worth while removing them.
Sixteen series of vertebrae were found strung together; among these
were eight long strings of tail-bones. The occurrence of these tails
is less surprising when we come to study the important and varied
functions of the tail in these animals, and the consequent connection
of the tail-bones by means of stout tendons and ligaments which held
them together for a long period after death. Skulls are fragile and
rare in the quarry, because in every one of these big skeletons there
were no fewer than ninety distinct bones which exceeded the head in
size, the excess in most cases being enormous.

[Illustration: Fig. 45.--COLLECTING DINOSAURS AT BONE-CABIN
QUARRY.
a. The overlying soil and rocks are loosened with a pick and
removed with team and scraper down to the fossil layer.

b. The fossil layer is carefully prospected with small tools,
chisels, awls and whisk brooms exposing the bones as they lie in
the rocks.

c. The blocks containing the fossils are channelled around,
plastered over top and sides, undercut and carefully turned over
and the under side trimmed and plastered.

d. The blocks are then packed in boxes or crates with hay or any
other available packing material.

e. Boxes are loaded on wagons and hauled across country to the
railroad.

f. Boxes are finally loaded on cars and shipped through to New
York City.]

The bluffs appear to represent the region of an ancient shoreline,
such conditions as we have depicted in the restoration of
_Brontosaurus_ (fig. 22)--the