Diplodocus (Marsh): its osteology, taxonomy, and probable habits, with a restoration of the skeleton

Abstract

The bringing together of a fairly representative collection of fossil vertebrates is a work not only entailing the expei:iditnre of considerable sums of money, but one -which also calls for no little skill, energy, and ability on the j^art of those to whom tlie work is entrusted, whether they be curators, preparators, or collectors. The experienced student of vertebrate fossils alone realizes how exasperating are the many disappointments in his chosen branch of science. Many of these are unavoidable and will appear most unexpectedl}' even after he has been careful to eliminate those formerly due to improper field or laboratory methods by the employment of such painstaking care and improved methods of collecting and preparation as were unknown to his predecessors. Where a generation ago the extinct vertebrate life of America was but poorly I'epresented in our museums by imperfect series of teeth and isolated bones, we are now able to study many of these extinct animals from more or less complete skeletons. For these improved conditions we are mainly indebted to the late Professor Marsli, either directly by reason of the vast collec-