Zoological Discovery in Colorado.

Manawatu Herald, 15 April 1899, Page 2

Zoological Discovery in Colorado.

# A correspondent of the " Zoologist" writes that Assistant Professor W. H. Rr>ed, of the Geological Uoiver >*i r y of Wyoming, has muda a great discovery by unearthing tin petrified hones of the m -st colossal animii wver tak j n from the earth's cruse. rhi-« fusil minster wag a dweller in th* Jurassic ag?. a Dinosaur, measuring n-arly 180 f t in length, and h ir>3f pfi'-hip< 85ft in height at in-hip-i nnJ 25ft at ib) ph>uldr-»-a> •in cml so terrib'e in siz> th it it-peTifi.-.d skeleton alon*» ii believed to w^igh mm» thm 40.0U0:b. Prqfassor R^d made the gi'-at fioci la* v ng.nt wli;-n pr jspectinj? for fossil 90 mi'ea norh-west of Liramif, and during t ho tim« which ba* elap^d *ine^ ihen the members of the Uni vnnty hive be^n pecretly at work in its restoration. The skeleton of th animal is so. va?t thy- i f s smal'e" bone ypfc found is nnre than a rain can lift, and, with two m -n constantly at work, it is believed that miny months will be r qaired before thmonster can be pltct-ckon tha campuat Laramie. Although its restora tion is as yet incomplete, still t-mugh of it a bin PS have baen disinterred to esabli.sh its zoological position, *knd to place it in geological history as f.he kins; of all an : mals restored from f039il fields. In comparison to a mammo-b, thi=t animal was in «a» as a horse to a dog. In the kqDg^a foßß'l world there is but one crp&thre that can be compared at all wiih it, and this would ba only as a child beaide it. Tb.3 famius Bron f o\sanp at the Yale Museum, at New Haven, i»_ its only animal criterion < f measoce/ ment. This was an animal of it-* own kind, a f jllew creature in Wyo ming, where for millions of years they have lain together in the same deposit. The skelet mat Y*le was restored in 1879 by Professor Reed, under the direction of Professor Marsh. Besides this mon3ter, the largest Dinosaurs of Europe, and indeed the world, have remained since its discovery as only pigmies. Fur years the geological students have made pilgrimages to New Haven to 9ludy and to marvel at it 3 immense skeleton. This monster is believed to have been 70ft in length, and to have weighed perhaps 80,« 0001 b in life. Professor Rued says that, although it is practically out of the question to give an accurate idea of a living Dinosaur, he should think that the animal now being restored ould w°igh in life 60 tons, that it had a neck 80 ft in ipngMi, and a tail »bont 60 ft in length, and the cavity nf its bviy, with luuga and entraih out, wmld make a hall 84ft lon^ and 16ft wide ; the had of thp animal is vpry small for the size of the boly There is no building in Laramie large enough to hold it, and when takon there it will probably be placed temporarily on the campus. The work of restoring it has been greatly interrupted by snow, hut it is being carried on as rapidly as

possible. For a great number of years Wyoming has beeu known to contain some of the world's most wonderful f)ssil fields, the first discovery dating back to 1858. and 1877 Wyoming has been known to hava the petrified remains of the largest land animals that have ever lived.