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58 THE DINOSAURS OF WYOMING out life. A large-boned dinosaur then is an old one, and the age may have been hundreds of years. They had no enemies of their size, food was abundant and life easy. An age of 1,000 years is not improbable for one of the amphibious dinosaurs. The ends of all dinosaur bones are rough, suggesting the presence of an articular pad of cartilage, from which the end of the bone was nourished. FIGURE 17. Photomicrographs of normal and pathological dinosaur bone showing vascular spaces and :3tructure of o:..he bone. Magnified.
CHAPTER XII The "Sacral Brain" of Dinosaurs The unusual enlargement of the spinal canal in the dinosaurs has long been known and commented upon by various authors, and many attempts have been made to explain the presence, in the sacral region, of a mass of nerve material often many times larger than the brain. It must be remembered, however, that there was a large space around this "sacral brain" and a cast of the cavity in the sacrum is probably twice the size of the actual enlargement in the spinal corel. The best discussion of this "sacral brain" is that given by Professor R. S. Lull, Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at Yale University, and I am quoting extensively from his article, "On the Functions of the 'Sacral Brain' in Dinosaurs." The complete reference will be found in the bibliography. "Branca, in a discussion of the fauna of 1'endaguru, East Africa, makes a number of thought-inspiring comments upon the huge sauropod dinosaurs which the formation contains. Among other points he is striving to account for the maintenance of their immense bulk upon a possibly meagre diet by assuming digestive powers of extraordinary efficiency. For this he offers the following explanation: "One may be inclined to look for the ability to take care of food solely in the stomach, intestines, or liver. However, in the dinosaurs we may take into consideration something else, i. e., the 'sacral brain,' if we look upon the swelling of the spinal column in the sacrum as a 'brain.' According to W.aldeyer, it is indeed thinkable that the sacral brain in dinosaurs had a certain independence, and cared for the functions of nourishment, digestion, and procreation [bold type mine], also that through a particularly strong innervation it had become especially powerful, more powerful than the strongest digestive organs could be without such a sacral brain. In man there appear still to be traces of this, but here the sacral section of the spinal column is completely surpassed by the braili. Dinosaurian Feeding Habits "Our assumption of feeding habits based upon the character of dinosaurian dentition justifies the following conclusions: "Theropoda-These are the carnivorous dinosaurs in a strict sense, with teeth which were in the main prehensile and as such confined to the forward portion of the jaws. They must have been used for rending the prey, for in many instances they are sharp-pointed and compressed, with finely serrated 59
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'The CVinosaurs of Wyoming By ROY L
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Tragedy of the Mesozoic All the ele
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The DINOSAURS of Wyoming By ROY L.
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LIST OF ILLUsTRA'frONS IX Figure 32
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PREFACE The subject of dinosaurs in
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CHAPTER 1. What Are the Dinosaurs?
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2 CHAPTER II The Geological Age of
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CHAPTER III Their Origin and Distri
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THEIR ORIGIN Ai"D DISTRIBUTIOK 23 A
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CHAPTER IV Historical Account of th
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28 THE DINOSA1.:RS OF WYOMING "How
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92 THE DIKOSAURS OF 'WYOMING of bro
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94 THE DI OSAURS OF WYOMI G small p
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'C '" FIGURE 40.-DISEASE AND INJURY
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FIGURE 41.-INJURIES AMO"G FOSSIL VE
Page 43 and 44: FIGURE 42.-FRACTURE 'AND NECROSIS I
Page 47: THE THREE-HORNED DINOSAURS 107 horn
Page 50: CHAPTER XIX Animals Which Lived wit
Page 53 and 54: CHAPTER XX Wyoming Dinosaurs Abroad
Page 58 and 59: CHAPTER XXII QLOSSARY Amphibious Di
Page 63: "SACRAL BRAIN" OF DIi\TOSAURS depar
Page 67 and 68: CHAPTER XIV Footprints of Dinosaurs
Page 70: CHAPTER XV The Armoured Dinosauria
Page 73 and 74: THE ARMOURED DIKOSAURIA 73 of penta
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Page 78 and 79: FIGURE 25.-RESTORATION OF THE PALAE
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Page 82 and 83: 82 THE DINOSAURS OF WYOMING decesso
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Page 88 and 89: CHAPTER XVII The Carnivorous Dinosa
Page 90 and 91: 90 THE DINOSAURS OF WYOMING Carniyo
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Page 106 and 107: 40 THE DINOSAURS OF WYOMING Wyoming
Page 109 and 110: FIGURE 8. Map of Niobrara County. W
Page 111: DIFFERENT KINDS OF DIKOSACRS 45 "Co
Page 115 and 116: FIGURE IO.-PATHOLOGICAL LESIONS IN
Page 117 and 118: FIGURE
Page 119 and 120: FIGURE 14. The Haemangioma. or vasc
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