Abstract
IN May 1891, the American Museum of Natural History began to form its historical collection of the Fossil Vertebrates of North America. The new department of Vertebrate Palœontology was established for this purpose, and the Curator organised a series of expeditions to different formations in the Rocky Mountain region, beginning with the older tertiaries, and mainly under the direction in the field of Dr. J. L. Wortman, the well-known collector and investigator. Between 1891 and 1897 twenty distinct expeditions have been sent out, in several instances the same regions being revisited two or three times, with the object of securing complete material of certain types. In 1894 and 1895, and upon a larger scale in 1897, the explorations were extended into the Mesozoic rocks for fossil reptiles. But the main strength of the work hitherto has been among the fossil mammals, and the Eocene and Oligocene collections are now especially complete, embracing the remains of 3000 individuals determined stratigraphically with accuracy, and establishing several new sub-horizons of great importance. In 1895 famous series of mammalian fossils brought together by the late Prof. Cope was added to these collections, embracing types of 555 species and upwards of 6000 individual specimens.
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OSBORN, H. Fossil Vertebrates in the American Museum of Natural History. Nature 59, 272–275 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/059272a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/059272a0