. The Badland formations of the Black Hills region. Geology; Geology, Stratigraphic; Vertebrates, Fossil. South Dakota School of Mines 121 who first described the species stated that he had seen hundreds of shells but no skull. Even today there is record of only two skulls. One of these in the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburg is accompanied by the shell (see Figure 19). The other is in the Princeton Museum but the body to which it belonged was not found. This general absence of the head is due perhaps to the fact that Stylemys was a dry land tortoise and any freshet that might be able to carry or
. The Badland formations of the Black Hills region. Geology; Geology, Stratigraphic; Vertebrates, Fossil. South Dakota School of Mines 121 who first described the species stated that he had seen hundreds of shells but no skull. Even today there is record of only two skulls. One of these in the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburg is accompanied by the shell (see Figure 19). The other is in the Princeton Museum but the body to which it belonged was not found. This general absence of the head is due perhaps to the fact that Stylemys was a dry land tortoise and any freshet that might be able to carry or roll the heavy decaying body into water where deposition was taking place would wrench the head away. This, separated from the body, would be inconspicuous and hence fail of ready detection. Several fossil turtle eggs have been found in the Badlands and they are regarded as belonging to the common species just described. Hay states that they are slightly elongated but he indicates that this is perhaps due to deformation by pressure from an original globular form. They are a little less than two inches in diameter. They were formerly in the James Hall collection but are now in the American Museum of Natural History. LIZARDS. But few remains of lizards have been found within the badland formations. Cope in 1873 described Aciprion formosum from fragmentary material and in 1882 the Princeton expedition found a lower jaw of the same species. Dr. George Bauer briefly described two other species in the American Naturalist in 1893. These are Rhineura hatched and Hyporhina antigua. No figures were given. In 1901 Mr. O. A. Peterson of the Carnegie Museum found two nearly complete skulls of Rhineura katcheri and a fragment of a third on Badland Creek, Sioux County, northwestern Nebraska. Mr. Earl Douglass described and figured the two better preserved skulls in 1908 in the Annals of the Carnegie Museum. The full length of the head is little more than one-half inch. An enlarged side view o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1910
