]
"By thus grouping the skeletons in lifelike attitudes, the relation of
the different bones can best be shown, but these of course are only
two of the attitudes commonly taken by the creatures during life.
Mechanical and anatomical considerations, especially the long straight
shafts of the leg bones, indicate that dinosaurs walked with their
limbs straight under the body, rather than in a crawling attitude with
the belly close to the ground, as is common among living reptiles.
"Trachodonts lived near the close of the Age of Reptiles in the Upper
Cretaceous and had a wide geographical distribution, their remains
having been found in New Jersey, Mississippi and Alabama, but more
commonly in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. A suggestion of the
great antiquity of these specimens is given by the fact that since the
animals died layers of rock aggregating many thousand feet in vertical
thickness have been deposited along the Atlantic coast.
"The bones of the erect specimen are but little crushed and a clear
conception of the proportions of the animal can best be obtained from
this specimen. It will be seen that the Trachodon was shaped somewhat
like a kangaroo, with short fore legs, long hind legs, and a long
tail. The fore limbs are reduced indeed to about one-sixth the size of
the hind limbs and judging from the size and shape of the foot bones
the front legs could not have borne much weight. They were probably
used in supporting the anterior portion of the body when the creature
was feeding, and in aiding it to recover an upright position.
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