A DINOSAUR.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18675, 26 April 1926, Page 4

A DINOSAUR.

BONES IN QUEENSLAND. IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. (iROH OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, April 9. From about four hundredweights of fossil bones found on the Durham Downs station, north of Roma, Mr Heber A. Longman, director of the Queensland Museuih, has formed the first herbivorous dinosaur tQ be discovered in Australia. ftie discovery is unparalleled m the Commonwealth, and, according to Mr Longman, the find is the most important since the establishment of the museum. The material consists of vertebrae from the tail region, some ot which are ivery incomplete, with fragments of the long bones, from a hind limb, and some shattered portions ot the pelvic girdle. These fossils aro described by the museum as representing a gigantic herbivorous dinosaur, about 40ft in length, with dominant hind limbs and a somewhat rigid tail. This large dinosaur has been named Rhoetosaurus brownei, the former nam© being based on one of the giants or Greek mythology, "Rhoetus," and the latter name beina; in honour of Mr A. J. Browne, of Durham Downs, who collected and presented the material. ' ' Immense Bulk. The immense bulk of the rhoetosaurus may be gauged from the dimensions of the anterior tail vertebrae, which, when complete, were -18 in in height, about 6in in length, and weighed about 30lb each. The tail evidently consisted of a rapidly-tapering series of bulky elements, and the manner in which the adjoining vertebrae are jointed to the other presents special features which do not appear to be present in dinosaurs described from other lands. A fragment of the shaft of the thigh bone had a circumference of 28in, and this bone, when complete, was probably more than.sft in length. The rhoetosaurus brownei is considered by Mr Longman to belong to the big group of herbivorous dinosaurs known as the sauropoda. and to a family in which the hind limbs were dominant. A feature of the Queensland fossil is the large size of the neural canal in the anterior vertebrae of the tail. In some dinosaurs this enlarged area has been referred to as a supplementary brain, and may be actually larger than the real brain, which in the giant forms may be 30ft away. Until further remains of the Australian dinosaur are found, the size of the head cannot be stated, but it is evident that the "tail brain" *s unusually large. Some fragments of a small dinosaur have been previously recorded in Australia, and a single claw attributed to a carnivorous type was found in Victoria several years ago, but the Durham Downs fossils contribute the finest remains of the herbivorous dinosaurs to be discovered in Australia.