Re: Crest or Horn? was RE: Ornitholestes

["Jaime A. Headden" <qilongia@yahoo.com>]

I beleive the difference between "crest" and "horn" may be relatively simple:

  A horn bay be accuminate, or coming to a point, whereas a crest does not; a 
crest may also be a
laterally-compressed structure. My Webster's NewWorld Compact states that both 
are simply a growth
on the heads of animals, but where a horn is specific and hard, the crest is 
general, including
horns.

  An example may be the crest on the skull of *Ceratosaurus*, where the 
lachrymal crests become
pointed and thus may be referred to as horns, but the nasal crest is not, and 
may not be referred
to as a horn, though classically all three have been called "horns." Even the 
epoccipitals on the
frill of ceratopsids have been called horns; they, too, are accuminate.

=====
Jaime A. Headden

  Little steps are often the hardest to take.  We are too used to making leaps 
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do.  We should all 
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.

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