A myth that has been circulating for some time is that the word "coprolite," referring to fossilized dung, was coined by Marsh as a not-so-subtle jab at his former friend, Cope. While entertaining, this myth is not true. Actually, the term had been used in the early years of the Nineteenth Century by William Buckland (1784-1856). He was working on the Lias of Dorset and was the first to recognize what he was looking at. He coined the term "coprolite" from the Greek words "kopros," meaning dung, and "lithos," meaning stone. Buckland was one of the first scientists to recognize that the bones he was finding were from large, extinct reptiles, and he named Megalosaurus back in 1824, before Sir Richard Owen named the dinosauria in 1842! (See my article, "Sir Richard Owen" for more information.)
Coprolites are a form of trace fossil. Be sure to read my article "Dinosaur Tracking," for more information about trace fossils such as footprints.
A great new book about Cope and Marsh is The Bonehunters' Revenge: Dinosaurs, greed, and the greatest scientific feud of the gilded age, by David Rains Wallace, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999
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