570 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



humerus 2*04111. The latter is a little less than the length of the 

 African humerus but serves to show that the femur is not 

 necessarily the longest of the limb-bones. Brachiosaurus and 

 the African dinosaur may prove to be related. In addition to 

 those of dinosaurs, bones apparently referable to pterodactyles 

 have been obtained. Remains of dinosaurs have likewise been 

 discovered in several other localities of German East Africa. 

 Prof. Branca adds that if the sauropod dinosaurs subsisted on a 

 vegetable diet, it is difficult to imagine how they obtained 

 sufficient nutriment. The same difficulty, it may be mentioned, 

 has occurred to Mr. J. Versluys, who suggested (Zool. Jahrb., 

 Abtheil. f. Systemat., vol. xxix. p. 425) that these reptiles fed on 

 fishes. Prof. Branca is also exercised in his mind how sauropods 

 obtained sufficient calcareous matter for their enormous skeletons; 

 but the supply of this substance would obviously increase pari 

 passu with the amount of food consumed. 



In reference to the above-mentioned remarks of Mr. 

 Versluys on the food of dinosaurs, it may be added that in 

 the opinion of that naturalist the capacity of the abdominal 

 cavity of these giant reptiles is not large enough to have 

 contained the enormous amount of vegetable matter necessary 

 for the support of such monsters. On the other hand, it is 

 argued that the powerful muscles of the neck (as indicated 

 by the bony projections to which they were attached), com- 

 bined with the mobility of the neck itself and the relatively 

 small head, indicate definite and rapid movement in a dense 

 medium. Moreover, the nature of the dentition and the form 

 of the cavity of the mouth appear to be a special adaptation 

 for capturing living prey. And it would thus seem that these 

 reptiles frequented the banks and borders of rivers or lakes, 

 where they captured fish under water, which they swallowed 

 whole without any attempt at mastication. It is further sug- 

 gested that the long whip-like tail of Diplodocus might have 

 served to beat the water and thus drive the fish into the 

 shallows. 



Reference was made in my review for 1910 to Dr. R. S. 

 Lull's restoration of the skeleton of the armoured dinosaur 

 Stegosaurus ; this restoration Mr. G. R. Wieland (Amer.J. Set. 

 vol. xxxi. pp. 112-24) suggests is incomplete, for he claims to 

 have evidence of the existence of a series of low, lateral, 

 bony keels in addition to the large dorsal plates. In the 



