A CHAT WITH PROF. COPE CONTINUED. 343 



together, we can easily imagine tall twining forms, 

 rising to the height of the masts of a fishing fleet, or 

 like snakes twisting and knotting themselves to- 

 gether. This extraordinary neck, for such it was, 

 rose from a body of elephantine proportions ; and a 

 tail of the serpent pattern balanced it behind. The 

 lirnbs were probably two pairs of paddles, like those 

 of Plesiosaurus, from which this diver chiefly dif- 

 fered in the arrangement of the bones of the breast. 

 In the best known species, twenty-two feet represent 

 the neck, in a total length of fifty feet. 



This is the Elasmosaurus platyurus (Cope), a car- 

 nivorous sea reptile, no doubt adapted for deeper 

 waters than many of the others. Like the snake- 

 bird of Florida, it probably often swam many feet 

 below the surface, raising the head to the distant air 

 for a breath, then withdrawing it and exploring the 

 depths forty feet below, without altering the position 

 of its body. From the localities in which the bones 

 have been found in Kansas, it must have wandered 

 far from land, and that many kinds of fishes formed 

 its food, is shown by the teeth and scales found in the 

 position of its stomach. 



A second species, of somewhat similar character 

 and habits, differed very much in some points of 

 structure. The neck was drawn out to a wonderful 

 degree of attenuation, while the tail was relatively 

 very stout, more so, indeed, than in the Elasmosaurus, 

 as though to balance the anterior regions while occu- 

 pied in various actions, e. </., while capturing its food. 

 This was a powerful swimmer, its paddles measuring 

 four feet in length, with an expanse, therefore, of about 



