No. 502] HABITS OF SAUEOPODOUS DINOSAURS 681 



The writer's conception of Diplodocus is that it was 

 eminently amphibious, that it could swim with consider- 

 able ease, and that it could creep about on land, with 

 perhaps laborious effort. When feeding it must have 

 swam or crept lazily about, gathering in floating plants 

 and such as were attached loosely to the bottom. If any 

 plants that were relished grew at some depth they could 

 be reached by the long neck; or, if there was foliage 

 twenty feet above the water it could be as easily gath- 

 ered in. That a Diplodocus ever stood on its hind lgs is 

 hardly more probable than that crocodiles may perform 

 the same feat. 



The large size of Diplodocus does not preclude the 

 possibility that it could creep about on the land. Croco- 

 dylus robustus, of Madagascar, is said to attain a length 

 of 10 meters, and yet it doubtless is able to walk as other 

 crocodiles walk. The limb bones of Diplodocus and of 

 Brontosaurus are proportionally as large as those of 

 crocodiles. 



It seems to the writer that our museums which are 

 engaged in making mounts and restorations of the great 

 Sauropoda have missed an opportunity to construct some 

 striking presentations of these reptiles that would be 

 truer to nature. The body placed in a crocodile-like 

 attitude would be little, if any, less, imposing than when 

 erect; while the long neck, as flexible as that of an ostrich, 

 migat be placed in a variety of graceful positions. 



