No. 521] 



SAUROPOD DINOSAURS 



2C I 



tologists held at the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory in 1906, and by common consent was judged for 

 many reasons to represent the impossible. 



In October, 1908, there appeared in Vol. XLII of The 

 American Naturalist an article from the pen of Dr. 

 Oliver P. Hay, "On the Habits and Pose of the Sauropod 

 Dinosaurs, especially of Diplodocus." Dr. Hay main- 

 tains that in assembling the fossil remains of these ani- 

 mals they should have been given a crocodilian attitude. 

 At the conclusion of his article he sums up his views 

 in the following words : 



It seems to the writer that our museums which are engaged in mak- 

 ing 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 



variety of graceful positions. 



This article of Dr. Hay was followed by a paper from 

 the pen of Dr. Gustav Tornier, who, taking his cue from 

 Dr. Hay, has tried to show that American paleontologists 

 have totally erred in their conception of the structure 

 of the sauropod dinosaurs, and has given his views as to 

 the manner in which the bones of the Diplodocus should 

 have been assembled. His paper is embellished by a 

 number of cuts. Professor Tornier 's paper was fol- 

 lowed in the popular scientific journal Aus der Natur 

 by an article from the pen of Dr. Richard Sternfeld, in 

 which he endorses the views of Tornier and endeavors 

 to hold American paleontologists up to ridicule, asserting 

 that they have "literally, from head to foot, miscon- 

 structed the Diplodocus, and probably also its near 

 allies." Sternfeld enlarges upon Tornier \s views and 

 gives some illustrations of his own. 



In the manner of a man who lias made a wonderful 

 discovery, Tornier announces at the outset of his paper 

 that Diplodocus is a genuine reptile-' 'ein echtes Rep- 

 til." No student of the sauropoda has ever doubted 

 this. But having predicated the genuinely reptilian 



