[Illustration: Fig. 24.--The Largest Known Dinosaur. Sketch
reconstruction of _Brachiosaurus_, from specimens in the Field
Museum in Chicago, and the Natural History Museum in Berlin.]
At the date of writing this handbook only preliminary accounts have
been given of the marvellous finds made near Tendaguru by the
expedition from Berlin. From these it appears that in length of neck
and fore limb this East African Dinosaur greatly exceeded either
_Brontosaurus_ or _Diplodocus_. The hinder parts of the skeleton
however, were relatively small. The proportions and measurements given
tally closely with the American _Brachiosaurus_, a gigantic sauropod
whose incomplete remains are preserved in the Field Museum in Chicago
and to this genus the Berlin authorities now refer their largest and
finest skeleton. If the Berlin specimens are correctly referred to
_Brachiosaurus_ they indicate an animal somewhat exceeding
_Diplodocus_ or _Brontosaurus_ in total bulk but distinguished by much
longer fore limbs and an immensely long neck--a giraffe-like wader
adapted to take refuge in deeper waters, more out of reach of the
fierce carnivores of the land.[14]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 11: The mounted Skeleton of Brontosaurus, by W.D. Matthew,
Amer. Mus. Jour. Vol. v, pp. 63-70, figs. 1-5.]
[Footnote 12: Professor Williston makes the following criticism of
this theory:
"I cannot agree with this view--the animals _must_ have laid
their eggs upon land--for the reason that reptile eggs cannot
hatch in water.
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