tunity of again examining the type specimen. I therefore place the Yale specimen for the present in this species.
The characters of the pelvis, that is, the short ischia especially, and the shape of the pubis, will be readily appreciated by an examination of Plate I. The paddle is especially noteworthy because of the primitive number of the epipodial bones (there are no supernumeraries), and this character I have also observed in the paddles of three other species of the genus. The paddle, it is also observed, is much elongated, and the femur is relatively short (Plate II, figure 1). The few vertebræ of the neck preserved are quite elasmosaurian in character. Other propodials of this species are preserved in the University of Chicago collections.
Elasmosaurus sternbergi n. sp. Niobrara Cretaceous of Kansas.
The only parts referable with certainty to this species are two complete dorsal vertebrae and some additional fragments in the University of Kansas collection, obtained some years ago by Mr. Charles Sternberg in the yellow chalk of Gove county, Kansas. I describe them, nevertheless, since they indicate the largest plesiosaur of which I have any knowledge. If they belonged to a long-necked form like E. platyurus, the animal could not have been less than sixty feet in length. That they pertain to a long-necked form is quite certain, and the general characters of the vertebræ are like those of Elasmosaurus.
The dorsal centra are nearly circular in outline, somewhat broader than high, with their sides gently concave. The diapophyses are stout, directed upward and outward to a plane above the zygapophyses. The zygapophyses are separated by a notch and are rather small. The spine is flattened and elongate. Figures of these vertebræ will be given in a later communication.
This is the only specimen referable to this species that I have ever seen in the many years of my acquaintance with the Kansas saurians. Its extreme rarity will therefore justify the description of the rather meager material.
Elasmosaurus nobilis n. sp. Niobrara Cretaceous of Kansas.
A very large specimen referable to a new species is represented by a considerable portion of a skeleton in the Yale
