New-York tribune., 1922-03-19

wiped out" But there is that great gap to
reckon with. 1t must now be admitted that in
the of the plesiosaurs ''no news is good
news" Patagonia, where anthropo1ogy de-
clares may be found the talest of mankind
also may furnish some extra large sizes in
animals.
Such discovery had not gone unforeseen.
Quite a few years ago this was written:
"One great fiat creature like a writhing,
palpitating mat of black greasy leather topped
its way slowly to the lake. Here and there
high serpent heads projected out of the water,
cutting swiftly through it with little column
of foam in front and long single wake be-
hind, rising and falling in graceful undula-
tions as they went. It was not until one of
these creatures wrgged on a sand bank with
in few hundred yards of us and exposed
arrel-shaped body behind the long serpent
neck that Challenger and Summerlee, who had
joined US, broke out into their duet of wonder
and admiration, Plesiosaurus! A fresh water
plesiosaurus! q"
That is from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
novel "The Lost World" an. ina aginative tale
tf the adventures of band of explorers who
ventured upon an isolated and elevated plateau
at the headwaters of the Amazon River, where
prehistoric life still f1ourshed The fair land
of Patagonia by the way, is just such a
plateau. The gorgeous, fantastic book now is
out of print, but sufficient copies exist to award
to Sir Arthur, if a plesiosaurus is found in
Patagonia reputation for intuition and de-
duction that must go unrivalled through the
ages, except for his own Sherlock Holmes.
AS one of Sir Arthur's characters declared
of prehistoric animals: "They can still be
found with all their hideous and formidable
characteristics If one has but the energy and
hardihood to seek their haunts."
Attaining the great plateau after hardships
and being marooned by the chopping away of
their tree bridge by treacherous guide, the
valiant Englishmen, the story relates were not
long in sighting five iguanodons, grazing, the
young ones as large as elephants. These crea-
lures were engaged in feeding on tree foliage,
like so many celery tops.
The explorers were led to their next adj
venture with the prehistoric by strange low
Cabling and whistlng sound (which filled the
air with a constant clamor." They cautiously
gazed into a great volcanic hole-swamp and
this was the strange sight that met their eyes:
"It was a weird place in ITSELF but its
cupants made it seem like a scene from the
Seven Circles of Dante The place was a
rookery of Pterodactyls. There were hum
dreds of them congregated within view All
the bottom area around the water edge was
alive with the young ones and with hdeous
mothers brooding upon their leathery yellow
eggs. From this crawling mass of obscure
reptile life came the shocking clamor which
filled the air and the mephitic, horrible and
musty odor which turned us sick. But above,
perched each upon it's own stone, ,tall gray
and withered, more like dead and dried speci-
mems than active living creatures, sat the
horrible males, absolutely motionless save for
the rolling Of their red eyes or an occasional
swapping on their rat-trap beaks as dragon
fly went past them. Their huge, membranous
wings were closed by folding their forcarms,
so that they sat like gigantic old women,