A few years after the discovery of the plesiosaurs by Conybeare, the remains of animals of allied kinds were found in the Triassic rocks of Bavaria. At first they were supposed to be those of true plesiosaurs, and even the astute Cuvier was not very clear about them. Cuvier was the first to call attention to them, expressing the opinion that some of the fossils were of previously unknown animals allied to the crocodiles, lizards, and plesiosaurs. It was von Meyer, however, who first introduced a nothosaur to the scientific world under the name _Conchiosaurus_. A year later Count George of Münster described other forms under the name _Nothosaurus_, meaning “false lizard.” Count von Münster was a most zealous collector of the fossils of the Triassic deposits of Bavaria, amassing, after thirty years of active and enthusiastic labor, a very large amount of material, which, at his death, was purchased by the King of Bavaria and placed in the hands of von Meyer for study. Von Meyer was to Germany what Owen was to England, a man of deep learning, having an extensive knowledge of comparative anatomy, and being thorough and critical in his work. His descriptions and illustrations of these rich collections made by von Münster are masterpieces of scientific thoroughness. He recognized in _Nothosaurus_ and other allied forms from the Bavarian Triassic a distinct group of semiaquatic reptiles allied to the plesiosaurs, and his conclusions have never been gainsaid. In more recent years additional remains of these animals from Bavaria and other places in Europe have been described, but none are known from other parts of the earth, or from other than Triassic rocks. Altogether about ten genera and about twice as many species have been described, probably all belonging in one family, and all by common consent now classified with the Sauropterygia. [Illustration: FIG. 45.—Head and neck of _Nothosaurus_; photograph of specimen in the Senckenberg Museum, from Dr. Dreverman.] [Illustration: FIG. 46.—Pectoral girdle of _Nothosaurus_, from photograph by E. Fraas: _icl_, interclavicle; _cl_, clavicle; _sc_, scapula; _cor_, coracoid.] [Illustration: FIG. 47.—Pelvic bones of _Nothosaurus_: _il_, ilium; _ac_, acetabulum; _p_, pubis; _is_, ischium. (After Andrews.)]