Diplodocus according to G.G. Simpson

Earlier today I reviewed Oliver Hay's ideas about the habits and posture of Diplodocus, and being that today was already history-heavy I thought it fitting to put up a poem by G.G. Simpson about the same animal. While studying Mesozoic mammals in London in 1927, Simpson included a poem about Diplodocus (and the cartoon reproduced above) in a letter to his mother;

Oh! Thou imbecile reptile Diplodocus!

Whoever created so odd a cuss?

With a tail like a neck,

And a neck like a tail--

I wonder, by heck,

If you ever do fail

To remember your ends,

And when danger impends

Do stand still, which is bad, or, still more, run tail first,

Or indeed run both ways, which is rather worst!

The letter is collected with other letters from Simpson to his family in the book Simple Curiosity, and both the poem and cartoon are again reproduced in the introduction to the book The Sauropods (freely available online here).