•1 02 The Fossil Skeleton found at Maidstone. 



limestone, called Kentish rag, which is of marine formation, 

 and abounds in marine shells, and forms a part of the green 

 sand below the chalk strata. It must, however, be borne in 

 mind, that the Kentish rag is in the vicinity of the Wealden 

 strata ; and we may imagine, without any violation of pro- 

 bability, that the body of the animal had been carried by a 

 river or inundation into the sea, and embedded in the sand. 

 Large as the animal must have been whose bones were dis- 

 covered at Maidstone, much larger bones have been found 

 in the west of Sussex. There are, in the museum, one very 

 perfect thigh bone, 3 ft. 8 in. in length, and 2 ft. 11 in. in 

 circumference at the largest extremity ; and several caudal 

 vertebrae which measure 2 ft. in circumference. By com- 

 paring these bones with analogous bones of a recent iguana, 

 placed upon them, and taking the length of a skeleton of the 

 latter (also in the museum), as a standard, which is 3 J ft. long, 

 we may infer that the length of the iguanodon to which some 

 of the bones belonged must have exceeded 100 ft. 



The museum contains a very instructive series of skeletons 

 of recent fishes and reptiles, comprising the Boo. constrictor, 

 the crocodile, various saurian animals, and several species of 

 the tortoise, &c. By a careful comparison of these with the 

 fossil bones and skeletons, we are enabled to obtain a correct 

 knowledge of the osteology of extinct species, and to trace 

 the difference between their structure, and that of analogous 

 species at present inhabiting the earth. The collection in 

 this museum is greatly increased (since the time when the 

 description of it in III. 9 — 17. was written), both by the 

 labours of Dr. Mantell, and the contributions of foreign geolo- 

 gists. Among the latter is a cast of the head of the Moso- 

 saurus, a large fossil reptile of Maestricht, presented by Baron 

 Cuvier. This is so correctly coloured, that we believe it 

 would be scarcely possible to distinguish it from the original 

 head in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. 



The removal of this museum from Lewes to Brighton may 

 be regarded as a valuable acquisition to the latter place ; as 

 its liberal proprietor allows it to be visited by his friends and 

 patients, every Tuesday, from two to four, on application for 

 tickets of admission on the previous Saturday, which may be 

 sent for on the Monday. In a notice at the end of the de- 

 scriptive catalogue, Dr. Mantell states that, as the collection 

 is strictly a private one, and being actively engaged in his 

 profession as surgeon and medical practitioner, the above 

 arrangement is absolutely necessary to avoid inconvenience 

 and disappointment. 



Hampstead, Dec. 9. 1834-. 



