132 EXTINCT MONSTERS 
the branch called Dinosaurs somewhere near crocodiles, the 
sphenodon, and even the turtles. 
We will take each sub-order in turn, and describe its leading 
features, and some of the individual genera will be described 
somewhat fully. In our previous edition the Enelish and 
the American Dinosaurs were separately dealt with; in the 
present edition they are not so divided. We have been obliged to 
omit details here and there to save space, as we are now limited 
to one volume, and a great part of Creatures of Other Days, 
will be found to be included in the present work. The Theropoda 
(or beast-footed sub-order) include such forms as Megalosaurus, 
Anchisaurus, Compsognathus, etc. They played the part of lions 
and tigers of the present day. 
To begin with Megalosaurus. In the year 1824 that keen 
observer and original thinker, the Rev. Dr. Buckland, described to 
the Geological Society of London some remains of a very strange 
and formidable reptile found in the Limestone of Stonesfield, near 
Woodstock (about twelve miles from Oxford), This rock, known 
as “Stonesfield slate” from its property of splitting up into thin 
layers, has long been celebrated for its fossil remains, and from it 
have been also obtained the bones of some early mammals, It is 
a member of the Lower Odlitic group. 
The portions of skeleton originally discovered consisted of 
part of a lower jaw, with teeth, a thigh bone (femur), a series 
of vertebree of the trunk, a few ribs, and some other fragments. 
The name Megalosaurus, or “ great lizard,” suggested itself both 
to Dr. Buckland and Baron Cuvier, because it was evident from 
the size of the bones that the creature must have been very big. 
It is true these bones were not found together in one spot; but 
Professor Owen came to the conclusion that they all belonged to 
the same species. 
