50 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



An occasional IVIosasaur reaches a length of 

 forty feet, but such are rare indeed, and one 

 even twenty-five feet long is a large specimen,* 

 while the great JNIugger, or Man-eating Croco- 

 dile, grows, if permitted, to a length of twenty- 

 five or even thirty feet, and need not be 

 ashamed to match his bulk and jaws against 

 those of most INIosasaurs. 



The first of these sea-reptiles to be dis- 

 covered has passed into history, and now 

 reposes in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, 

 after changing hands two or three times, 

 the original owner being dispossessed of his 

 treasure by the subtleties of law, while the 

 next holder was deprived of the specimen 

 by main force. Thus the story is told by 

 M. Faujas St. Fond, as rendered into English, 

 in Mantell's " Petrifactions and their Teach- 

 ings " : " Some workmen, in blasting the rock 



* // is surprising tojind Professor Cope placmg the length 

 of the Mosasaurs at 70, 80, or 100 feet, as there is not the 

 slightest basis for even the lowest of these figures. Professor 

 Williston, the best authority on the subject, states, in his volume 

 on the "Cretaceous Reptiles of Kansas," that there is not in ex- 

 istence any specimen of a Mosasaur indicating a greater length 

 than J^5 feet. 



