DINOSA URS. 



97 



zamia, or " false palm"), constituted the groves and forests of its 

 plains and valleys ; and in its fens and marshes the equisetacese 

 (mare's-tails) and plants of a like nature prevailed. 



The Iguanodons of the Wealden epoch did not live and die 

 where their bones are now found — the condition in which their 

 fossil relics occur proves that they floated down the streams and 

 rivers, with rafts of trees and other' spoils of the land, till, arrested 

 in their course, they sank down and became buried in the 

 fluviatile and sometimes marine sediments then being slowly laid 

 down. In this way only can we account for the generally 

 broken and rolled condition of the bones, their separation from 

 each other, the numerous specimens of teeth which must have 

 been detached from their sockets, and the broken stems and 

 branches of trees without leaves that have been found in the 

 Wealden strata of England. 



Since the days of Dr. Mantell, the remains of Iguanodon, or 

 closely allied genera, have been found on the continent, in other 

 parts of England, and in North America, in strata of various 

 ages, from the Trias or New Red Sandstone to the Chalk (see 

 Table of Strata, Appendix I.), The American Hadrosaurus must 

 have decidedly resembled the Iguanodon. 



The beautiful restoration by our artist (plate VII.) is based 

 upon the Belgian specimens described in the following chapter. 



