230 PETEIFACTIONS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. CHAP. III. 



And, as if to add to the difficulty of solving the enigma, some 

 metacarpal bones which I soon after discovered in the same 

 quarry, and forwarded to Paris, were declared to belong to a 

 species of Hippopotamus. 1 Subsequently a dermal horn or tu- 

 bercle from the same stratum, was declared by competent autho- 

 rities to be the lesser horn of a Rhinoceros ; and Dr. Buckland, 

 with the generous kindness which marked his character, wrote 

 to guard me against venturing to publish that these teeth, bones, 

 and horn, were found in the " Iron-sand formation," with which 

 the Tilgate beds were then classed, as there could be no doubt 

 they belonged to the superficial diluvium : and as the upper 

 beds of the conglomerate in which these first specimens were 

 found, was only covered by loam and vegetable earth, there 

 was no clear stratigraphical evidence to support a contrary 

 opinion. Other specimens, however, were soon procured by 

 stimulating the diligent search of the workmen by suitable 

 rewards, and at length teeth were obtained which displayed 

 the serrated edges, the longitudinal ridges, and the entire 

 form of the unused crown. I then forwarded specimens and 

 drawings to Baron Cuvier, and repaired to London, and with 

 the aid of that excellent man, the late Mr. Clift, ransacked 

 all the drawers in the Hunterian Museum that contained jaws 

 and teeth of reptiles, but without finding any that threw 

 light on the subject. Fortunately, Mr. Samuel Stuchbury, 

 then a young man, was present, and proposed to show me 

 the skeleton of an Iguana which he had prepared from a 

 specimen that had long been immersed in spirits ; and, to 

 my great delight, I found that the minute teeth of that 

 reptile bore a closer resemblance in their general form to the 

 fossils from Tilgate Forest, 2 than any others with which I was 

 able to institute a comparison. 



It was not, however, until I had collected a series of 



1 See the previous note. 



2 A letter from my excellent friend the late Wm. Clift, Esq. is now before 

 me, (it is dated Oct. 26, 1824,) enclosing the beautiful drawing of the 

 upper jaw and teeth of this Iguana, which is lithographed in my " Fossils 

 of Tilgate Forest." He states, " If you have occasion, or think it necessary, 

 to mention the specimen of which you wished me to make a sketch, it is 

 only fair to remind you that it was prepared by Mr. Samuel Stuchbury, 

 and that, although he intends to present it to the Hunterian Museum, 

 it does not at present belong to it. Mr. Stuchbury informs me that the 

 present individual is the common edible Iguana of the West-India 

 Islands ; but he is no further acquainted with its species or history." 



