50 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 
An occasional Mosasaur 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 Mugger, 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 Mosasaurs. 
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 
* It is surprising to find Professor Cope placing 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 45 feet. 
