312 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



wholly uninstructed as to the characters which 

 alone render such specimens interesting. What the 

 waves cast up on the strand, the fishermen gather 

 together, the casual visitor selects such as please 

 his fancy, and the remainder are thrown away, or 

 employed to pave the footpath, or surround the 

 flower-border, of the cottager's dwelling.* 



The remains hitherto found, are separate bones 

 belonging to the well-known Wealden reptiles, 

 viz. the Iguanodon, Hylceosaurus, Megalosaurns, 

 and Streptospondylus ; and the Cetiosaurus, Plesio- 

 saurus,-f and two or more kinds of turtles. I have 

 seen but two teeth ; a fragment of one belonging 

 to the Megalosaurus, and the specimen figured 

 in lign. 27. 



The Iguanodon. — Of this most gigantic of 

 terrestrial reptiles, which, when living, must have 

 more nearly resembled in its magnitude and huge 

 proportions, the largest of our living pachvder- 

 mata, than any of the saurian order to which it 

 belongs, many vertebra?, portions of ribs, and 

 bones of the extremities, have been discovered in 



* The largest toe-hone of the Iguanodon now in ray possession was obtained 

 from a row of stones placed round the flower-plot of a cottage near Brixton. 

 I much regret that my professional engagements have rendered it impossible 

 for me to attempt to remedy the evil mentioned in the text. 



t Having given a concise exposition of the OSteological characters of these 

 extraordinary beings in the " Medals of Creation" (vol. ii. p. 684, ch. xvii. and 

 xviii.), with full instructions for the collection of their remains; to that Work 

 refer the reader desirous of pursuing these inquiries. 



