320 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



various localities of the Wealden, and with the aid 

 of the few specimens in which several are collo- 

 cated in the same block of stone, the size and 

 proportions of the body and limbs of the Iguanodon 

 may be determined ; yet but a vague idea of the 

 form and appearance of the original animal can be 

 derived from the relics hitherto discovered. For 

 the great discrepancy between the known parts of 

 the skeleton, and the corresponding bones in the 

 largest existing saurians, renders it vain to attempt 

 the restoration of the form of this colossal reptile, 

 till the skull, jaws, &c. are known. In all proba- 

 bility the entire or a considerable portion of the 

 skeleton of a young Iguanodon, will sooner or later 

 be brought to light, and yield the information 

 necessary to enable the palaeontologist to recon- 

 struct the skeleton, and delineate the form of the 

 living original. 



In the present state of our knowledge we may, 

 however, safely conclude, that the body of the 

 Iguanodon was equal in magnitude to that of the 

 elephant, and as massive in its proportions ; for be- 

 ing a vegetable feeder, a large development of the 

 abdominal region may be inferred. Its limbs must 

 have been of a proportionate size to sustain so 

 enormous a bulk; one of the thigh-bones (in the 

 British Museum) if covered with muscles and 





