322 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



much longer than the body. If the tail of the 

 fossil reptile was slender, and of the same relative 

 proportions as in the Iguana, the largest individual 

 would be fifty or sixty feet long ; but it is more 

 probable, and in fact almost certain from the short- 

 ness of the bodies of the caudal vertebrae, that 

 the tail was short, and flattened in a vertical direc- 

 tion, as in certain living reptiles — for example, the 

 Doryphorus ; the length, therefore, would be re- 

 duced to little more than thirty feet.* 



From what has been advanced we may conclude, 

 that the Iguanodon was a gigantic but inoffensive 

 herbivorous reptile, which lived on the ferns, 

 cycadeae, palms, and coniferae that constituted the 

 flora of the country of which it appears to have 

 been the principal inhabitant. 



Hylzeosaurus, or Wealden Lizard. — This is 

 another reptile of the Wealden, possessing the 

 same remarkable conformation of the sacrum as 

 the Iguanodon. It is distinguished by a peculiar 

 modification of the bones composing the sternal 

 arch, and by its osseous dermal appendages : like 

 the bones of the former reptile, its remains were 

 first observed in the strata of Tilgate Forest. 



The scapula is like that of the crocodiles, while 

 the coracoid bone is of the lacertian type. The ribs 



* Medals of Creation, p. 751. 



