COUNTRY OF THE IGUANODON. 333 



induction previously explained, we may restore, 

 as it were, the region whence the Wealden strata 

 were derived, the animals by which it was inha- 

 bited, and the vegetables that clothed its surface. 

 Whether that country was an island or a con- 

 tinent cannot, perhaps, be determined ; but that 

 it was diversified by hills and valleys, and irrigated 

 by streams and rivers, and enjoyed a climate of 

 a higher temperature than any part of modern 

 Europe, is most evident. Arborescent ferns, palms, 

 coniferous trees, and cycadeous plants, constituted 

 its groves and forests, and delicate ferns the vege- 

 table clothing of its soil; and in its fens and 

 marshes the equiseta, and plants of a like nature, 

 prevailed. Its principal herbivorous quadruped 

 was the enormous lizard, the Iguanodon ; its 

 carnivora, the Megalosaurus and other predaceous 

 reptiles; crocodiles and turtles frequented its 

 rivers, and deposited their eggs on the banks and 

 shoals; and its waters teemed with fishes, mol- 

 lusca and crustaceans. That the soil was of a 

 sandy nature on the hills and plains, and argil- 

 laceous in the lowlands and marshes, may be 

 inferred from the vegetable remains, and the litho- 

 logical character of the strata in which they are 

 'imbedded. Some inferences relating to the pre- 

 vailing atmospheric condition of the country may 

 u 2 



