GIANT LAND REPTILES OR DINOSAURS. 119 



found immediately below the ankle in the Iguanodon 

 are fused into a single bone, while the ankle-bones are 

 respectively united with the latter and the bones of 

 the leg ; but in a fossil reptile from the chalk of the 

 United States, which may be regarded as a distant 

 cousin of our Iguanodon, the arrangement of these 

 bones is so like that obtaining in birds, that the differ- 

 ence is merely one of the degree to which specialisa- 

 tion (as naturalists call these peculiar modifications 

 from the ordinary type) has been carried. 



Indeed, to those who believe in the evolution of 

 organised nature, it now appears evident that birds 

 have originally taken their origin from some kind of 

 extinct reptile more or less closely allied to the 

 ancestors of the Iguanodon. 



From the absence of any trace of bony plates, like 

 those found in the skin of living crocodiles, accom- 

 panying the skeletons of the Iguanodon, we may 

 safely infer that these creatures had an entirely naked 

 skin. In regard to their food, we know that palms 

 and cycads grew abundantly in England during the 

 Wealden period, and it is hence highly probable that 

 the fruits of these plants formed a considerable part of 

 the nutriment of these ancient reptiles. 



The sight of a herd of these giant Iguanodons, many 

 of which stood over 20 feet in height, stalking on their 

 hind limbs among the old Wealden forests and over- 

 topping many of its trees, must have been a spectacle in 

 comparison to which a drove of elephants in an Indian 

 jungle would be tame and commonplace. 



