436 



IGUANODON, THE. 



finest marble and building-stone, large deposits 

 of merchantable mica, and semi-precious stones. 

 Idaho's precious metal belt is 350 miles in length 

 and from 10 to 150 miles in width. 



Progress daring 1883. It is estimated that 

 there was an increase of at least 10,000 in the 

 population during the year. The mines yielded 

 about $5,000,000, which, it is expected, will be 

 largely increased in 1884. The agricultural re- 

 sources increased 25 per cent. In 1882 gold 

 was discovered in the Coeur d'A16ne district, 

 in Northern Idaho. During 1883 prospecting 

 has been going on, and there has been a large 

 influx of miners. It is believed that when 

 developed these mines will yield rich results. 

 They are situated on Prichard, Gugle, and Bea- 

 ver creeks, tributaries of the North Fork of 

 Coeur d'Alene river, about thirty miles south 

 of the Northern Pacific railroad. Fort Cksur 

 d' A16ne is the nearest accessible point of sup- 

 ply. Galena has also been found in this region. 



IGUANODON, THE. The iguanodon was a gi- 

 gantic dinosaurian, the fossil remains of which 

 were first discovered by Dr. Mantell in the 

 Wealden of England in 1822. Its name, which 

 signifies ''-iguana-like teeth," was suggested by 

 the similarity in the appearance of its teeth, 

 with their serrated cutting edges, to those of 

 the iguana. Otherwise there appears to have 

 been but little similarity between the two ani- 

 mals. The iguanodon was supposed by the 

 older geologists to be of habits like the hippo- 

 potamus, and to have wallowed in the mud 

 and fed on the rank her- 

 bage of the marshy grounds. 

 Much new light has been 

 thrown upon the structure 

 and habits of the iguanodon 

 by the numerous remains, 

 including some nearly com- 

 plete skeletons, which were 

 found in 1878 at the coal- 

 mines of Bernissart, Bel- 

 gium. The fossils occur 



there, like those discovered in England, in 

 the Wealden or lower cretaceous strata, called 

 morts- terrains by the workmen, overlying the 

 coal-beds, which have to be penetrated for 

 about twelve hundred feet before the coal 

 is reached. Being charged with iron pyrites, 

 the bones were quite friable and difficult to 

 remove, but the task was accomplished suc- 

 cessfully under the supervision of M. De- 

 pauw. of the museum at Brussels, who adopted 

 the habits of the miners and spent three years 

 in the work. The bones have been for two 

 years under the constant study of M. L. Doilo, 

 who believes he has identified the skeletons, 

 .or parts of them, of twenty-three individuals, 

 two of which are of the species /. Mantetti, 



