LOPHIODON, OB PAL^OTHERIUM. 309 



Fig. 106'. 



Middle phalanx of right fore-foot, nat. size. Eocene Marl, Isle of Wight. 



LOPHIODON, OR PAL^EOTHERIUM. 



THE fossil bone above figured is a median phalanx of 

 the right fore-foot, and was submitted to me as the bone 

 of an Iguanodon. There is, in fact, a considerable general 

 resemblance between the middle phalanges of this great 

 herbivorous reptile and those of the larger hoofed Mam- 

 mals ; but with respect to the fossil in question, the con- 

 figuration of the lateral surfaces for the attachment of the 

 ligaments ; the production of the inferior border of the 

 distal articulation into a process (p) for the insertion of 

 the flexor tendon ; and the greater curvature or portion 

 of a circle described by the distal articular extremity, (0, 0,) 

 which indicates a greater extent and freedom of flexion 

 and extension of the toe than the cold-blooded reptiles 

 possess ; all combine to prove the fossil to have belonged 

 to the more active, warmer-blooded and higher organized 

 Pachyderm. It agrees most closely with the characters 

 of the corresponding phalanges in the large Tapiroid qua- 



