Dr. MantelVs Isle of Wight 233 



Compton bays must have belonged to one hundred and fifty 

 or two hundred individuals, and they prove that the country 

 then teemed with colossal viviparous quadrupeds, some of them 

 indicating animals more gigantic than even those of Tilgate 

 forest. 



On the shores of this island, bones are found of all the well 



Wealden 



Megalo- 



saurus, and Streptospondylus, besides the Cetiosaurus and Plesio- 

 saurus. Dr. Mantell estimates the entire length of the fossil 



& 



thigh and leg bone found in Sandown bay to „ v ._ 



nine feet. A toe bone measured six inches Ions: and fifteen in 

 circumference. 



The body of the Iguanodon must have been equal in magni- 

 tude to that of the elephant, and its limbs of proportionate size. 

 One of the thigh bones in the British Museum if suitably invest- 

 ed with muscles and integuments, would form a limb seven feet 



in circumference. 



f he animal was a vegetable eater, and probably found its food 

 among the palms, ferns, cicadeas and coniferse of that era. The 

 hinder extremities, massive and unwieldy, resembled those of 

 the hippopotamus or rhinoceros, and were supported by a very 



strong short* foot furnished with claws like those of some tur- 

 tles. 



Although the bones of the extremities of the Iguanodon were 



*x or eight times larger than those of the most gigantic alligator 



-—the whole length appears not to have exceeded thirty feet, 



supposing the head to have been about three feet long with a 



p>rt neck and the tail thirteen feet — the trunk would be about 



w ^lve feet, which is much more than is seen in any living ani- 



***dL io fUAi.^U*. 4.1 a 4.1^^. I^^v^t* *^«~.tf V*r»»ri-i l-*r**-ii \ f "<nr<-il »ta *-vi* 



must 



animal. f Remains of the Hylaeo- 



*? Urus and Megalosaurus are also found in the Isle of Wight 

 he latter about thirty feet Ions; and the former of half that 



Bon 



of the Strep- 



^spondylus or lizard with reversed vertebrae, the ball being placed 

 ^teriorly upon the vertebra, and bones of the Plesiosaurus, have 

 So bee ** found in this island. 



bone f\ ln P ro P ortion to the colossal bulk of the animal ; but a single separate 

 J°intof h *° 0t Jlas ^ een f° und lo measure thirty inches in length, and the last 

 — ^r. / !> t0e t0 which a claw was attached, was five and a half inches long. 



f**«* 'Jlncient World, p. 212. 

 ph ants eIe P^nt rarely attains the height of eleven feet. Eleven hundred ele- 

 Tiduai 1 p X ^ min ^d on a particular occasion in India, did not present a single indi- 



§ ot e *even feet in height.— Anstcd's Ancient World, p. 213, note. 



* c °*d S ER1ES7 Vol. IV, No. 11. -Sept., 1847. 30 



