32 REPTILES. 



sects, which they actively pursue ; it is sai J that whenever two of 

 them meet, a furious combat inevitably ensues. 



The species of the Antilles, or the Roquet of Lacep.T, pi. xxvii, 

 which is more particularly the Lac. bidlaris, Gin., has a short muz- 

 zle speckled with brown, and salient eye-lids ; its usual colour is 

 greenish. Its round tail excepted, it closely resembles the Lac. bi- 

 rnaculata. The Anolis raye, Daud. IV, xlviii, 1, only differs from 

 it in a series of black lines on the flank. It seems to be identical 

 with the Lac. strumosa, L. Seb. II, xx, 4, and is somewhat longer 

 than the preceding species. 



The Carolina Anolis, Iguane goitreux, Brongn. Catesb. I, lxvi, 

 is of a fine golden green; a black band on the temple and a long 

 and flattened muzzle give it a peculiar physiognomy, and render it a 

 very distinct species*. 



It is to this family of the Iguanae with palatine teeth, that belongs an 

 enormous fossil reptile, known by the name of the Maestricht Animal, 

 and for which the new name of Mosasaurus has recently been coinedf. 



* Add the Anolis a points bhnics, Daud. IV, xlviii, 2; — An. viridis, Pr. Max. lib. 

 VI; — An. gracilis, Id., and several other species, of which, unfortunately, I have no 

 figures to cite. 



f See, upon this animal, my Oss. Foss. 5th vol. part 2. Amongst the fossiles, 

 large reptiles have been discovered in a fossil state, which it appears should be ap- 

 proximated to this family, but their characters are not sufficiently known to enable 

 us to class them with precision. Such are the Geosaurus discovered by Soemmer- 

 ing, the Megalosaurus (a) of M. Buckland, the Iguanodon (b) of M. Mantell, &c. 

 I have treated of them more at length in the volume referred to. 



IgSgT (a) Megalosaurus is the name of a genus first established by Dr. Buckland, 

 who found various bony remains of what lie considers to be the animal of the large 

 dimensions, described by him under that title. Teeth, vertebras, a coracoid bone, 

 ribs, and a supposed pelvis, described as belonging to an animal of this genus by 

 Mr. Mantell, have been found in Tilgate Forest. The doubts which are entertained 

 by Cuvier as to the correctness of the opinions expressed by Dr. Buckland and Mr. 

 Mantell, concerning the existence of such an animal, are founded on the circum- 

 stance of these fragments having been found promiscuously intermingled witli those 

 of crocodiles and other oviparous reptiles. Cuvier is of opinion that this circum- 

 stance does not necessarily imply that the bones in question belong to animals of the 

 same kind as those amongst which they had been found. The Megalosaurus, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Buckland, was a gigantic Saurian reptile, entirely distinct from the 

 crocodiles, but approximated very closely to the Monitors and Iguanas. 



8$gr (b) The Iguanodon is the name of a fossil animal, which has been described, 

 in its complete state, by Mr. Mantell, from the evidences afforded by the materials 

 of its osseous structure, which were found in the Tilgate Forest strata. Some of the 

 teeth of this animal were first discovered in the year 1822, by Mrs. Mantell, a lady 

 who forms, with two or three others of her sex, in this country, a small but highly 

 distinguished group of laborious and successful female geologists, whose assistance 

 in promoting science has become a subject of just pride to every Englishman. Sub- 

 sequently, a series of these teeth was found, shewing every gradation of form, from 

 the most perfect state of the tooth in the young animal, to the last stage in which it 

 appears — a bony stump worn away by long employment in mastication. The struc- 

 ture of these teeth was so very remarkable, that Mr. Mantell was induced to send 

 them to Paris, by the hands of Mr. Lyall, for the purpose of having them submitted 

 to Cuvier' s inspection. In the private communication made by that illustrious natu- 

 ralist, after lie had examined them, to Mr. Mantell, he acknowledged that he was al- 

 together unacquainted with the teeth; that they could not have belonged to a carnl- 



