1896.] Iguanoclon bernissartensis, Boulenger. 203 



blocks were brought to the surface, having previously been num- 

 bered so that they could afterwards be rearranged in their proper 

 relative positions. On removing the plaster the bones were 

 exposed, and treated in the manner necessary for their preser- 

 vation. The whole process was carried out with the greatest care 

 and skill ; so that, instead of obtaining merely a few of the best 

 preserved bones, the Museum at Brussels is now in possession of 

 the entire series of more or less complete skeletons, five of which 

 are actually mounted in one of their public galleries. 



The genus Iguanodon was founded in 1825, by G. Mantell 1 , 

 who described the teeth of this animal from Wealden formations 

 in Sussex ; and suggested the generic name in consequence of the 

 resemblance of the teeth to those of the Iguana. Our knowledge 

 of the genus was largely increased in later years by the discovery 

 of numerous remains of /. mantelli and probably other species 2 in 

 the Wealden strata of Kent, Sussex and the Isle of Wight. These 

 fossils were for the most part described by Owen, and their 

 description occupies no inconsiderable part of the Monographs 

 published for that author by the Palaeontographical Society 3 . 

 The same formations were known to contain the three-toed foot- 

 prints of gigantic bipedal animals. These footprints, long sus- 

 pected to have been formed by Iguanodon, may now be definitely 

 considered to have belonged to that animal. 



Although much had been done, in England and elsewhere, 

 towards understanding the structure of Iguanodon, no skeleton 

 which was more than fragmentary had been described before the 

 Belgian discoveries were made. The magnificent series which has 

 been made available for scientific study, owing to the well-directed 

 energy of the Brussels Museum, has resulted in making the bony 

 structure of Iguanodon almost as well known as if it had been a 

 recent species 4 . The Museum of Zoology is highly favoured in 

 having received this splendid present. The group of the Dinosauria 

 were hitherto entirely unrepresented in the Museum; and Igua- 

 nodon is of the greatest importance as an educational object, not 

 merely from its immense size, but because of the striking resem- 

 blances which it shows to Birds in certain parts of its structure. 



1 Phil. Trans. 1825, Part i. p. 184. 



2 Cf. Lydekker, R. : "Cat. of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British 

 Museum," Part i. 1888, p. 195. 



3 "Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the Cretaceous Formations," Part i. 

 1851, p. 105; ibid. Suppl. n. 1861, p. 27; "Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of 

 the Wealden and Purbeck Formations," Part u. 1855; ibid. Suppl. i. 1858; 

 ibid. Suppl. n. 1859 (as Streptospondijlus); ibid. Suppl. in. 1864; ibid. Suppl. iv. 

 1872 ; ibid. Suppl. v. 1874. 



4 The specimens found at Bernissart have been described by Dr L. Dollo in 

 a series of papers published in the Bull. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. Belgique (Vol. i. 1882, 

 pp. 161, 205; Vol. n. 1883, pp. 13, 85, 223; Vol. in. 1885, p. 129) ; also in Arch, de 

 Biol. vii. 1887, p. 249; Bull. Sci. France et Belgique xix. (3 Ser. i.), 1888, p. 215; 

 and elsewhere. 



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