Br. H. Woodivard— Reconstruction of Iguanodon. 291 



the leaves and shoots of the C3'cadaceous and other plants which 

 formed its diet. It had no front teeth, but its jaws were provided 

 with a horny beak, like that of a turtle, covering the border of the 

 premaxilla and of the predentary bone. 



Fig. 1. 



Left lateral aspect of skull of Iguanodon Bernissartensis (Boulenger) ; from the 

 Wealden of Bernissart, Belgium (much reduced). The anterior aperture in the 

 skull IS the nares (nostril), the middle one the orbit, and the large posterior one 

 the infratemporal fossa. The predentary bone is seen at the extremity of the 

 mandible (after Dollo). 



^ The fore-limbs are shorter than the hind ones, the former being 

 six feet in length and the latter nine feet long. The hands had each 

 five digits with nails, the thumbs being armed with strong, sharp- 

 pointed, conical spurs. They appear to have been but ill-adapted for 

 progression on the ground, though doubtless when browsing on 

 lowly herbaceous plants the Iguanodon assumed the same quadru- 

 pedal attitude as does the living kangaroo. 



The hind-limbs were large and powerful, and had three toes on 

 each foot, with the same number of phalanges as in a bird's foot, 

 namely, three to the inner toe, four to the middle toe, and five to 

 the outer toe. The three metatarsal bones remain separate and 

 distinct as in the foot of a young ratite bird, not anchylosed together 

 as in adult modern birds. The bones of the pelvis (ilium, ischium, 

 and pubis) resemble in many respects those of a large running bird, 

 such as the emeu. 



The ponderous tail, as well as the neural spines of the dorsal 

 vertebrae, were strengthened and knit together by numerous stout 

 bony fibres, no doubt giving great additional support to the animal 

 when standing in an erect position; the length of these spinous 

 processes also must have given the tail great depth, and suggests 

 that probably the Iguanodon was a good swimmer, using its \^i\ as 

 a rigid, powerful, oar-like propeller hy moving it from side to side. 



ISumerous three-toed footprints of the Iguanodon were discovered 



