Mantellian Museum at Lewes. 1$ 



enormous reptiles have been identified, and there are also 

 bones and teeth of other animals, not yet determined. 



The large reptiles at present ascertained are the Crocodile, 

 the Plesiosaurus, the Megalosaurus, and the Iguanodon. The 

 remains of the crocodile in this museum consist of teeth, verte- 

 .brse, ribs, &c., belonging to two or more large species of these 

 animals; one of which Mr. Mantell conjectures was about 

 25 ft. in length. Some of the teeth present all the essential 

 characters of the teeth of the recent crocodile. The Plesio- 

 saurus was first discovered in the lias near Lyme in Dorset- 

 shire, and has been well described by Mr. Coneybeare ; some 

 bones of this animal have been found in Tilgate Forest, and 

 are in this collection, but nothing approaching to an entire 

 skeleton. The remains of a gigantic animal of the lizard 

 genus were discovered at Stonesfield in Oxfordshire, and 

 described by Dr. Buckland ; to this animal he has given the 

 name of the Megalosaurus. Bones apparently belonging to the 

 same species, particularly the thigh bone, ribs, teeth, and 

 vertebrae, were found at Tilgate, and are placed in this col- 

 lection. This animal bears the nearest afhnity to the monitor, 

 there is a stuffed specimen of the latter in the museum. The 

 Iguanodon is so named from its resemblance, in many respects, 

 to the living iguana. The discovery of the remains of this 

 animal is regarded by Mr. Mantell as the most gratifying 

 result of his labours. The teeth were first discovered by 

 Mrs. Mantell in the coarse conglomerate stone of Tilgate 

 Forest in the year 1822, since which time Mr. Mantell has 

 collected a most interesting series of them, displaying every 

 gradation of form, from the perfect tooth in the young 

 animal, to the last stage, that of a mere bony stump worn 

 away by mastication. These teeth are comparatively rare, 

 and the only locality in which they have hitherto been no- 

 ticed is in the immediate vicinity of Tilgate Forest. Their 

 external form is so remarkable, and bears so striking a re- 

 semblance to the grinders of the herbivorous Mammalia, that 

 Mr. Mantell was, at first, doubtful respecting the order of 

 animals to which they belonged, but subsequent discoveries 

 proved that they were the teeth of a nondescript herbivorous 

 reptile. Baron Cuvier, to whom they were shown, regards 

 them as belonging to an animal hitherto entirely unlcnown, 

 but they bear the greatest resemblance to the teeth of the 

 iguana, particularly in having the edges serrated. The iguana 

 is an herbivorous, but not a masticating, reptile. The figures 

 of the teeth which are here given {^g. 1.) are of the natural size; 

 but it should be recollected that the teeth of crocodiles and 

 other lacertian animals are very numerous and small, com- 



