322 FOSSIL REPTILES. 



in circumference ; which caused Mr. Mantell to conclude that 

 its length must have been fifty-four. Teeth were found, alto- 

 gether of the same form as those found by Dr. Buckland, and 

 unquestionably belonging to the same species. Some frag- 

 ments of bones of the metacarpus and metatarsus were so 

 thick, that M. Cuvier says that at first sight he might have 

 taken them for those of a large hippopotamus. 



With these bones of megalosaurus, Mr. Mantell found many 

 others, such as those of crocodile, tortoise, plesiosaurus, ceta- 

 cea, and birds, and he also collected some of which it is not 

 possible to assign the genus. The most singular of these were 

 certain teeth, respecting which it is not determined whether 

 they come from a fish or reptile. M. Cuvier says, that it is 

 not impossible but that they may have belonged to a saurian, 

 and if so, to one still more extraordinary than any of which 

 we have had hitherto any knowledge. 



What gives them their singular character is that their point 

 and shaft are worn transversely, like those of the herbivorous 

 quadrupeds. The first of these teeth which was presented to 

 M. Cuvier he decidedly thought to be the tooth of a mammife- 

 rous animal in a state of detrition. It seemed especially to 

 resemble the cheek-tooth of a rhinoceros, which, were it the 

 case, would go far to overturn the now received ideas of the 

 relations of bones and strata. But having subsequently received 

 a series of entire teeth, and of some more or less worn, the 

 Baron was convinced, on inspection, that his first notion had 

 been erroneous. 



The largest of these teeth has a root a little curved, which 

 grows slender towards its deep extremity. The crown is pris- 

 matic, and broader at its external face. This face alone is 

 covered with enamel, or, at least, it has an enamel more thick 

 and hard than the rest of the circumference, just as it is in the 

 incisor teeth of rodentia. It widens at first proceeding from 

 the root, and then its edges approximate to form the trenchant 

 point which terminates the tooth. The two edges which, from 



