§ 3. SITE OF THE COUNTRY OF THE IGUANODON. 487 



bedded : for with the exception of the beds of river shells 

 and crustaceans, and the plants which indicate a lacus- 

 trine condition, the organic remains bear indisputable 

 marks of having been transported from some remote 

 country, by a river, or powerful flood of fresh- water.* 



The specimen of the Hylseosaurus, (ante, p. 435,) throws 

 light on this question. Many of the vertebra? and ribs are 

 broken and splintered, but the fragments remain near each 

 other : and though the bones are, more or less, displaced, yet 

 they lie in situations bearing some relation to their natural 

 positions. These facts demonstrate that the carcass of the 

 animal must have been contused and mutilated, and that 

 the dislocated and broken parts were held together by 

 the muscles and integuments. In this state the headless 

 trunk must have floated down the river, and at length 

 have sunk into the mud of the delta, where it formed a 

 nucleus, around which the stems and foliage of ferns and 

 cycadeous plants accumulated, and river shells became 

 intermingled in the general mass. Here then we have 

 unequivocal evidence of the body of a terrestrial reptile 

 having been transported from a considerable distance by 

 a stream or current of fresh water ; for not the slightest 

 indication of marine detritus can be traced in the deposits 

 in which it was imbedded. The country where this 

 animal lived and died must therefore have been situated 

 very far from the spot where its fossil remains were 

 entombed. 



An eminent geologist has the following remarks on this 

 subject. | 



* The upright trees of the Isle of Portland present an apparent 

 exception ; but this forest may have grown on an island, very remote 

 from the mainland inhabited by colossal reptiles. 



f Mr. Lyell. Elements of Geology, Second Edition, vol. i. 

 p. 432. 



