§ 39. THE MAIDSTONE IGUANODON. 427 



39. The Maidstone Iguanodon. Plate III.— From 

 the gigantic size of the fossil teeth, as compared with those 

 of recent lizards, I was led to conclude that many of the 

 colossal bones, collected from time to time in Tilgate 

 Forest, belonged to the same kind of reptile ; and by com- 

 paring the bones with those of an Iguana, (presented 

 to me by Baron Cuvier,) I at length succeeded in deter- 

 mining many parts of the skeleton, and was enabled to 

 restore, as it were, the form of the Iguanodon, and ascer- 

 tain its proportions:* the correctness of my deductions 

 was shortly to be put to the test, by a discovery in a 

 neighbouring county. 



In May, 1834, some workmen employed in a stone- 

 quarry, in the occupation of Mr. W. H. Bensted, of Maid- 

 stone, observed in a mass of rock which they had blasted, 

 several portions of what they supposed to be petrified 

 wood ; they preserved the largest piece for the inspection of 

 the proprietor of the quarry, who, perceiving that it was a 

 portion of bone belonging to some gigantic animal, gave 

 directions that every fragment should be collected, and 

 succeeded in obtaining those pieces, which, when united 

 and completely developed, formed the highly interesting 

 fossil here delineated, (PL III.)t. 



* In stating that there was a general resemblance between the teeth 

 and bones of the Iguanodon and those of the Iguana, it was never 

 intended to affirm, that any close analogy existed ; still less to assert, 

 as some writers have supposed, that the living Iguana is a miniature 

 representative of the colossal reptile of the wealden. 



f The rock was shattered to fragments by the explosion, and the 

 bones were broken into a thousand pieces : but after much labour I 

 succeeded in uniting the several blocks of stone, and ultimately cleared 

 and repaired the bones, and restored the specimen to its present state. 

 It is placed under a large glass frame, in the palaeontological gallery 

 of the British Museum. The circular hole seen near the centre of the 

 fossil, was made to introduce the charge of powder for blasting the 

 rock. 



