72 MIGHTY ANIMALS 



The name Mosasaur has been given these crea- 

 tures because it was in Belgium, in the valley of the 

 river Meuse, that the first one was discovered. 

 The words Meuse and "saurus," which is Greek 

 for lizard, were made into Mosasaur. Some work- 

 men who were blasting the rocks underneath one 

 of the mountains in this region were astounded 

 when, after they had set off a blast in a cavern, 

 they saw the jaws of some animal imbedded in 

 the roof. They immediately reported their dis- 

 covery, and a Dutch military surgeon who was 

 interested in collecting fossils hurried to the spot. 

 He knew in a short time that the bones were those 

 of some animal different from any then living. 

 Soon he had men at work removing the precious 

 discovery and was overjoyed to find that almost 

 an entire skeleton was buried in the rock. The 

 bones were taken to the near-by city of Maestricht, 

 where they were received with great enthusiasm.^ 

 It was not long before the fame of this fossil spread 

 over Europe, and the people of Maestricht felt 

 very proud to have it in their possession. 



Twenty-four years later, in 1794, during the 



