Marvels of the Universe 



529 



Phitio ha] 



The Great Ant-eater is as large as a collie-dog Self-confident of fiis enormous strength, he carries his huge tail in such a 

 way as to fnalte himself as conspicuous as possible. It should be noted that his mode of living has caused the Ant-eater to 

 develop elongated and tubular toothless jaws. 



of the modern Tropical American tree-lizard known as the Iguana. Now, since the Iguana is known 

 to feed main]}- upon fruits, it was natural to infer that Iguanodon was herbivorous likewise. This 

 view, no doubt, is correct ; but dismissing the teeth, the resemblances between Iguana and Iguanodon 

 come to an end, for the structure of the skeleton proves conclusively that Iguanodon was certainly 

 not arboreal and cursorial like Iguana, and equally certainly that he was not a lizard in the strict 

 sense of the word. Nevertheless, a glance at the restoration of this giant reptile suggests that calling 

 him " bird-like " is a mere misuse of language. In a measui'e that is so ; for unquestionably the 

 front legs have no sort of likeness to the wings of birds, and no existing birds have a long, massive 

 tail like that of this animal. All the same, the skeleton of the hip and hind limbs shows some very 

 curious bird-like features, which have inspired the group-name Ornithopoda, or bird-footed, for this 

 reptile and others related to him. In the first place, all birds walk upon two legs only, the body 

 being supported upon three toes armed with claws, the middle toe of the trio being the longest. That 

 this was the case with Iguanodon is shown by footprints left in the sandstones of the wealden rocks. 

 Iguanodon, it is true, was short-footed and had the bones between the toes and the ankle separated ; 

 while birds are remarkably long-footed, and have a single bone below the ankle. But too much 

 importance must not be attached to this difference, because it is known that the bone in question 

 in birds is really composed of three fused together, each corresponding to one of the toes. There 

 are also certain points in the structure of the ankle itself in Iguanodon which serve to bridge over 

 differences between typical reptiles and birds. Again, in the hip or pelvis of Iguanodon the two 

 bones below the socket of the thigh bone were long and slender, and projected obliquely back- 

 wards beneath the root of the tail. This is another character in which a condition intermediate 

 between ordinary reptiles and birds is found ; and since resemblances of this nature are interpreted 



