530 Marvels of the Universe 



as evidences of kinship, there is no avoiding the conclusion that Iguanodon was related to the 

 ancestral stock of birds. 



In general appearance, as he stood on his hind legs, supported bj- his great thick tail and with 

 his comparatively light forequarters and small head carried erect or inchned forwards, he must 

 have looked like a gigantic kangaroo ; but his mode of progression, instead of being a succession of 

 hops, was no doubt an awkward waddle, like that of a duck, with the tail trailing behind and the short 

 front legs perhaps used now and again for additional support. These legs had five fingers, the fifth 

 being somewhat, and the first, or thumb, considerably, divergent from the remaining three, giving 

 a broader span to the paw, possibly for support when walking, possibly for grasping the branches 

 upon which this creature fed. But the thumb was very peculiar in being composed of a single 

 large, stout and pointed bone, probably covered with a hard, horny sheath. What the use of this 

 mav have been is not known, but when the bone was first discovered, detached from the paw, it was 



nuln Si/] [11'. .S'. terridge, F.Z.S. 



THE TAMANDUA ANT-EATER. 



Blacli and yello^vish-white are ihe marUinss of this short-haired species, \vhich is about the size of a young fox. It uses 

 the smooth tail to hang from the boughs of the trees amongst which it is chiefly to be seen. 



supposed to have belonged to the head ; and the original drawings of Iguanodon represented the 

 animal as carr3ang a horn on his nose like that of a rhinoceros. 



The teeth, described above, were arranged along the sides of the jaws only, the front part of the 

 mouth being entirely toothless, and possibly encased above and below in horny sheaths, like the beak 

 of a bird, with sharp edges suitable for cutting green vegetation and stripping the bark off trees. 



ANT-EATERS 



BY R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S. 



SiNXE ants of various kinds — inclusive of the so-called termites, or white ants — abound, under 

 suitable condition of climate and soil, in all the warmer parts of the globe, it is only natural to expect 

 that such a rich supply of easily assimilated food would not be neglected by the higher animals. 

 And, as a matter of fact, members of several distinct groups of mammals have become specially 



