1 8 8 2 . ] Geology and Paleontology. 255 



that the bird-like tracks of the Triassic formation were made by 

 Dinosauria, at least a year before Professor Huxley; yet these 

 observations are credited to the latter writer. 



It cannot be said in defence of these defects in an otherwise ex- 

 cellent memoir, that the papers in question have been written by 

 Professor Marsh's assistants, since the latter are not made re- 

 sponsible on the title-page. — E. D. Cope. 



The Dinosaurs of Bernissart 1 .— In the year 1878 numerous 

 bones of fossil reptilia were discovered in the St Barbe mine of 

 the Bernissart coal district, and ultimately several Iguanodon skel- 

 etons were taken out from a depth of three hundred and fifty 

 metres, as complete and almost as well preserved as though they 

 had come straight from a slaughter-house. In a notice submitted 

 to the Royal Academy of Belgium, M. Boulenger founds a new 

 species on these skeletons, on account of their possession of six 

 sacral vertebrae instead of five, the number possessed by that in 

 the British Museum. M. P-J. Van Beneden, however, in reviewing 

 M. Boulenger's work, states his belief that the remains belong to 

 the well-known /. mantelli of England and Western Europe, and 

 that the difference in the number of sacral vertebrae is merely an 

 individual one. In support of this opinion he cites the facts that 

 another Iguanodon, described by M. Hulke,has only four sacrals, 

 and that the number of sacrals is subject to variation in many 

 animals, especially in birds, the additional ones being taken from 

 the caudal or the lumbar series. 



M. Dupont has also written upon the Bernissart Iguanodons, 

 and agrees with M. Van Beneden in referring them to / mantelli. 

 M. Van Beneden adds sonic interesting particulars relating to the 

 limbs and pelvic arch of Iguanodon. 



All palaeontologists agree that the Iguanodons had on the hind 

 feet three toes used in walking, but it is not generally known that 

 the metatarsal bones of these three toes were completely separate, 

 alike at both ends, and capable of leaving their imprint upon the 

 •soil behind the toes, so that the Iguanodons were plantigrade when 

 compared with most birds, or, to speak more accurately, were 

 herpctigrade, like the penguin's. 



The fore limbs, which are as little developed as in kangaroos, 

 have five fingers; three mid lie ones equallv developed and having 

 three phalanges, as also has the fifth, and a thumb consisting of 

 a single large phalanx and a rudimentary metacarpal. The fifth 

 finger is small, and opposable to the thumb, so that the Iguanodons 

 had two hands with which to gather the fruits of the cycads and 

 conifers that flourished in the same epoch. 



The impressions of the footsteps of these animals, well preserved 



Belgiqu, 



'M- 



