76 
EXTINCT MONSTERS. 
the Limestone of Stonesfield, near Woodstock (about twelve miles 
from Oxford). This rock, known as “ Stonesfield slate ” from its 
property of splitting up into thin layers, has long been celebrated 
for its fossil remains, and from it have also been obtained the 
bones of some early mammals. It is a member of the Lower 
Oolitic group. 
The portions of skeleton originally discovered consisted of part 
of a lower jaw, with teeth, a thigh bone (femur), a series of 
vertebrae of the trunk, a few ribs, and some other fragments. The 
name Megalosaurus,^ or “ great lizard,” suggested itself both to 
Dr. Buckland and Baron Cuvier, because it was evident from the 
size of the bones that the creature must have been very big. It 
is true these bones were not found together in one spot ; but 
Professor Owen came to the conclusion that they all belonged to 
the same species. 
No entire skeleton of the Megalosaur has ever been found, but 
there was enough material to enable Dr. Buckland, Professor 
Owen, and Professor Phillips to form a very fair idea of its general 
structure. It should be mentioned here that Dr. Mantell, the 
enthusiastic geologist to whose labours palaeontologists are greatly 
indebted, had previously discovered similar teeth and bones in 
the Wealden strata of Tilgate Forest. Sherborne, in Dorset, is 
another locality which has yielded a fine specimen of parts of both 
jaws with teeth. A cast of this may be seen in the geological 
collection at South Kensington. It was found in the Inferior 
Oolite (Wall-case IV.) ; the original specimen lies in the 
museum of Sherborne College. Remains of Megalosaurus have 
also been found at the following places : Lyme-Regis and Watchet 
(in the Lias) ; near Bridport (in Inferior Oolite) ; Enslow Bridge 
(upper part of the Great Oolite and Forest Marble Beds); Wey- 
mouth (in Oxford Clay) ; Cowley and Dry Sandford (in the Coral 
Rag) ; Malton in Yorkshire (in Coralline Oolite) ; also in 
Normandy. They have also been found in Wealden strata. 
^ Greek — megas, great ; sauros, lizard. 
