Note 4 — Chapter III · SUB-KINGDOM IX.—VERTEBRATA.

“Iguanodon,” i-guāˈnō-don. This gigantic fossil reptile was discovered in the year 1882, in the Wealden beds of Kent and Sussex, also in the Isle of Wight, by Dr. Mantell. The enormous bones were very abundant, and from a close study of them, it has been estimated that the extreme length of the reptile must have been twenty-eight or thirty feet, of which the head was three, and the tail thirteen feet. It stood higher above the ground than any reptile now in existence. The teeth, which bear a remarkable resemblance to the teeth of the American lizard, the iguana, from which it was named, show that the animal was herbivorous. It probably fed on the trees growing along the borders of swamps and streams, and was able to lift its body for this purpose on its hind legs.