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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1847 Excerpt:...to enable the comparative anatomist to decide with certainty with regard to several most important characters, and they suggest inquiries and probable conditions of the skeleton, of which the correctness may be tested by future discoveries. The tribe of lizards, one of the most important of the existing reptilian groups, forms a link in the chain by which the animal now under discussion was connected with known forms; but, although analogies unquestionably exist between the lizard and the Megalosaurus, and also between this animal and the crocodiles, there yet remain marked and peculiar characters separating it from both. It is now considered as one of an extinct family, supereminently remarkable for the great height at which all the species stood above the ground in proportion to all other reptiles; and the height is indicated not less by the actual size of the bones of the extremities, than by the provision made in the skeleton to resist the pressure of an enormous weight. The Megalosaurus was a gigantic carnivorous land reptile, its body being of enormous size. In all probability it was not, like the crocodile, clothed in scaly armour, but it stood with its whole body considerably above the ground, in bulk and general appearance rather resembling the hippopotamus than the gigantic alligators of the present day. It was most likely provided with a true reptilian tail, whose length was considerable, although not nearly so great in proportion as that of existing crocodiles and alligators. The form of the fragment of the jaw which has been preserved (fig. 77) marks in some measure the shape of the head, showing that it was terminated by a straight, narrow, and long snout, not tapering, but compressed laterally. The teeth were of moderate size. They formed, ho...