... We have therefore a marsh-loving or river-side
animal, dwelling amidst filicine, cycadaceous, and coniferous
shrubs and trees full of insects and small mammalia. What was
its usual diet? If _ex ungue leonem_, surely _ex dente cibum_.
We have indeed but one tooth, and that small and incomplete. It
resembles more the tooth of Iguanodon than that of any other
reptile; for this reason it seems probable that the animal was
nourished by similar vegetable food which abounded in the vicinity,
and was not obliged to contend with Megalosaurus for a scanty
supply of more stimulating diet."
All the groups of Jurassic Reptiles which we have hitherto been
considering are wholly unrepresented at the present day, and
do not even pass upwards into the Tertiary period. It may be
mentioned, however, that the Oolitic deposits have also yielded
the remains of Reptiles belonging to three of the existing orders
of the class-namely, the Lizards (_Lacertilia_), the Turtles
(_Chelonia_), and the Crocodiles (_Crocodilia_). The Lizards
occur both in the marine strata of the Middle Oolites and also
in the fresh-water beds of the Purbeck series; and they are of
such a nature that their affinities with the typical Lacertilians
of the present day cannot be disputed. The Chelonians, up to
this point only known by the doubtful evidence of footprints
in the Permian and Triassic sandstones, are here represented by
unquestionable remains, indicating the existence of marine Turtles
(the _Chelone planiceps_ of the Portland Stone).
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