The first species of _Mosasaurus_
known to science was the _M. Camperi_ (fig. 210), the skull of
which--six feet in length--was discovered in 1780 in the Maestricht
Chalk at Maestricht. As this town stands on the river Meuse,
the name of _Mosasaurus_ ("Lizard of the Meuse") was applied
to this immense Reptile. Of late years the remains of a large
number of Reptiles more or less closely related to _Mosasaurus_, or
absolutely belonging to it, have been discovered in the Cretaceous
deposits of North America, and have been described by Professors
Cope and Marsh. All the known forms of this group appear to have
been of large size--one of them, _Mosasaurus princeps_, attaining
the length of seventy-five or eighty feet, and thus rivalling
the largest of existing Whales in its dimensions. The teeth in
the "Mosasauroids" are long, pointed, and slightly curved; and
instead of being sunk in distinct sockets, they are firmly
amalgamated with the jaws, as in modern Lizards. The palate also
carried teeth, and the lower jaw was so constructed as to allow
of the mouth being opened to an immense width, somewhat as in the
living Serpents. The body was long and snake-like, with a very
long tail, which is laterally compressed, and must have served as
a powerful swimming-apparatus. In addition to this, both pairs
of limbs have the bones connecting them with the trunk greatly
shortened; whilst the digits were enclosed in the integuments,
and constituted paddles, closely resembling in structure the
"flippers" of Whales and Dolphins.
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