"To judge from the dimensions of this thigh-bone, its former possessor must have been twice as great as that to which the similar bone in the Oxford Museum belonged; and if the total length and height of animals were in proportion to the linear dimensions of their extremities, the beast in question would have equalled in height our largest elephants, and in length fallen but little short of the largest whales; but as the longitudinal growth of animals is not in so high a ratio, after making some deduction, we may calculate the length of this reptile from Cuckfield at from sixty to seventy feet. In consideration therefore of the enormous magnitude which this saurian attains, I have ventured, in concurrence with my friend and fellow-labourer, the Rev. W. Conybeare, to assign to it the name of Megalosaurus."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
William Buckland, "Notice on the Megalosaurus or great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield". Transactions of the Geological Society of London, series 2, vol. 1 (1824), p. 391. Note: Buckland was mistaken in several ways. Megalosaurus probably only reached twenty feet (6 m) long, and was bipedal.
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Megalosaurus
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