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About Megalosaurus:
In many ways, Megalosaurus was your garden-variety meat-eater, indistinguishable from a host of other big-headed, large-toothed carnivores. What really sets this dinosaur apart is the fact that it was the first ever to be discovered and named. A fossilized femur of Megalosaurus was dug up in England in 1676, but it wasn't until 150 years later--after more fossil discoveries--that this dinosaur was given its name, by the early paleontologist William Buckland.
Megalosaurus also has the distinction of being the first dinosaur ever to appear in a work of fiction. Way before the film age, Charles Dickens name-dropped this dino in his novel Bleak House: "It would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill."
