The Crocodile of Penzance

The public was in the grip of dinosaur fever. The exhibit at the Crystal Palace received a constant stream of visitors. And there was a smaller stream of "dinosaurs" brought back from exotic climes by explorers and showmen. These were invariably common reptiles - crocodiles and lizards - but people would pay good money to see them.
The Times reported that a "massive & fearsome creature from before Time" had been brought to Penzance by a Dr Bright. I had some business to conduct in that area and so decided to pay it a visit - despite the conviction that it would turn out to be a disappointment. Sure enough, the following morning's papers described the animal as a "small Caiman" but, when I arrived in Penzance two days later, I sought out Dr Bright.

The Doctor turned out to be something of a dinosaur himself - a large, leathery-skinned man with more than a hint of the Charlatan. His "dinosaur" was not in evidence and enquiries revealed that it had died whilst I was travelling from London and, as it had smelled "very high" had been disposed of. The Doctor gave a confidential smirk as he more or less admitted that he had taken a reptile and "improved it" with the addition of some horns and scaly plates. He was not a knowledgable man and was unable to tell me the species of his specimen. He thought that it might have been an "alligator-crocodile" - about the size of a "normal-sized dog".

But, as he attempted to describe his dead exhibit, certain features seemed inconsistent with the family crocodylinae. The doctor insisted that his dinosaur had its legs beneath its body - "like a dog". And, revealingly, it had shown no taste for meat.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that the Doctor's "dinosaur" was, in fact, a dinosaur.