JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS 



LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



On tlie dermal armour of Jacare and Caiman, witli notes on the 

 Specific and Greneric Characters of recent Crocodilia. By T. 

 H. Hfxlet, Esq., P.E.S., P.L.S., Prof, of Nat. History, 

 Grov. School of Mines. 



[Read Feb. I7tli, 1859.] 



In the course of a recent investigation into the nature of the singu- 

 lar extinct reptile, Stagonolepis, I was led to inquire somewhat 

 minutely into the character of the exoskeleton, or dermal armour, 

 of the existing Crocodilia. To my surprise, I found that very little 

 detailed information on this subject was to be obtained from the 

 standard repertories of Comparative Anatomy, or even from the 

 special monographs on Crocodilian structure and classification ; 

 but I was still more astonished to discover, among whole genera 

 of recent Crocodilia, an exoskeleton possessed of characters such as 

 have been universally supposed to be peculiar to long extinct forms 

 of the order, and whose existence in any recent species has hitherto, 

 so far as I can ascertain, been completely overlooked. 



The attempt to discover the limits within which this remarkable 

 exoskeleton is to be found, led me to look, more critically than I 

 had previously done, into the arrangement and specific characteriza- 

 tion of the recent Crocodilia. I have thereby arrived at results 

 which, imperfect as they are, may be of service by leading others to 

 inquire into the exact characters of species not at present within my 



LINN. PBGC. — ZOOLOGY. 1 



