MAIL-CLAD ANIMALS. 9 



continued this protective covering in great perfection 

 to the present day. Eeptiles are, moreover, remarkable 

 for the great variety of the kinds of armour which 

 they have displayed in the course of a long career. 



The Crocodiles offer the best living examples of 

 reptiles with a plate-armour, recalling that of some 

 fishes. In these fierce creatures, the back and upper 

 surface of the tail are covered with a number of oblong 

 bony plates buried in the skin and covered by horny 

 shields. In the true crocodiles (which in India so 

 many people will insist on misnaming alligators), this 

 armour is confined to the upper surface of the body; 

 but in some, although not in all, alligators, there was 

 also a similar armour upon the lower surface. Since, 

 moreover, most of the earlier fossil types had an 

 armour upon both aspects of the body, it seems that 

 crocodiles have, on the whole, found it advantageous 

 to get rid of the lower buckler, so that to a certain 

 extent they seem to have followed the general rule. 

 It is, however, very curious to find that there were 

 some fossil crocodiles which had totally discarded 

 their armour ; and since these have altogether dis- 

 appeared, it would seem that this radical change did 

 not answer in this particular instance. 



As first cousins of the crocodiles, we may briefly 

 note those fossil reptiles to which, from the gigantic 

 size of some of them, the name of Dinosaurs,* has been 

 applied. Some of these huge creatures, which far ex- 

 ceeded the elephant in bulk, had a bony armour which 



* See Chapter VIII. 



