2 ANIMAL LIFE PAST AND PRESENT. 



In the case of the coats-of-mail of the mediaeval 

 warriors a gradual process of evolution had, indeed, 

 brought them to a marvellous pitch of perfection at 

 the time when they were once for all abandoned; 

 and the beauty of the suits of chain- and plate-armour, 

 both as works of art and as admirable adaptations 

 for their particular purpose, must at once strike all 

 who visit a gallery of ancient armour. 



If we now direct our attention to the animal, as 

 distinct from the human, world, and confine our survey 

 to that portion of it which includes the back-boned, 

 or, as naturalists term them, the vertebrate animals, 

 we shall find in the early periods of the earth's history 

 a great tendency in many groups to the development 

 of a coat-of-mail, fully as beautiful, and frequently 

 much more efficient than that of the knights of old. 

 We shall find, moreover, that, on the whole vertebrate 

 animals have, so to speak, come to the conclusion that 

 a coat-of-mail is not altogether an advantage, more 

 especially among the higher forms, in the struggle for 

 existence; and that a better protection is to be found 

 in the swiftness of limbs for flight, or in the length of 

 tusks and talons for attack. Still, however, there are 

 certain groups of animals which have preserved the 

 old-fashioned plan of living and fighting the battle of 

 life in armour, although even some of these seem to 

 be in two minds as to whether, after all, the plan 

 of facing the world with unprotected bodies is not 

 really the best. , 



In drawing a parallel between human and animal 



