PHASES OF ANIMAL LIFE, 

 PAST AND PRESENT. 



CHAPTEE I. 



MAIL-CLAD ANIMALS. 



AMONG civilised nations throughout the world the 

 practice of protecting their fighting-men by coats of 

 mail, which prevailed so extensively during the middle 

 ages, has been entirely abandoned; the cuirass of 

 the English Household Cavalry and of the French 

 Cuirassiers being a survival, or, as naturalists would 

 say, a rudiment, of the complete coat-of-mail, which 

 is retained more on account of the smartness which 

 it adds to the equipment than for any practical use 

 as a protection. The use of armour as a protection 

 has, indeed, been transferred from men's bodies to 

 the sides of ships of battle ; and even there it appears 

 problematical whether the ever-increasing weight of 

 the armour which is necessary to keep pace with the 

 development in the size and speed of the missiles 

 employed against it will not eventually become so 



burdensome as to lead to its abandonment. 



A 



