AGE OF FISHES. 



209 



Fig. 119. 



301. Asterolepis. This is another of the ganoids of 

 the Old Red Sandstone. It equaled in size the largest of 

 alligators. The helmet on its head was made of strong 

 bony plates, ornamented with star-like markings, and its 

 body was covered with a mail of scales which looked as 

 if they had been carved in the most delicate manner. It 

 is stated by Hugh Miller that helmets of this creature 

 " have been found in the flag-stones of Caithness large 

 enough to cover the front skull of an elephant, and strong 

 enough to have sent back a musket bullet as if from a 

 stone wall." But what was most strange of all is that, 

 although the Asterolepis was a fish, it had in the arrange- 

 ments of its jaws and teeth the complete characteristics 

 of a reptile. Here is an example, in another form, of the 

 foreshadowing spoken ef in 262. We see, in this age 

 of Fishes, stamped unmistakably upon some of these an- 



