OF CREATION. 69 



fishes in its general outline, although so oddly coated 

 with large broad plates, which were studded with 

 enamel, instead of scales. 



The head of the Coccosteus was large, broad, and 

 high, nearly circular in shape, covered by several 

 plates, and attached to the body by a very small arti- 

 culating surface, resembling in this the insects, and 

 departing widely from the fishes. The jaws are large 

 in proportion, and armed with very strong pointed 

 teeth, the mouth opened as in the cod and other 

 well-known fishes, and no doubt rendered the animal 

 sufficiently formidable ; and the lower part of the head 

 seems to have been covered with a tough membrane, 

 capable of distension, and enabling the animal to swal- 

 low very large bodies. The upper part of the body 

 was chiefly covered by one large plate, and the lower 

 part by four plates of rather curious shape. The tail 

 was large, and much longer than the body, and was 

 provided with two small fins. The detached plates, 

 more especially those which covered the body, are 

 frequently found fossil in certain localities of the old 

 red sandstone.* 



The fishes just described form together one of 



* Besides the Cephalaspis, Pterichthys, and Coccosteus, there is a fourth 

 genus belonging to this group, which bears, however, so near a resemblance 

 to the Pterichthys as not to require a separate description in this place. 



Caithness and the Orkneys, Croraarty and Lethen Bar, Gamrie and 

 Dura Den in Fifeshire, are all well-known localities for old red sandstone 

 fish. Some species, exceedingly rare in other places, are met with in 

 Forfarshire, and in general the different groups are distributed in 

 special localities. The remains of fishes referable to the same species 

 occur also in Herefordshire, and have been found in Russia, where, in- 

 deed, fragments belonging to one animal of this kind (Chelonichthys, or 

 Turtle-fish) are of gigantic size. 



