CHAPTEE XII 



1859-1860 



THE programme laid down in 1857 was steadily 

 carried out through a great part of 1859. Huxley 

 published nine monographs, chiefly on fossil Reptilia, 

 in the proceedings of the Geological Society and of 

 the Geological Survey, one on the Armour of Croco- 

 diles at the Linnean, and "Observations on the 

 Development of some Parts of the Skeleton of Fishes," 

 in the Journal of Microscopical Science. 



Among the former was a paper on Stagonolepis, a 

 creature from the Elgin beds, which had previously 

 been ranked among the fishes. From some new 

 remains, which he worked out of the stone with his 

 own hands, Huxley made out that this was a reptile 

 closely allied to the Crocodiles; and from this and 

 the affinities of another fossil, Hyperodapedon, from 

 neighbouring beds, determined the geological age to 

 which the Elgin beds belonged. A good deal turned 

 upon the nature of the scales from the back and belly 

 of this animal, and a careful comparison with the 

 scales of modern crocodiles a subject till then little 

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