1859.J 



EGERTON OLD RED FISHES. 



133 



" Fig. 6 is that of the specimen which I have described as unique. 

 You will see, on examining the plaster, that the upper profile line 



Fig. G. — Lateral View of the Cuirass of Coccosteus Milleri. 



marked in dark grey is not quite that of the fossil, which exhibits 

 (like what portrait-painters term a two-thirds front face) part of 

 the other side, — at least, nearly the whole of plates / and a, and the 

 whole central part of plate c, with the little oval plate which the 

 latter includes. But by running my colour edge direct through the 

 centre of these plates, I have gained, I think, the true line of profile, 

 and, what is of importance in restoring the Coccosteus, have ascer- 

 tained nearly the angle which the frontal line of the head formed 

 with that of the back. The slip of shaded paper (fig. 7) which ac- 

 companies the cast completes the restoration ; and the tout enserribh 

 forms, instead of the monster I once deemed Coccosteus, a not in- 

 elegant little fish. 



" Fig. 8, a cast of the lateral plate h of the cuirass, exhibits the pin 

 or tenon which fastened the armour of the head to that of the body. 

 The two pins, bent towards each other, I have desciibed as forming, 

 between them, a dovetail-joining. Sow simple, and yel how beau- 

 tiful, the contrivance ! Thesqnamose sutures on the exterior of this 

 plate were very broad. It was overlain by the dorsa] plate I, and 

 by the lateral plat..' :>. but in turn overlay the angular plate 1, im- 

 mediately beneath it. My casl indicates this aether suture at the 



mark x\ the seeming sutures at either end are mere fractures. 



Externally the plate bore a pseudo-suture, which (in fig. 6) I have 



also marked .,-. 



"In the restoration, ti.^ r . 5, the plates n I. m m, and x, are tur- 

 nished by one individual, and bear, of course, the true proportions 

 each to the others; the plate n 2 is from another and slightly larger 

 individual; while the central plate, o, as I had none of my own that 

 were not greatly too large, I have borrowed from the gutta-percha 

 squeeze which you kindly sent me lasl spring. It is, however, 

 rather small for fitting rightly into the other plates. 



i. 2 



