108 ON THE STAGONOLEPIS ROBERTSONI AND THE 
Teleosauria) the outer margins of the dorsal and ventral shields 
came into close ‘contact. 
By the discovery of the true nature of this fragment, the con- 
ciusions to which the structural characters of the different kinds of 
scutes pointed were completely verified, and I had thenceforward no 
hesitation in assuming that Stagonolepis was provided with a dorsal 
and a ventral dermal shield, composed of scutes resembling those of 
Jacare, Caiman, Crocodilus Hastingste, and the Teleosauria, in the 
manner in which their anterior and posterior margins are articulated 
together. 
With respect to the mode in which the scutes were arranged to 
form the ventral and dorsal shields, Stagonolepis would appear to 
have resembled the Zeleosaurta. The fragment of the ventral shield 
which I described first is extremely like a portion of the anterior 
region of the ventral shield of a Zeleosaurus, and it will be observed 
that it only contains five longitudinal rows of scutes. 
On the other hand, all the impressions of the droad and thick 
angulated scutes which I have met with have one lateral margin 
straight, and apparently fitted for sutural union with the correspond- 
ing margin of another scute, while the other margin is rounded off, 
and is either thin, or, if thick, shelves off rapidly to a thin edge. 
Hence I conclude that these dorsal scutes formed, as in the 7eleo- 
sauria, only a double series, and that their external edges were not, 
except perhaps in the caudal region, connected with other scutes. 
The zrregular angulated scutes only remain to be accounted for. 
They have much resemblance to the small scutes which are scattered 
along the margins of the great dorsal shield of existing Crocodiles ; 
but it is possible they may have belonged to the narrower part of 
the tail. 
To sum up in a few words the result of this long inquiry, it is 
evident that, in its dermal armour, S/agonolepis is altogether a 
Crocodilian Reptile. 
Bones of the Stagonolepis.—\ will abstain, at present, from par- 
ticularly describing the impressions of ribs, of two scapula, and of 
the posterior face of the second sacral vertebra of Stagonoleprs, 
because all these parts nearly resemble the corresponding bones of 
ordinary Crocodilia. Had my acquaintance with the organization of 
the Elgin reptile been confined to the remains already mentioned, in 
fact, I should have been fully justified, according to the ordinarily 
accepted canons of paleontological interpretation, in prophesying that 
any other parts which should be brought to light would conform very 
closely to the Crocodilian, and especially the Teleosaurian type. It 
