438 PKOF. T. H. HUXLEY ON STAGONOLEPIS KOBERTSONI. 



in the case of the Gavial, which feeds on fish. The food of Stagono- 

 Tepis was doubtful : the teeth were often more or less ground down. 

 In reply to Prof. Seeley, he stated that his comparisons were not 

 founded on the skull alone, but on the other principal characters. 

 As to the older Lacertilia, he had paid some attention to them, and 

 considered that in all their essential characters they resembled the 

 existing forms ; the modern Splienodon (or Hatteria') of New Zealand 

 was singularly like the Triassic Hyperodapedon. The skull of 

 Belodon has many curious resemblances to that of Hatteria. His 

 conclusion was, that the existing Lacertilia were little modified, and 

 the existing Crocodilia much modified, descendants from a common 

 ancestral form of palaeozoic age. 



