880 



D'ARCY WENTWORTH THOMPSON ON 



The family of the crocodiles has had a special interest for the evolutionist ever 

 since Huxley pointed out that, in a degree only second to the horse and its ancestors, 

 it furnishes us with a close and almost unbroken series of transitional forms, running 



Fig. ZZ.—Polyprion. 



Fig. 34. — Pseudopriaeanthus alius. 



Fig. 35. — Scorpasna sp. 



Fig. 36. — Antigonia, capro?. 



down in continuous succession from one geological formation to another. I should 

 be inclined to transpose this general statement into other terms, and to say that the 

 Crocodilia constitute a case in which, with unusually little complication from the 

 presence of independent variants, the trend of one particular mode of transformation 

 is visibly manifested. If we exclude meanwhile from our comparison a few of the 

 oldest of the crocodiles, such as Belodon, which differ more fundamentally from the 



