2 OUR REPTILES. 



hearts instead of four. They were still further 

 characterised as oviparous, breathing by lungs, or 

 partly by lungs and partly by means of gills ; thus 

 combining one of the elements of fish-life with those 

 of higher organisms. Finally, their scientific por- 

 trait was completed by the announcement that the 

 body is covered with shelly plates (as in the tortoises, 

 &c), or with scales (as in the snakes), or with a 

 soft naked skin (as in the toads and frogs). 



This was the orthodox definition of what con- 

 stituted a Eeptile, but not the best definition, as 

 Mr. Edward Newman afterwards showed in some 

 important remarks on the classification of these 

 animals. 



"The epidermis," he writes, "or outer skin of 

 quadrupeds, is clothed with hair, of birds with 

 feathers, of fishes with scales, but in reptiles it is 

 uncovered, perfectly naked. The processes, whether 

 described as squamoe (in Latin), or ecailles (in 

 French), are projections, folds, or rugosities of the 

 under-skin ; and are not deciduous like hairs, 

 feathers, and scales, but are as permanent and dur- 

 able as the bones themselves. This may be seen 

 when the slough of a snake is found. This slough 

 is continuous, and contains a faithful mould of each 

 of these processes; it is a very beautiful and very 

 instructive object. The tortoise exhibits the pecu- 

 liarity of an articulated skin, the articulation being 



