6 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



The body is stoutly built, being only slightly compressed 

 on the sides ; it possesses a series of spine-like lobes ex- 

 tending, but for a small interruption on the nape, from 

 behind the head to the end of the tail. The latter organ, 

 which is comparatively short, is very thick and somev^^hat 

 compressed, and is capable of regeneration as in lizards. 



The limbs are well-developed, the fore limbs being a 

 little shorter than the hind ones ; the digits, five in number 

 on both hand and foot, are webbed at the base and 



A 



1 //y>*^ ^t(y\-^A 



Fig. I, — Lower jaws, showing the acrodont dentition {a), 

 and pleurodont dentition (b). 



{From B.M. Guide to Reptile Gallery.) 



provided with strong claws ; the eye is rather large, brown 

 in colour, with a vertical pupil ; the tongue is short, thick 

 and not very protrusible ; the nostrils are small and lateral ; 

 the ear is absent, as in snakes ; the teeth, which seem to form 

 part of the jaw itself, so completely are their bases fused 

 with the bone, belong to the so-called acrodont type, being 

 inserted on the edge of the jaw, in opposition to the 

 dentition known as pleurodont, in which they are applied 

 to the inner side ; those in front are incisor-like and form a 

 sort of beak, whence the name Rhynchocephalia. The 

 scales on the upper parts are granular, intermixed with 



