REPTILES 



just inside this lid there is a row of 3 to 8 piincta leading to the lacrimal 

 duct. In Crocodihis 'porosiis, however, the lower lid is lined with 

 lacrimal glands and there is only one punctnm. In all the Crocodilia 

 these glands are said to play a relatively small part in the lubrication 

 of the eye ; as was first pointed out by Rathke (18G6) the secretion 

 appears to pass directly dowai the lacrimal duct possibly with the 

 object of lubricating the food (Leydig. 1873). 



Xo signs of external lacrimation can be elicited even on stimulation of the 

 eye by the instillation of such irritative solutions as the juice of an onion mixed 

 with common salt (Johnson, 1927). It would appear that the legend of 

 " crocodile tears " is a myth : it will be remembered that Sir John Maunderville 

 in his TraiJels {ca. 1400) accused this reptile of shedding hypocritical tears in 

 sorrow before it devoured its victim. 



The bony orbit is enclosed and witliin it the eye projects upwards 

 so that it remams above the level of the water when the rest of the 

 head is submerged. 



THE IIHYXCHOCEPHALIAX EYE 



S'phenodon {Haiteria) X)^^nctatns, the New Zealand " lizard " or 

 tuatara. is a veritable living fossil and the only extant representative 

 of the Rhynchocephalia ; it is a small olive-green animal spotted with 

 yellow above and white below, carnivorous in habit, living a solitary 



379 



Fig. 459.- 



-Thi: Tr^'r\R\, Sput \oj)o\ (fidtii 15urton\ N/ 

 Else\ icr Pub. Co.). 



I of Animal Life 



