REPTILES 



The ophidian optic nerve is unique — for the Sauropsida — in its total 

 resemblance to that of Neoceratodus (p. 591). The lacertiUan nerve is 

 also fascicular, but its bundles lack ependymal cores and have more glial 

 tissue between them. 



Fig. 182 — Lizard eye, diagrammatic, for comparison with that of snake. 

 (The dotted arrow shows the direction of application of the force of accommodation). 



The History of the Snake Eye — If the reader needs any reminder of 

 the magnitude of the difference between the snake eye and that of the 

 ancestral lizard, it will be furnished by Figures 182 and 183. Herpetol- 

 ogists and palaeontologists are agreed that the snakes originated from 

 the stem of the lizard family Varanidae, the 'monitors'. These are the 

 largest of all lizards, and include the twelve-foot dragon of Komodo. 



