CROCODILIANS, LIZARDS, AND SNAKES. 207 



The Ehiptoglossa (Chameleons) form an extremely specialized type, 

 modified from the Agamid.e by loss of parts and modification of the 

 feet. Their cranial characters are in some respects not a little like 

 those of the Laramie Dinosauriau family of the Agathaumidie, but 

 this resemblance does not indicate afBnity. Finally, the Amphisbseni- 

 ans (Annulati) are a group of whose origin it is difficult to learn. They 

 may have come oft" from the common ancestors of the Sauria and 

 Ophidia, but their resemblances to the Annielloidea render it possible 

 that their point of origin may have been later in the scale. Their den- 

 tal types differ quite like those of the Pachyglossa, and it is therefore 

 clear that they were not derived from a pleurodont type, but like the 

 Pachyglossa developed a pleurodont type independently. The dis- 

 covery by Baur of this superfamily in the American Oligocene shows 

 it to have been contemporary with the Diploglossa, which I discovered 

 in the same horizon. In any case the Annulati show a nearer tendency 

 toward the Ophidia than any other group of the Sauria. 



IV. HISTORY. 



The suborder of Sauria was first correctly defined and distinguished 

 from the other divisions of Eeptilia by Owen in 1841, under the name 

 of Lacertilia. Previous to this date the division which included it was 

 either too comprehensive oti account of the admission of the Loricata, 

 or deficient by reason of the reference of the serpentiform lizards to the 

 Ophidia. Indeed Laurenti in 1768 included lizards, crocodiles, and 

 salamanders in a division which he termed Gradientia, for which reason 

 this name is not available for any natural division of animals. Brog- 

 niart in 1799 first proposed the term Sauria, but included the crocodiles, 

 as did Daudin (1802), Dum«''ril (1800), and Oppel (1811). Merrem in 

 1820 first separated the crocodiles from other reptiles under the name 

 Loricata, and retained OppeFs name, Squamata, for the order as now 

 generally adopted. The contents of the Squamata were, however, very 

 incorrectly arranged and no progress was made in correctly distin- 

 guishing the Sauria from the Ophidia. Wagler in 1830 included the 

 scaled reptiles in three groups, Lacert;p, Serpentes, and Angues, 

 excluding the crocodiles as Crocodili. The Angues includes both Sau- 

 rian and Ophidian genera. 



In 1831 Dumeril and Bibron issued the first volume of the Erpeto- 

 logie Generale. The crocodiles are included in the Sauria. In 1841 

 Owen proposed a system of Keptilia based on studies of both the 

 extinct and recent forms. Ue did not recognize the order Squamata, 

 but regarded the lizards and snakes as representing orders, using the 

 names Lacertilia and Ophidia. For the crocodiles he employed the 

 name Crocodilia instead of the older Loricata. It was reserved 

 for Johannes Miiller to distinguish more exactly than his predecessors 

 the Sauria from tlie Ophidia, liis only error being the retention of the 

 Amphisbjenia (Annulati) in the latter. He wrote in 1837, and employed 



