200 reptilia: laceutilia. — xxix. 



Tliou whose fame 

 Searchest tho j^rnsn with tongue of flame, 

 Making all crcaturos seem thy gaiiio, 

 When the wliole woods before thee run, 

 Asketi hut — wlieii all is said and done — 

 To lie, untrodden, in the sun ! " — Bket Harte. 



Okdkh xxix. T.ACEKTILIA. (Thk Lizards.) 



Reptiles not shielded, with the hodv usually covered with ovcr- 

 lai)i>ing scales; mouth not dilatable; tongue free; jaws always with 

 teeth. Limbs 4, distinct, rarely rudimentary and hidden by the 

 skin : shoulder girdle developed. Feet usually with 5 tligits, the 

 phalanges normally 2, .'3, 4, 5, 3, or 4. Tail usually long and in 

 many cases very brittli'. readily broken by a slight blow ; this is 

 owing to a thin, unossilieil, transverse septum, which traverses 

 each vertebra. '• The vertebra naturally breaks with great readi- 

 ness through the plane of the septum, and when such lizards are 

 seized by the tail, that ap])endage is pretty certain to part at one 

 of these weak points." {Huxley.) Vent a cross slit; quadrate bone 

 articulated to the skull. The great majority of the numerous species 

 belong to tropical and sul»-tropical regions. The few found within 

 our limits give but a slight idea of the whole great group. (Lat., 

 lactrla, lizard.) 



Families of Lacertilia. 



a, Tonpiie covered with imbricate, scale-like papilhc or with oblique plicae; 



clavi( le dihiled proxinially, often looivshaped. 



b. I'ninaxiliarj' double; temporal fossa- roofed over by bone; sternal fon- 



tanellc usually wanting,' (tongue not deeply bilid). . Sci.ncid.k, 11.3. 



M). rreniaxillary single; temporal fossw not roofed; sternal fonlanelle 



])resent; (tongue deeply bitid) Tkid.*:, 114. 



aa. Tongue smooth or with villous papilhe; clavicle not dilated proximally. 

 c. Teni|)oraI fossa- roofed over by bone; tongue sheathed at tip; body 

 wuh osteodermal plates; (limbs obsolete in our .species). 



Anguid.k, 116. 

 cc. Temporal fossa; not roofed over; tongue thick; (limbs present). 



I<;uAi«tD.s, 116. 



Family CXIIL SCINCID^. (Thk Skinks.) 



Ilt-ad regularly shielded ; srales smooth, underlaid hy bony plates; 

 body fusiform or subcylindrical; nasal plate sinL'li-. ungrooved. the 

 nostril in tlu- (-entre ; limbs present; toes com|)ressed, .^-r) ; head 

 usually witiu>ut jmsterior vertical jilate. Clcnera about 60; s|H'cies 

 20<r, in most parts of tlu- world. 



a. Palate with lieth; two supranasul plates; ear large; its front edge dentate; 



lower eye-lid s<aly KrMK<K.s, Q'.'.l. 



aa. Palate toothless; no siipranasal plates; ear very large, circidar, exposed ; 



lower eye-lid with a I riin.-pjirent disk Lkioi orisMA, 2U4. 



