20 Proceedinf/s. 



of skin under each digit, which act like the round leather 

 suckers which boys sometimes make. 



One large extinct Lizard is interesting to us from the fact 

 that its remains are found in the chalk. 



There is one curious little Lizard, the Slow Worm, which is 

 generally taken for a Snake, This is an excusable mistake 

 though, for its general shape is very Snake-like; and its limbs, 

 though present, are invisible, lying beneath the skin, and 

 are quite rudimentary. It has the power, in common with 

 some of the other Lizards, of parting with its tail when 

 suddenly touched. The first specimen I caught, which was 

 on Box Hill, shed its tail in this way. 



And now we come to a most dangerous group of Eeptiles — 

 the Snakes. These are remarkable for the immense number 

 of joints which go to make up their spinal-column. Lithe 

 Python, for instance, they are more than 400 in number. 

 This Python is a non-poisonous Snake of the same division 

 as that to which the Boa-constrictor belongs, and we can see 

 that this structure of back-bone must be very suitable to their 

 habits in giving them a very pliant body to wind round and 

 crush their prey. The joints fit together by a cup-and-ball 

 arrangement, the cups being very deep. Li some of these 

 Snakes, as the Boa, there is a little imperfect hind limb, 

 which is of no use to the creature, as it lies beneath the skin; 

 nevertheless it would be a mistake to say that Serpents have 

 no limbs. 



For a type of poisonous Snake I take the Eattlesnake. The 

 large deep poisou-fang is moveable on a hinge, so that when 

 the Snake's mouth is shut it lies back against the palate, but 

 by the pulling of the muscle which opens the mouth this fang 

 is pushed by the other bones downwards and forwards, as in 

 the figure; and when the Snake "strikes," the poison is 

 injected into the wound through the fang, which is hollow. 

 Says Prof. Huxley in one of his lectures, " The Snake makes 

 a dart forward and bites, and then withdraws and waits until 

 the victim dies, when it is swallowed with ease and satisfaction." 



The next group, the Crocodiles and Alligators, are very 

 Lizard-like in form, and are covered with an armour of bony 



