CHAPTER XII 



saueia autosauri or laceetilia lizards 



Sub-Class XL—SAURIA. 



Reptiles with movable quadrate hones, with a transverse, external, 

 cloacal ojjening, near the posterior lateral corners of tvliich 

 open tlie eversiUe, piaired {right and left) eopulatory organs. 



The Sauria, which comprise the AuTOSAURi or Lacertilia in 

 the wider sense and the Ophidia or Snakes, are the most 

 recently developed groups of Eeptiles. No fossils are known 

 from strata earlier than those of the Cretaceous epoch. Their 

 origin has probably to be looked for among the Prosauria, of 

 which Sphenodon, cf. p. 294, is the only surviving member. The 

 Sauria have attained their great development within the Tertiary 

 period. They, both Autosauri and Ophidia, are now the two 

 dominant Eeptilian groups, and they have, so to speak, a future 

 before them, being apparently still on the increase in numbers 

 and species, but certainly not in size. 



Order I. AUTOSAURI or LACERTILIA— Z/^^i?X'>S'. 



Saurlavs which have t]i,e right and left halves of the mandibles 

 connected by a sutwral symphysis. 



The overwhelming majority possess well -developed limbs, 

 movable eyelids and cutaneous scales, covered by the mostly thin 

 and horny epidermis. But there are many kinds of Autosauri, 

 especially those belonging to the degraded, burrowing families, 

 which have lost not only one or both pairs of limbs, but even 

 the limb-girdles, while the eyes have become concealed beneath 

 the skin, and in some cases the scales have been lost, or reduced 



