SECTION I 



REPTILES 



CHAPTER I 



GENERAL CHARACTERS 



Reptiles in general. Definition of reptiles. Variety of forms. Extremes 

 of size. Some leading structural features of the class. 



OUR forefathers of classic days evidently had no acquaint- 

 ance with either the flying pterodactyles, the bipedal 

 iguanodons, or the whale-like ichthyosaurs of a long 

 past epoch, or, for the matter of that, with the so-called fly- 

 ing dragons of the Malay countries of to-day. Otherwise 

 they would scarcely have applied the name reptiles (Latin 

 repo, Greek epirw) to the creatures forming the subject 

 of the present section, together with frogs, salamanders, and 

 their kin, which constitute the class Amphibia, or Batra- 

 chia. As a matter of fact, however, having eliminated the 

 Amphibia, and regarding the marine turtles as forming the 

 exception which proves the rule, we find that, etymologically, 

 the term reptiles adequately expresses one of the leading ex- 

 ternal features of the existing members of the class. For 

 modern reptiles, whether provided with limbs or no, are essenti- 

 ally creatures whose " belly cleaveth to the ground," and which 

 consequently creep (or "reep") in the true sense of the word. 

 Indeed, the one great external characteristic of nearly all 

 limbed reptiles of to-day is that the body is carried close to or 

 even touching the ground, and is never raised high above it in 

 the manner characteristic of mammals and the majority of birds. 

 In some of the arboreal forms this trait is less marked, while 



