PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 13 



other Reptiles, and in this respect resembles that of the 

 Mammalia. The ischium, ilium, and pubis are anchylosed 

 into one os-innominatum. The sub-order Paramchia closely 

 approaches the Amphibia. The vertebral-centra retain the 

 notochordal-canal. The sacral vertebrae are limited to two, 

 of which only one supports the ilium. Pariasaurus is found in 

 the Beaufort beds of the Karoo of South Africa. The teeth are 

 close-set and fused with bone resembling those of the Iguanodon 

 in their mode of implantation. The abrasion of the teeth 

 indicates that they were herbivorous. The two very remarkable 

 genera, Cynognathus and Gomphognathus, resemble the Mammalia 

 in the character of their skulls, the former especially, with its 

 small incisors and powerful canines, bearing striking likeness to 

 carnivorae. 



The most ancient air-breathing Vertebrate is probably the 

 Telerpeton from the Trias. Unlike Mammifera^ Reptiles have 

 never been modified by man in their distribution over the globe. 

 They have all preserved their circumscribed limits, and have 

 never been domesticated. The edible Frog is said to have been 

 introduced into Madeira and Teneriffe. The distribution of 

 Reptiles is aided by the favourable climate of the equatorial 

 regions, and checked by the lowering of the temperature as the 

 Poles are approached. In temperate regions they live more or 

 less in a torpid state during the winter. At latitude 60 N. they 

 disappear. In the north of Europe, and south of that latitude 

 Lacerta vivipara, L. agih's, Anguis fragilis, Coluber natrix, Vipera 

 berus, Rana temporaria, and Triton cristatus are the only survivors. 



The skin of the Batrachians is periodically shed. That of the 

 Bufonidae splits along the median dorsal and ventral- lines, and 

 shrinks in vertical folds down the sides, the limbs free themselves 

 by alternate struggles of the fore- and hind-legs. The skin of a 

 snake is turned inside out in the process of shedding. It is 

 covered with small closely-set scales along the back and sides, 

 the ventral-scales are set transversely. 



I have already said that Birds are connected with Reptiles in 

 many fundamental points. The late Professor Huxley groups 



