2612 SCALED REPTILES 



of coloration, the back showing dark lozenges alternating with X-shaped markings, 

 while the under parts are darker, with sometimes two rows of white spots, and 

 from the eye to the corner of the mouth runs a broader dark brown stripe. In- 

 habiting Eastern Brazil, this species extends as far north as Guiana, while its 

 southward range is less than that of the jararaca. 



Writing of the latter, Bates states that in Brazil it is far more dreaded than the 

 jaguar or the alligator. " The individual seen by L/ino lay coiled up at the foot of 

 a tree, and was scarcely distinguishable, on account of the colors of its body being 

 assimilated to those of the fallen leaves. Its hideous, flat, triangular head, con- 

 nected with the body by a thin neck, was reared and turned toward us; Frazao 

 killed it with a charge of shot, shattering it completely, and destroying its value as 

 a specimen. In conversing on the subject of jararaca as we walked onward, every 

 one of the party was ready to swear that this snake attacks man without prov- 

 ocation, leaping toward him from a considerable distance when he approaches. I 

 met, in the course of my daily rambles through the woods, many jararacas, and 

 once or twice very narrowly escaped treading on them, but never saw them attempt 

 to spring. On some subjects the testimony of the natives of a wild country is 

 utterly worthless. The bite of tne jararacas is generally fatal." 



A brief reference may be made to two groups of extinct reptiles from the 



rocks of the Secondary epoch, which must be included in the order Squamata. 



The first of these groups is represented by a small snake lizard, from 



Long-Nee e ^ e jjjjg^gjj Chalk, described under the name of Dolichosaurus, and 

 Lizards 



forming a suborder (Dolichosauria) by itself. Whereas ordinary liz- 

 ards have not more than nine vertebrae in the neck, this strange reptile has upward 

 of from fifteen to seventeen, while its hind-limbs are characterized by having 

 the whole of the five metatarsal bones of the foot well developed, and its whole 

 structure reveals a very generalized type of organization. The vertebrae have 

 additional articulations like those of snakes. It is probable that these reptiles 

 form the ancestral group from which the other suborders of scaled reptiles have 

 originated. 



A still more remarkable group of the order is formed by certain 



:ous ea carn j vorous niarine reptiles from the Cretaceous rocks, many of 

 Serpents . 



which attained gigantic dimensions, and may not inappropriately be 



designated extinct sea serpents. Commonly known as Mosasauroids, on account of 

 the first described genus (Mosasaurus) , having been found on the banks of the 

 Meuse, they form a suborder technically known as the Pythonomorpha. They 

 all had a much elongated body, and a skull approximating in structure to that 

 of the monitors among existing lizards, the nasal and premaxillary bones being 

 welded together, and the quadrate very loosely attached to the skull. Teeth 

 were present on some of the bones of the palate, as well as on the margin of 

 the jaws; those of the latter series being large, sharply pointed, and attached by 



