SAURIANS. 475 



SECTION III. 



SECOND ORDER. SAURIANS. 

 Sauria, (Gr. cravyog, sauros, a lizard.) 



This order contains a numerous assemblage of animals re 

 markable for the differences in their size, which varies from a 

 few inches to thirty feet ; and not less so for differences in re- 

 spect to strength, form and habit. All, however, agree in cer 

 tain essential characters. Many species, generally of great 

 dimensions, are known only in a fossil state. 



The general contour of the body is lengthened ; the skin is 

 protected either by horny plates, by scales of various sizes and 

 figures, or by granulations. The limbs are usually four in num. 

 ber; the toes armed with claws. The body always terminates 

 in a tail, which is frequently of considerable length. The eyes 

 are protected by eye-lids, except in certain instances ; and in 

 most species a tympanic membrane covers the orifice leading to 

 the internal organs of hearing. The ribs, unlike those of the 

 Tortoises, are distinct and movable; and there is a sternum or 

 breast-bone, which is not found in serpents. The jaws are 

 armed with teeth, as in snakes ; but the bones of the jaws are 

 firmly united together, and not separable into distinct parts, as 

 in the latter animals. 



The eggs of the Saurians have a hard calcareous shell ; the 

 young undergo no metamorphoses or changes like those of the 

 newt and frog. 



The tongue, in these animals, differs greatly in its form, and 

 in the degree of freedom which it enjoys. In the Crocodile it 

 is undeveloped and scarcely distinguishable from the general 

 floor of the mouth, between the branches of the lower jaw. In 

 other groups, it is broad, fleshy, and free only at its point ; in 

 the Chameleons, it is fleshy, cylindrical, and capable of being 

 projected to a great distance, and then completely redrawn. In 

 some genera, it is slender and deeply forked, like that of a snake, 

 and when at rest drawn into a sheath ; while in others, it is flat, 

 very movable, and notched or forked at the tip. It is, in all, lu 

 bricated with a glutinous saliva, but does not appear to be en 

 dowed with a high sense of taste. 



In most of the Saurians, the body is so remarkable for its 

 length and cylindrical figure that, as Aristotle has observed, they 

 resemble snakes with the addition of limbs. &quot;Among all the 

 reptiles,&quot; says M. Bibron, &quot;these undoubtedly approach nearest 



