THE GEOLOGICAL RECORD 295 



. . . If this feature in the palate has always been distinctive, 

 Paheohatteria, from the Lower Permian of Saxony, is the 

 earliest member of the class Reptilia hitherto discovered ; and it 

 is certain that during the Upper Permian age there were numerous 

 reptiles both in Europe and America, probably -also in South 

 Africa." 1 So far as the evidence goes, therefore, the appearance 

 of the Reptilia succeeds that of the Amphibia in exactly the way 

 demanded by the theory of organic evolution. 



The reptiles as a group attained their maximum of develop- 

 ment in Mesozoic times, and of the nine great orders into 

 which the class has been subdivided only four persist at the 

 present day, and one of these four is represented by only a single 



FIG. 140. Skeleton of Pariasaurus baini, X 3 V (From Smith Woodward, 

 after Seeley.) 



species. This species, Sphenodon (= Hattcria) punctatus (Fig. 113), 

 now confined to certain small islands off the coast of New 

 Zealand, is the sole surviving representative of the order 

 Rhynchocephalia, and not only constitutes the oldest existing type 

 of reptile but also makes a very close approach to the oldest type 

 known from fossil remains the extinct Pala3ohatteria of the Lower 

 Permian. The other existing orders of reptiles are the Chelonia 

 (turtles and tortoises), the Squamata (lizards and snakes) and the 

 Crocodilia (crocodiles and alligators). 



Many of the extinct Secondary reptiles were far more highly 

 specialized and remarkable than any existing forms. Different 

 members of the class were adapted to the most diverse modes of 

 life, the group having taken full possession of sea, land and air. 



1 A. Smith Wooiward, " Outlines of Vertebrate Palaeontology for Students of 

 Zoology " (Cambridge, 1898). 



