SYNOPTIC CATALOGUE 



OF 



REPTILES 



Class III. — REPTILES, (Reptilia). 



Animal furnished with a distinct bony skeleton. The skin 

 clothed with horny imbedded plates or imbricated scales, which 

 are covered with a thin and often deciduous epidermis. They re- 

 spire by cellular lungs. The heart has a single ventricle divided 

 into two or more cells, giving origin to two arteries and receiving 

 the cold red blood by two veins from two auricles. Penis distinct. 

 Oviparous, but the egg sometimes hatched in the body of the mo- 

 ther, often covered with a thick more or less calcareous shell. The 

 young like the parent, and not undergoing any transformation. 



Synopsis of the Orders. 



Sect. I. Scaly Reptiles, (Squamata). 



Body covered with overlapping scales. Skull formed of sepa- 

 rate bones ; the ear-bone external and only articulated to the rest. 

 Vent a cross slit. The generative organs bifid. Tongue free. 



1. Lizards, (Sauria). Mouth not dilatable: lower jaw-bones 



united by a bony suture in front. Limbs 4, distinct, rarely in 

 such a rudimentary state as to be hidden under the skin. 



2. Serpents, (Ophidia). Mouth very dilatable: bones of the 



lower jaws separate from each other, only united by ligaments. 

 Limbs none, or only in the form of short spurs on the sides of 

 the vent. 



B 



