REPTILIA 225 



All chelonians are similar in their habits and structure. 

 The eggs varying in number from five to more than one 

 hundred are deposited in the ground. They may be dis- 

 tinguished from those of snakes by the fact that they are 

 nearly spherical. The period during which the eggs are 

 incubated by the heat of the sun varies in different species 

 from one to four months. The land chelonians pass the 

 cold weather in a dormant state under logs and stones or 

 in self-constructed burrows in the earth, while the terra- 

 pins and turtles bury themselves in the mud. 



Dinosauria : Giant Lizards 



The Dinosauria form an order of extinct land reptiles 

 which inhabited the earth more than ten millions of vear? 



FIG. 261. Dinosaur three feet long, restored from a study of the skeleton found to 

 Connecticut. 



ago. All that is known of them has been learned from the 

 study of their fossil remains found in the rocks of Europe, 

 India, South Africa, and North America. All had limbs, 



