SCINCOIDS. 



51 



FAMILY OF SCINCOTDEA. 



36. The Saurians which compose this family are recognised 

 by their short feet, their tongue, which is slightly or not at all 

 extensible, and by the equal, and ordinarily im- 

 bricated scales, which cover the body above and 



below. Some of them are spindle-shaped, and 



others have the body so much elongated, and the 



tail not very distinguishable from it, (Fig. 14.) Fi 9- 14< 



that they resemble serpents. In many, the feet 



are too short to serve for locomotion, and there 



are some in which one pair of extremities, either 



the anterior or posterior, is entirely wanting. 



The Scincoidea evidently form the connecting 



link between the Saurians and Ophidians. 



37. Among the Scincoidea we place the 

 ScmauES, the SEPS, the BIPEDES, the CHALCIDES, 

 and the BIMANA. In the two first genera there 

 are four feet, and in the Seps the body is more 

 elongated, and more vermiform than in the 

 Scinques. The Bipedes, (Fig. 14.) and Chal- 

 cides, want the anterior extremities, and the 

 Bimana have the fore feet only. 



38. Long previous to the epoch of the crea- 

 tion of man, there existed on the surface of the 



globe, a great number of gigantic reptiles, the bones of which 

 are found in a fossil state. Among these Saurians, the race of 

 which is extinct, are found Lacertians, resembling Monitors, that 

 must have been from thirty to forty feet in length ; but many of 

 these lost animals are particularly remarkable for their anomalous 

 structure. In England, near Honfleur, and in other localities, 

 we find in the very ancient formations, the remains of many 

 species of two genera of Saurians, whose broad feet, in the form 

 of battledores, indicate that these animals were entirely aquatic. 

 They are designated under the names of PLESIAOSURUS, and 

 ICTHYOSAURUS. And another reptile, (Fig. 1 5.) still more extra- 

 ordinary, has been discovered in some of the ancient layers of 

 the earth. According to the structure of its bony frame, we see, 

 like the bat, it must have been capable of walking and flying ; 

 for its posterior extremities, and all the toes of the fore feet, with 

 a single exception, are formed in the ordinary way ; but the 

 second toe of the anterior extremities is more than twice as long 



36_ How are the Scincoidea characterised? 



37. What are the divisions of the Scincoidea? 



38. What is the Pterodactylus ? 



