CLASS OF EEPTILES. 



353 



animal to creep along the smoothest walls, and even along the 

 ceiling. 



There are also reptiles which have the fingers capable of 

 being opposed to each other as in the hand of man : in the 



Fig. 350. The Gecko of the Walls. 



chameleon (Fig. 351) they are arranged into two packets, en- 

 abling them to hold on to the branch ; they have also a pre- 

 hensile tail, and thus they are in fact climbing animals. 

 Finally, in other reptiles more formed for an aquatic life, 



Fig. 351. The Common Chameleon. 



the feet and hands are formed like oars : the turtle (Fig. 52) 

 is the only reptile which at present offers us this kind of 

 structure : but in remote epochs of the geological history of 

 the globe, our seas were peopled with large animals with 



