Chap. IV.J 



TEETH OF AMPHIBIA. 



is also enlarged, and the premaxillary teeth are four 

 times as large as those of the corresponding region in 

 the female. 



Small and simple as are the teeth of most recent 

 Amphibians, they are, as compared with those of 

 most fishes, greatly reduced in number ; this, no doubt, 

 is largely to be explained by the development of the 



Fig. 64. Teeth of Skate. A, Male ; B, female. 



fore-limbs into organs which are capable of seizing and 

 holding the prey, or of pushing it into the mouth ; we 

 find, too, that the great majority of the teeth are now 

 found on the membrane bones (see page 329), at the 

 sides of the mouth only; though, indeed, the frog has fine 

 vomeriiie teeth, and other amphibians have them on 

 the palatine, or the pterygoid bones. 



Whether we pass now to the Reptiles or to the 

 Mammalia, we get still more marked indications of 

 this reduction ; in all the latter which have teeth, and 

 in all crocodiles and many lizards, teeth are found only 

 on the lower jaw, and on the maxillse and premaxillse. 

 K 16 



