SAURIA. 



ORDER II. SAURIA 



The Saurians have the body and tail of a length- 

 ened form, clothed either with scales or a shagreened 

 skin. There is no shell corresponding to that of the 

 Tortoises. The feet are generally four, but some 

 few species, merging into the Serpent race, have 

 but two, and some have them so imperfect as to 

 be scarcely worthy of the name. The toes are 

 usually furnished with crooked claws. 



The Order is an exceedingly numerous one, and 

 its subjects vary much in structure and habits. 

 Some, as the Crocodiles, inhabit lakes and rivers ; 

 others, as the Iguanas, live among the foliage of 

 trees ; some, as the Dragons, perform a sort of flight 

 like that of the Flying Squirrels ; some of the true 

 Lizards delight to bask in the genial rays of the 

 sun on exposed sandy banks, others conceal them- 

 selves in the humid forests, beneath stones and 

 rotten logs. Some crawl with a motion disgust- 

 ingly sluggish, others run with a celerity that the 

 eye can scarcely follow. Though found in almost 

 all countries, the fervent sun of the tropics seems 

 chiefly to call them into being, and it is more es- 

 pecially in such regions as have a moist as well 

 as a hot atmosphere, that they chiefly swarm. The 



j, satires, a lizard. 



