HERPETOLOGY. 



' .'II. 



.1 



k'. 



to Out of Brongniart. Nf. Latreille also published 

 ' L'Hutoire Naturellf Jet Salamandres. 



Between the yews 1 800 anil 1 803, the celebrated ana- 

 tomist and naturalist Cuvier, and his disciple and assis- 

 Unt Dumeiil, published his LtfOnt Anatomic Comparee, 

 in 5 vob. 8ra with 52 plates at the end of the tilth vo- 

 htrae. Cuvier had, in 1798, published an elementary 

 work on natuml history, under the title of Tableau Klc- 

 mrxloirt dr rHisltirt ffaturtKr dci Animaux, in which 

 he gave a general description of reptiles. 



Attached to the first volume of his Lectures, Cuvier 

 ha* given a systematic* arrangement of the various clas- 

 M and order* of animals , and in the classification of 

 reptiles, he has adopted an arrangement radically the 

 am* with that of Brongniart. In the first place, he 

 divide* reptile** into two sections; 1st, Those which 

 have two auricles to the heart ; 2<1, Those that have but 

 one. Each of these sections is subdivided into two or- 

 der*. The first order consists of those reptiles that have 

 a shell or carapace, and their jaws defended by horn. 

 These are the clielonitHs, or tortoises. The second or- 

 der consists of those that have the body covered with 

 scales, and are furnished with teeth like the saurian, 

 or lizards, the genera of which are, with the addition of 

 eps, the same with those of Brongniart. The first or- 

 der o!' the second section contains the serpents. The 

 second order comprehends those reptiles that have a 

 naked vkin, feet, and gills at an early stage of their 

 existence. Of this order (the Batraciens) there are 

 three families ; Rana, or frog, including the three sub- 

 genera of Rana, Hyla, and Bufo; Salamandra, including 

 the sub-genera of finlamanilra and Triton ; and Siren. 



These excellent Lectures contain a very full account 

 of the anatomical structure and physiology of reptiles, 

 and to them we are almost entirely indebted for our 

 chapters on that subject. The first two volumes of this 

 work were translated into English under the inspection 

 nf Mr Macartney, lecturer on comparative anatomy in 

 London, and published there in 1801. 



In 1800, Dr George Shaw began his General Zoolo- 

 gy, which was .intended to include all the genera and 

 species of animals at present known. The third vo- 

 lume contains the reptiles and serpents. In giving our 

 opinion of this extensive work, we are somewhat at a 

 loss. As a systematic arrangement of animals, it is 

 very defective, and the references to other authors are 

 extremely few. As a popular descriptive work, it is 

 scarcely deserving our attention ; for, though almost all 

 the species are described, as well as figured, there is 

 scarcely any thing like a history of the species. The 

 arrangement is that of Linnaeus, and the characters are 

 in general derived from Gmelin's edition of the Systema 

 \atura. The work, however, abounds in excellent 

 plates, the figures of which are in general well deline- 

 ated, and beautifully engraved. 



We need scarcely mention the Naturalist's Miscella- 

 ny of the same author, as but few reptiles are there 

 figured. 



Perhaps the most complete account of reptiles, up 

 the present day, has been given by M. Daudin, who 



119* Iftncv Sf**L-ntiul msm* .-,4* I*! . . 



iert. Besides his Histoire Naturetle "detReptile"^ oub 



^ 3*?* " ld * he j s > uel T the same worsen. 



uterr Aa(i,re//e rf fc,iiirt/ <fe , 6reiKM e < 



..mpatMii. he has contributed eight volumes octavo 



numerous plates, to the voluminous and expensive 



MI of natund history published by Sonnini These 



lumes were published at different times, f rom 1802 



to 1805. The first volume contains some historical no History. 

 tices of several writers on Herpetology, and a copious ~*~~T~' 

 introductory treatise on the structure and physiology 

 of reptiles, illustrated by fifteen plates. The second 

 volume contains the natural history of the CHELONIAN 

 order, in which are described fifty-seven species of tor- _ 

 toue ; and the same volume commences the history of 

 the SAURIAN order, and describes seven species of cro- 

 codilf. In the third and fourth volumes, the history of 

 the Saurian order is completed, by a description of one 

 species of Dracasna, fourteen of Tvpinambis, thirty-two 

 of Lacerla, two of Takydromus, three of Iguana, three of 

 Draco, two of Basiliscitt, twenty-five of Agama, nine of 

 Stetiio, eight ofAnolis, fifteen of Gecko, four of Chamceleo, 

 twenty-one of Scincus, six of Seps, and four of Chalcides, 

 The fifth, sixth, and seventh volumes are occupietl 

 with the OPHIDIAN order, or serpents, and the eighth 

 completes the work with the history of the BATIIACIAN 

 order, containing a description of twenty-seven species 

 of Hyla, sixteen species of Rana, thirty-two of Bufo, 

 fourteen of Salamandra, one of Proteus, and one of 

 Siren. The specific characters in the body of the work 

 are in Latin ; but, at the end of the eighth volume, the 

 whole genera and species are arranged together, with 

 their characters in French, under the title of Tableau 

 Melhodique des Reptiles. 



Daudin's Natural History of Reptiles has considera- 

 bly increased the number of species, and has brought 

 us acquainted with many that were either not known 

 before, or whose place in the systematic arrangement 

 had not been distinctly ascertained. Though the mat- 

 ter of this work is excellent, we cannot, however, say 

 so much for the execution of the plates. The fi urea 

 are in general so deeply shaded, as to render it difficult 

 to observe the characteristic lines, scales, and dots, that 

 distinguish the species. 



Duraeril, whom we have already noticed as the as- Dumeri!. 

 sistant of Cuvier, has published two works on natural 

 history, which contain, among other animals, the new 

 systematic arrangement of reptiles. These are, Zoolo- 

 gie Analytiqne, published in 1 806, and Trait c Etemen- 

 taire d'Histoire Natnre/le, in two volumes, of which 

 the second contains the animal kingdom. His arrange- 

 ment is so near that of the other distinguished natu- 

 ralists of the French school, that we need not detail 

 it here, especially as we have already given a summary 

 view of it under the article AMPHIBIA. 



We might have extended these historical notices to a 

 much greater length ; but we consider it unnecessary. 

 VVe have given a succinct account of the principal wri- 

 tings on Herpetology, and shall now conclude this Part 

 of our subject with a list of other works, to which the 

 reader may refer for additional information. 



On the anatomy, physiology, and classification of Reference 

 reptiles, see Swammerdam, Biblia Naturae ; Roesel to w " rks on 

 Historia Naluralis Ranarum; Schneider, Amphibiorum " er - Jetol - 

 Phystologia} Specimen; and his Historia A mphibinritm ; 

 Caldesi, Osservazioni Anatomiche intorno alls Tarta- 

 rughe_; Spallanzani, De Fenomini della Circolatione; 



published by Sennebier Blumenbach, Abbildwigen Na. 

 tur Historiscker gigenstande t and his Handbuch, or 

 manual of the same subject ; Schmid, Historia Tcsiu- 

 dtnum; Daubenton, Dictionaire d'Erpetologie, forminn- 

 a part of L' Encyclopedic Met/iodioue; Perault, Me", 

 inoirespuur servir a I' Hisloire Naturelle des Animaux; 

 Humboldt, RecveiM Observations de Zoologie ct d'Arta- 

 tomie compared Walbaum, Chflonographia ; the com- 



