t> OUR REPTILES. 



ing upon a long dissertation on the merits of 

 the case, or appreciate any fine-drawn distinc- 

 tions which it might please us to make. Suffice 

 it to say that, although perhaps the majority of 

 Erpetologists (' learned in reptiles ') admit the 

 Amphibians as a distinct order, we shall, in the 

 present instance, adhere to the old method, and 

 regard them all as ' Reptiles/ 



For the purposes, not only of classification, but 

 of orderly description, these animals are naturally 

 divisible into four groups, we may call them 

 orders, of which the first are the Chelo- 

 nians or Tortoises and Turtles, the second 

 the Saurians or Lizards, the third the Ophi- 

 dians or Snakes, and the fourth the Amphibians 

 or Toads, Frogs, and Newts. The first, or Che- 

 lonians, are scarcely represented in Great Britain 

 at all. The few turtles, which have been borne 

 in times past upon the waves that wash our 

 shores, and cast relentlessly upon our coast, had 

 really no business there, and only came as occa- 

 sional, distinguished, and probably involuntary 

 visitors. Under these circumstances we have 

 given them a place at the end of the volume, 

 although, according to rigid science, they should 

 have been at the beginning. 



The Saurians or Lizards are represented in 

 Britain by four species, three having visible legs, 

 and the fourth snake-like in form. That the 



