EEPTILES AND SNAKE-STONES. 5 



In being oviparous, or producing their young 

 from an egg, these creatures agree with birds as 

 well as fishes ; but in some instances the outer 

 covering of the egg, then only a thin membrane, 

 and not a hard shell, is broken at the moment it 

 issues into the world, and the lively young 

 escape, in all respects miniature representatives 

 of their parents. In the latter case the term 

 ' ovo-viviparous ' is generally applied, and in 

 this sense we may, perhaps, have occasion to 

 use it. The features of a double life, wherein 

 one portion is spent in water, breathing by 

 means of gills, and the other on land, respiring 

 with lungs, will be illustrated when treating of 

 toads and frogs and other amphibians, so that it 

 will be unnecessary to enter upon the subject 

 here. 



The multiform variations in reptile life may 

 well surprise the uninitiated, even perhaps 

 amounting to a doubt whether such things as 

 Tortoises, Alligators, Snakes, Toads, Newts, 

 Lizards, &c., differing so greatly in external ap- 

 pearance, can be regarded by scientific men as 

 members of the same class. Indeed, the last- 

 named gentlemen are not agreed that they shall 

 constitute one class, but a portion are separated, 

 such as toads, frogs, and newts, to constitute 

 another class, to which the name of Amphibia is 

 given. Our readers will not thank us for enter- 



