366 Cranial Characters distinguishing Lizards from Snakes. 
XLIX.—Remarks on the Value of certain Cranial Characters 
employed by Prof. Cope for distinguishing Lizards from 
Snakes. By G. A. BOULENGER, F.R.S. 
In a note in the September number of the ‘ American Natu- 
ralist’ for 1895 (p. 855) Prof. Cope has attempted to 
recharacterize the suborders Lacertilia and Ophidia on some 
cranial features which, I submit, are inadequate for that 
purpose. 
The bone I have hitherto termed Supratemporal (Squamosal 
of many authors, Paroccipital of Cope), to which the quadrate 
is attached in most snakes, is stated by Prof. Cope in the 
Lacertilia to merely touch the latter bone, which articulates 
solely with the exoccipital; and he gives figures, taken from 
Varanus griseus, illustrating this point. Prot. Cope has 
evidently contented himself with the examination of only a 
few types of Lacertilian skulls. It is otherwise inconceivable 
how such a general statement could have been made. In 
many Lacertilia the quadrate articulates with the squamosal 
and the supratemporal to the total exclusion of the exocci- 
pital; whilst in some in which the squamosal is absent the 
articulation is with the exoccipital and the supratemporal 
(Uroplates), or with the exoccipital, supratemporal, and 
parietal (Gecko). I here give a figure of the bones in an 
Suspensorium of Chlamydosaurus Kingii, from below and forwards.— 
eo, exoccipital ; p, parietal; pro, prootic (petrosal, Cope) ; sg, squa- 
oa (supratemporal, Cope) ; ste, supratemporal (paroccipital, 
ope). 
Agamoid lizard, Chlamydosaurus Kingii, on the model of the 
American author’s pl. xxxi., with the articulating surface for 
the quadrate dotted. 
