140 CLASS REPTILIA. 



which gives it a pecuHar physiognomy, and consti- 

 tutes it a very distinct species.* 



It is to this family of the Iguanians with palatal 

 teeth, that an enormous fossil animal belongs, known 

 under the name of the animal of Maestricht, for 

 which the name of Mosasaurus has been recently 

 fabricated.! 



The fourth family of the saurians, or 



The Geckotians, 



Is composed of nocturnal lizards, so much resem- 

 bling each other that they might be left in one genus. 



The Geckos, Daud. Stellio, Schn. Ascala- 

 BOTES, Cuv.t 



Are saurians, which have not the lank form of 

 those of which we have hitherto treated, but are, 

 on the contrary, flatted, especially about the head, 



* Add the Anolis with white points, Daud. IV. xlviii. 2 ; — An. Viridis, 

 Pr. Max, 6th book ; — An, gracilis, id. and many other species, of which, 

 unfortunately, I have no figures to cite. 



f See upon this animal, the Fifth Volume, Second Part, of my Re- 

 searches on the Fossil Bones. 



Among the fossils many reptiles have also been discovered, of large size, 

 which appear to approximate to this family, but the characters of which 

 are not known completely enough to enable us to class them with safety. 



Such are the Gbosaurus discovered by M. Soemmering, the Megalo- 

 SAURus of M. Auckland ; the Iguanodon of M. Mantell, &c. I treat of 

 them at length in the Fifth Vol., Second Part, of my Researches, &c. — Cuv. 



See our Treatise on Fossil Remains, " Fossil Reptiles," 23d Part of the 

 Animal Kingdom. 



X Gecko, a name given to a species from the East Indies, and imitated, 

 from its cry, as another species has been named tockaie, at Siam, and a 

 third, geitje, at the Cape, dtrxaxa^ojry,;^ the Greek name of the Wall-Gecho. 



