ORDER SAURIA. l65 



SUPPLEMENT ON THE SAURIA. 



Before we proceed to consider in succession the diflPerent 

 genera of Saurian s, we shall enlarge a little on the text, 

 in our general remarks on the characteristics of this very 

 numerous and important order of reptiles. It received its 

 present name, first from M. Alexandre Brongniart, and 

 comprehends the animals designated by Linnaeus under the 

 collective appellation of amphibia reptilia. It is easy to distin- 

 guish these animals, in the vertebrated class, by unequivocal 

 characters common to them all, and derived from their 

 conformation and habits. For the sake of making a distinct 

 impression, we thus briefly recapitulate those characters ; — 

 A Saurian is an animal with an elongated body, scaly, 

 or shagreened, without carapace, sometimes almost apodal, 

 but more frequently with four, and rarely with two feet, 

 the toes of which are furnished with crooked claws. The 

 eyelids are moveable ; there is a distinct tympanum, the 

 branches of the jaws are soldered, and armed with enchased 

 teeth. The orifice of the cloaca is a transverse cleft : the 

 heart has two auricles, and there are ribs and a sternum. 



The reptiles of the order of Saurians, have been grouped 

 by some zoologists into three distinct families, founded \ipon 

 the conformation of the tail. The first have the tail flatted 

 above, or on the sides. These are called Uronectes. Tlic 

 second have the tail rounded, conical, and distinct, and are 

 denominated Eumerodes. The third, which receive the 



