"/- REPTILIA. 



head and feet, which are particularly large; their nose is prolonged into a little trunk ; but the most 

 strongly marked of their characters consists in having their uidely-eleft niimfh not arinerl with a 

 horny lieak, as in other Tcslitdiiuitu, hut rallier resembling that of certain kSatrachians, whicii form 

 the genus Pipa. 



Tlie Matam.ita IT. ff/z^^^rm, Gni ).~Thr carapace bristled whh pyramidal ennnences, and the body rrin2:ed all 

 round \vith lamina?, a& if cut. An inhabitant ot (.iuiana. 



The Soft Tortoiseis [Trioni/.r, Ceotf.) — 

 Have no scales, but merely a soft skin enveloping both (he carapace and plastron, neither of which 

 is completely supported by bone, the ribs not reaching to the borders of the carapace, nor being 

 united together for more than a portion of their length, the parts analogous to sternal ribs Ijeing 

 replaced by a simple cartilage, and the sternal pieces being partly dentelated, as in the Turtles, and 

 not covering the wdiole inferior surface. After death it is perceptible, through the dry skin, that the 

 surface of the ribs is very jagged. Tlie feet, as in tiie liinydes, are palmated without lieing lengthened, 

 but only three of tlicir toes are provided with naUs. Tlie horn of tlieir beak is invented \\itli flesliy 

 lips otdside, and their nose is prolonged into a small trunk. The tail is short, and tlie oriliee of the 

 anus beneath its extremity. Tbey inhabit fresh water, and the tlcxilile borders of tbeir euvelope 

 assist them in swimming. 



Tlie Trionyx of the Nile (T. tr'nnifii/is, Forsk and Gin. ; T. trp^fj't/trcns, GeritT.) is sometimes tliree feet lout;:, and 

 of a green colour spotted with white; the carapace but slitchtly convex. It devours the young Crocodiles as soon 

 as they are excluded, and thus renders more service to the E;ryptians than even the Mangouste. 



The American Trionyx {T.ferox, Gm.) inhabits the rivers ot Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Guiana ; and lies 

 in ambuscade at the roots of the weeds, seizing on birds, reptiles, &c., and devouring the young Allisatois, 

 whde itself becomes the prey of the larger ones. Its flesh is good eating. There are several more. 



THE SECO>fD ORDER OF REPTILE.^,— 



SAURIA,— 



II.ivo the heart com])ose(l, as in the Clielonia, of two auricles, and a vcntrick' sometimes 

 divided liY imjicrfcct jiartiticins. 



Tlieir ribs are moveable, attaelicd partly to the sternnm, and can rise and fall for the 

 purpose of respiration. 



Their lung extends more or less towards the hinder part of the body, often penetrates con- 

 siderably ftnwvard below, and the transverse niusolcs of the abdomen slide under the ribs so 

 far us to entwine tlie iieidc. Those in ivhieh the lungs are most dcvehi|ied exercise thi' singular 

 faculty of changing the colours of their skin, according as they are intluciieed by tlieir wants 

 or by their passions. 



Their eggs have an cnvelo)ie more or less indurated; and the young issue from thcni with 

 the form which they rtdniii e\cr afterwards. 



The mouth IS always nriiied with teeth; their toes, with very few exccptioris, are furnislicJ 

 with nails ; the skin is covered with scales more or less serrated, or at least with little scaly 

 granules ; and they engender with either a single or double male organ, according to the genus. 



All have :i tail more or less lengthened, and in nearly every instance very thick at the base^ : 

 the greater nunilier have four limbs, though some have only two. 



Liniuens arranged tliem into only two genera, the hiragiuis and the Lizards ; but the latter 

 reipiires to be divided into several, wdiich differ in the nninbcr cd' feet, of intromitl eiit organs, 

 111 the form of the tongue, of the tail, and of the scales, so that we are obliged to separate 

 thera even into families. 



The Hist of these, or that of the Crocodiles, comprises but one genus, — 



The Crocudiles (Crocodilm, Brongniart), — ' 



Animals rjf large size, which have the tad flattened at its sides, five toes on llic fore-hmiis, aim fnut on 



