CHAPIEE III. 



The Ordek of Lizakds. — Saveiaxs. 



Tuis is the second order of the great section of Scaly Reptiles 

 (Squamafa), as distinguished from the Shielded Eeptiles (Co.ia- 

 phracta). The name Saurian, 2au,oos, given by Aristotle to the genus 

 of Lizards, has been more comprehensively ajDplied to a group 

 of Eeptiles which have the body elongated, covered with scales, or 

 havino- the skin roug-h like shaOTeen. Thev have, for the most 

 part, four feet, the toes of which are furnished with hooksd claws : 

 tlieir eyelids are movable, and their jaws armed with encased 

 teeth ; they have a distinct tympanum, a heart with two aimcles 

 and a single ventricle, sometimes partially valved, having sides and 

 a sternum. They are not subject to metamorphosis, and, finally, 

 they are furnished with a tail. 



["P)y far the greater number of the Saurians," writes Dr. 

 Giinther, " are easily distinguished from the other orders of 

 reptiles by their elongated form, by their movable thorax covered 

 with skin, by the presence of legs, and by their general integu- 

 ments, which are ' either folded into scales, or granular, or 

 tubercular, or shielded ; still, there are many Saurians which, at 

 a superficial glance, might easily be taken for members of the 

 preceding order — that of the Snakes ; and it cannot be denied 

 that tliere is a gradual transition from one of these orders to the 

 otlier. On the part of the Saurians, we allude to those which 

 liave no externally visible limbs, and which combine with a 

 greatly elongate, cylindrical body, the peculiar kind of locomo- 

 tion we observe in Snakes. Yet the greater aifiuity of these 

 reptiles to the ordinary Lizards is indicated by another character, 

 ■\\hicli is in intimate connection with their mode of life. The 



