REPTILES. 



Linna-us places amono; Iris amphibia rcptilcr, who never go 

 into the water, and lomc fiHies which never cpiit it. He 

 could not fail to experience great diiricultics it\ naming a 

 clafs fo ill conceived as that of his ampliibia ; confequently, 

 this appellation is objeftionable, as being vague and obfcure ; 

 the genera comprehended in the Linnsan clafs amphibia, arc 

 too ill allorted to admit of their having a common name 

 fuitable to all. Daubenton divided them into two claflcs, 

 naming one oviparous quadrupeds, and the other ferpcnts. 

 Lacep^de adopted thefe two clafl'es, and placed between 

 them a third, that of oviparous bipeds. Hermann of Straf- 

 bourg, in his " Tabuls affinitatum Animalium," propofed to 

 fubttitute, for the term amphibia, that of cryerozoa. " Si 

 in novorum nominum impolitione gloriam more nuiltorum 

 quiereremus, et ea re fcientia promovcretur, cryerozoa apte 

 vocari pofle putaremus, quia omnem fere naturam eorum ani- 

 malium vox ilia exliaurire videatur. Kfv;f'^; enim non modo 

 frigidum, fcdet horridum luridumque fignificat." Hermann, 

 Tab. afiin. Anim. p. 218. 



Without entering further into the objeftions againR the 

 appellations jull enumerated, we adopt that of reptiles, al- 

 ready employed by many modern naturalifts, and particular- 

 ly by Cuvier, in his " Tableau Elementaire d'Hiiloire Natu- 

 relle." In faft, in the progreflion of the oviparous quadru- 

 peds, as well as in that of ferpents, the belly moves againft 

 the furface of bodies, over which they pafs. 



Genera/ Oi/ervations. — Referring to the article Classj- 

 FICATION for a view of the genera comprehended under thefe 

 divifions, we prefix to the more detailed furvey of the anatomy 

 of reptiles, a (hort fummary of the principal anatomical cha- 

 rafters of the four orders into which the clafs is divided. 



1. The Chelonian order ; Teiludines. Body inclofed 

 in a bony fhell. They refemble birds in having the mafti- 

 cating lurfaces of their maxillary bones covered by ftrong 

 cutting horny plates. Body fupported on four limbs, 

 terminated by a tail, and covered in almoil all by fcales. 

 They copulate ; fecundation takes place internally : the fe- 

 male lays eggs, covered by a firm calcareous iliell : the young 

 animals come out without incubation, merely by the heat of 

 the atmofphere ; and they undergo no metamorphofis. 

 Stomach larger than in the other reptiles, and inteilinal canal 

 furnifhed with a caecum. The heart has two auricles. 



2. Saurian order, or Lizard kind. They refemble the 

 former very nearly in the ftrufture of their principal internal 

 organs. They have firm bones, like thofe of the mammalia : 

 curved and long ribs, and a fternum. Teeth fet in the 

 jaw. The two branches of the lower jaw confolidated. 

 A trachea compofed of cartilaginous rings, an os hyoides 

 and larynx, capable of producing founds, at lead in fome 

 individuals. Heart with two auricles. A fimple penis in 

 the male. There is a real internal copulation ; the female 

 lays feparate eggs, generally covered with a firm fhell, de- 

 pofiting them on dry ground, or in holes. The young ones 

 come out of them, and undergo no metamorphofis. The 

 lliin is furniihed with numerous plates or fcales. Body 

 elongated, and ending with a tail. Feet, often high, and 

 ftrong enough to fuflain the body above the ground in pro- 

 greflion. Some are quadruped ; others biped, having either 

 fore or hind feet. Toes furniftied with nails : generaUy five 

 in number ; but there may be four, three, two, and even 

 one. 



3. Ol'HiDiA>7 order ; Serpents. They agree with the two 

 former orders, in having firm bones, curved and long ribs, 

 a larynx and trachea, capable of producing a flight hiffing io 

 moft. An external organ of generation in the male. A 

 real internal copulation : the female lays eggs covered with a 

 calcareous ihcll, which (he depofits m holes filled with leaves, 



under the roots of trees, in warm and rather moift fituations. 

 The young ones, when they quit the egg, are like their pa- 

 rents. They differ from the preceding orders, in having a 

 long, ecl-fliaped, flexible body, covered with a fkin, either 

 furniflied with fcales or plates, or naked, unprovided with 

 feet, and terminated by a tail, often very long. Numerous 

 long curved ribs, not united together, as there is no fter- 

 num. The branches of the lower jaw not united in front. 

 Upper jaw confiding of four branches. Simple, fharp, and 

 numerous teeth ; and long, curved, tubulated fangs, in ad- 

 dition to thefe, in the venomous kinds. They creep along 

 the ground by undulations of their body. Excepting the 

 ophifauri, they have no external auditory openings. Heart 

 with a finglc auricle. Double penis. Eggs covered with 

 loft calcareous fliells. 



4. Bai iiAciAN order ; Frog kind. They refemble the 

 preceding orders in having a tail ; excepting the frogs and 

 toads in their pcrfeft ftatc : a trachea and larynx, capable of 

 producing found. Like the chelonian and faurian reptiles, 

 tliey have feet, and fimple jaws, ;. e. not formed of two 

 branches, moveable on each other. In common with the 

 faurian and ophidian orders, they pofFefs teeth fixed in the 

 jaws ; and with the ophidian, a heart with a fingle auricle. 



Many charafters diftinguifh them from thefe three orders. 

 Their naked fliin, which is warty or tubercular, more or lefs 

 moift, and nearly fimilar to that of the cecihs, the laft se- 

 nus of the ophidian order. Softnefs of the bones ; a fter- 

 num without ribs in the frogs and toads : rudiments of ribs 

 and no proper ilernum in the falamanders : true curved ribs 

 funounding the body in the proteus and firen. Four feet, 

 or two only. They all fwim ; thofe with long hind legs and 

 no tail leap ; the tree-frogs attach themfelves to leaves 

 by the round tubercles of their toes : thofe with four equal 

 limbs, or two only, crawl and fwim, but do not leap. An 

 external tympanum in the tree-frogs, frogs, and moft toads ; 

 no external ears in the others. No external organ of genera- 

 tion in the males, nor any internal real copulation. The fe- 

 male lays eggs in the water, or humid earth, and the male fe- 

 cundates them as they pafs out ; or in the ovo-viviparous fpe- 

 cies, as the land falamander, the feminal liquor of the male is 

 abforbed by the fexual organ of the female. The ova are 

 without fhells ; from them proceed fmall animals, called tad- 

 poles, which undergo various changes, before reaching 

 their perfeft ftate. They have branchix in their tadpole 

 condition, and thus approach to fifhes. 



Notwithftanding the obvious differences of organization 

 in the different reptiles, as the turtle, lizard, ferpent, frog, 

 and falamander, we may remark that their ftrufture does not 

 deviate elfentially in its general plan from that of the human 

 fubjetf. They have a bony vertebral column, and all the 

 prnicipal organs found in man, but with more or lefs ftriking 

 modifications. 



Reptiles have fome relations, in their organization and 

 habits, with other vertebral animals, particularly with fifhes. 

 This is feen in the true branchia of thebatracian larvae and 

 firen ; in the fcales of the fkin in lizards and ferpents ; in the 

 polygonal horny plates of the teitudines, correfponding to 

 thole of fome cartilaginous fiflies ; in the elongated form 

 and habits of the firen, like thofe of the eel-fhaped fifhes. 



The form of the body prefents great differences in the 

 reptiles ; nearly all the chelonians, faurians, and batracians 

 have four feet ; and there are only two faurians with two 

 feet. In the chelonians, the body is orbicular, more or lefs 

 convex, inclofed in a bony cafe, and terminated by a fmall 

 tail ; the toes are feparate and diftincl in fome, palmated 

 and fin-like in others. All the faurians h^ve aa elongated 

 body, covered with various kinds of fcales, and terminated 

 4.U ; by 



