158 CLASSIFICATION OF REPTILES. 



In this group, ^M. Cuvier places tlie Bipes lepidopodes, 

 an extraordinary reptile of New Holland, which he thus 

 notices : '^ The scales of the back are carinated, and the 

 tail twice as long as the body. Its feet at the exterior 

 exhibit only two small oblong and scaly plates, but by 

 dissection may be found a femur, a tibia, a peroneum, 

 and .four bones of the metatarsus, forming toes, but 

 without phalanges ; one of the lungs is only half as 

 large as the other. It lives in mud." {Griff. Cuv. p. l6l.) 

 The scales of the body are not mentioned, and unfortu- 

 nately we cannot find a specimen of this interesting rep- 

 tile in the London jNIuseums. Is it not the type of the 

 sirens and Amphibia among the Saures ? But to pro- 

 ceed : the African Scelotes of Fitzinger is a Bipes, desti- 

 tute of pores, but whose feet terminate in two unequal 

 toes ; while Pygoplius, a Brazilian genus, resembles Le- 

 pidopoda in its undivided, but mxore pointed feet, and 

 all the scales are smooth. '\l''agler gives the generic 

 name of Bipes to a reptile {Lacerta apoda PaU.) which 

 by no means agrees with the definition of Cuvier, inas- 

 much as it is entirely destitute of feet, the situation of 

 the hinder pair being, however, marked by the rudi- 

 ments of very short thighs, so that the metatarsus is ob- 

 solete, (See7co». Amph. pL 14.) All these sub-genera, 

 indeed, require a complete revision. 



(162.) The Chalcid€S,]ike taeSeps, are very elongated 

 lizards, with an appearance very similar to serpents ; but 

 their scales, instead of being imbricated, are rectangular, 

 and form (like those of the tail in common lizards) 

 transverse bands, distinctly marked. The liumber of 

 toes are variable in the different sub-genera. The first 

 division of this group have a furrow on each side of 

 the trunk, and the tympanum is very apparent. They 

 are related to Cordylus as the Seps are to the skinks, 

 and in many points of view appear to conduct us to the 

 Ophisauri and Pseudopoda. The Lacerta seps of Lin- 

 naeus, which is considered the type, has five toes, but 

 the Saurophis of Fitzinger has but four. The second 

 division has the tympanum concealed, and seem to lead 



