ROOM II. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
99 
nished with one or more small mouths, and placed one on another in 
different directions, some forming straight lines, as Nodosaria, and 
others spiral ones, as Rotalia. In others the cells are half the length 
of a whorl, so that each new cell changes the situation of the mouth 
from one to the other end of the shell, as in the Miliolce: and in others 
the cells are divided into numerous longitudinal tubes, as in Alveolina 
and Fabularia. 
These animals have been generally arranged with the Nautili , and 
some have classed them with the Cephalopodous Mollusca, while others 
have thought they might be formed by animals allied to the Annelides. 
One author has proposed that they should be formed into a class, 
wdiich he proposes to call Rhizopodes; but it is not improbable, when 
they shall have been more completely examined, that they will be found 
to be allied to the Polyzoa; and the body, which has been called their 
shell, may prove to be only a hardened skin, like the cells formed by 
that class of animals. 
SECOND ROOM. 
The Upright Cases round the Room contain the collection of 
Reptiles and Batrachian Animals preserved dry and in spirits, and 
the Table Cases the first part of the collection of the hard parts of Ra¬ 
diated Animals, including the Sea Eggs, Sea Stars, and Encrinites. 
Reptiles are known from the rest of the vertebrated animals by being 
covered with scales, respiring by means of lungs, and having an im¬ 
perfect circulation and cold blood, which causes them to be cold to the 
touch. They increase by eggs, but sometimes the eggs are hatched in 
the bodies of the mother, and the young, when they are first born, are 
like their parents. They are divided into the Scaly and the Shielded 
Reptiles, according to the structure of the scales, and the formation of 
their skull. 
L The Scaly Reptiles (Squamata) have their bodies covered with 
overlapping scales, the skull formed of separate bones, and the ear 
bones are external, and only articulated to the rest; their vent is a cross 
slit, and the generative organs are bifid. They consist of the Saurian 
Reptiles or Lizards, and Ophidian Reptiles or Snakes. 
The Saurian Reptiles ( Sauria ) are generally provided with four 
limbs, but in some the limbs are in such a rudimentary state, as to be 
hidden under the skin. The jaw bones are united together in front, 
for as these animals live on insects, fruits, &c., which they reduce by 
chewing, they are not required to dilate their mouths for the swallowing 
of large masses, as is the case in the snakes. 
The family of Monitors (Monitored^, Cases 1 to 3) have a long 
deeply forked tongue, wdiich, like that of the snakes, is capable of being 
withdrawn into a sheath placed at its base, and the head, body and limbs 
are covered with small scales. They are only found in the warmer 
parts of the Old World, living near the water’s edge, and are venerated 
by the natives, who assert that they give notice of the approach of the 
Crocodiles by hissing when they perceive one of those animals. 
Whether this be fact or fiction, the name, Monitor, is probably to be 
traced to that origin. The Psammosauri, have oval nostrils near the 
orbits, and a roundish tail. The Monitors have oblong longitudinal 
nostrils in the middle, between the apex of the muzzle and the orbit, 
F 2 
