tye : wy Yay Hil ——————— Tl | f ALY ; St) Ra ORY . ries Comparative Zoolog Lié chrary Qift of EE WARM a 411 —— The Animal Kingdom, with additional descriptions of all the species named and Wholden | of many not hitherto noticed, by Edward Griffith, Vol. IX, Reptilia, by E. Griffith and ‘vo 64 __E. Pidgeon, pp. [viii], 481, 110, _ original boards (worn), 1831 48 coloured and 7 plain plates, in 3 parts, roy. 8vo, !94> ; £5 Contains a Synopsis of the species of the class Reptilia, by J. E. Gray, 110 pp. 2 10s i i ae Mus, Comp., Zool, Carnbride, Mass, Pb Pe ‘ANNA : yr 4 VETIARM: Rt MARES vd { Way (Gees * -) 4 ry ‘5 wen | A CLASSIFIED INDEX AND SYNOPSIS OF THE ’ ANIMAL KINGDOM ARRANGED IN CONFORMITY WITH ITS ORGANIZATION, BY VEELEY BARON WeCUyv LER MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, &c. &c. &c. WITH SUPPLEMENTARY ADDITIONS TO EACH ORDER, BY EDWARD GRIFFITH, F.R.S. S.A. & L.S. CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, &c. AND OTHERS. LONDON: PRINTED FOR WHITTAKER AND CO, AVE-MARIA-LANE., MDCCCXXXY, LONDON: GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN’S SQUARE. MCZ LIBRARY HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE. MA USA ADVERTISEMENT. Durine the publication of the ‘“‘ Animal Kingdom,” M. Guerin has produced in France a series of en- gravings, under the title ‘‘ IconocRapHir DU ReGNne Animal,” illustrating nearly all the genera and sub- genera of that work, including not only reduced copies of the most esteemed existing engravings of animals, but also a vast number of original figures of hitherto unpublished species, especially of insects and other invertebrata. M. Guerin has, moreover, added to these a most valuable series of anatomical figures, displaying, to the eye, much more intelligibly than words can do to the understanding, the peculiari- ties of structure on which Cuvier has founded his arrangement of the animal kingdom. This work of M. Guerin has received the highest commendation, not merely from Cuvier himself, but also from most of the first zoologists in France, and is certainly of the greatest utility im the study of the work it is intended to illustrate, superseding, in a A ADVERTISEMENT. very great measure, constant references to Nature herself, otherwise necessary to those who would understand any natural system of arrangement. The proprietors of the ‘‘ Animal Kingdom” having now redeemed their pledges to the subscribers, by completing the work within the limits originally prescribed,—pledges which were made _ before Guerin’s work was thought of,—have been strongly urged to publish the whole of these illustrations. Some of them have been already copied in the ‘« Animal Kingdom ;” and in order to render that work as useful as possible, it is proposed to publish the remainder as a Supplement to it, at as low a price as may be consistent with the proper execution of the plates. The Iconography will moreover form a distinct work, or it may be applied to illustrate any general Zoology, as well as that of the Baron Cuvier. It will be published in ten or twelve Monthly Parts, to be completed contemporaneously with the original work in France, which will be early m 1836. A description of the figures will accompany the last Part. REPTILIA. VOL. IX. *,* Letter s in this indexrefers to the Synopsis, of which the folios are at the foot of the pages. ABOMA, vol. ix. 254 Agama azurea, vol. ix; s. 42 Abou Burs, 148 barbata, 122; s. 60 Abranchus, 410; s. 109 brevicaudata, s. 42 Alleghaniensis, s. 109 calotes, s. 56 horridus, s. 109 catenata, 127; s. 40 Acanthopis, 277; s. 82 collaris, s. 31 Brownii, 277; s. 82 colonorum, 123. 216 cerastinus, 277; s. 82 cornuta, 124. 217; s. 45 Acanthosaura, s. 56 cristatella, 127; s. 55 Acontias, 244; s.76 cristata, 127; s. 55 cecus, 245; s. 76 cyclura, 126; s. 42. 43 lineatus, s. 77 deserta, s. 58 meleagris, s. 76 dorsalis, s. 56 reticulata, s. 76 Douglassii, s. 44 Acrochordus, 264. 336; s. 99 flavigularis, s. 55 dubius, s. 99 gigantea, 128 fasciatus, 281 s. 99 grandoculis, s. 60 Javensis, 264 gutturosa, 127; s. 56 Javanicus s. 99 Indica, s. 55 Ada, 11]. 203; s. 28 isodactyla, s. 58 bicarinata, s. 29 Jacksoniensis, s, 60 common, s. 28 minor, s. 59 crocodilus, s. 28 Molinaii, s. 47 double-crested, s. 29 nigricollis, s. 41. 43 Adder, Bordelaise, s. 262 nigrocollaris, 126 collared, s. 261 occipitalis, s. 56 four-striped, 262 ocellata, s. 59 great, 257 ophiomachus, 127 green and yellow, 262 orbicularis, s. 57, 58 viperine, 26] picta, 127; s. 40 Adders, 256. 331 ° platura, s. 52 /Esping, 272 plica, s. 41 Agama, 122; s. 54 Pondiceriana, s. 57 aculeata, 124 ruderata, s. 58 agilis, s. 58 semiteniata, s. 4] Aralensis, s. 58 sinuata, s. 58 arenaria, s. 58 spinosa, 216; s. 57 armata, s. 56 straminea, s. 58 atra, 124; s. 57 subspinosa, s. 67 Si: 132 Agama taraguira, vol. ix; s. 41 tigrina, s. 55 tuberculata, 136; s. 41. 56 umbra, 124; s. 4] undulata, 126; s. 43 versicolor, s. 5d vultuosa, 127; s. 56 Agama, Aral, s. 58 Cape, s. 57 common, 122; s. 57 muricated, 123 mutable, s. 58 obsoletely-crested, s. 56 occipital, s. 56 ocellated, 122 Ruppel’s, s. 58 sand, s. 58 slender, s. 58 tubercular, s. 56 yellow-striped, s. 57 Agame, 215 orbicularize 124 Agame arlequiné, 127 a pierreries, 124 a queue prenante, 129 ponetué, 15] Ahetula 259; s. 93 Linnei, s. 93 liocercus, s. 93 periophthalmica, s. 93. Richardi, s. 93 Aispysure, 280 : Alecto, s. 79 Alygyra, 117; s. 35 Cuvieri, s. 35 common, s. 35 Alligator, 105; s. 21 lucius, s. 21 palpebrosus, s. 21 sclerops, s. 21 eye-browed, s. 21 pike-muzzled, s. 21 spectacled, s. 2] Amblicephalus, s. 94 carinatus, s. 94 coccineus, s. 94 levis, s. 94 mikani, s. 94 Nattereri, s. 94 Amblyrhynchus, s. 37 ater, s. 37 cristatus, 133; s. 37 Ameiva, 113. 205; s. 29 argus, 114; s. 29 ceruleocephala, 114; s. 30 collaris, s. 3] cyanomelas, s. 30 lateristriga, 114; s. 30 lemniscata, 114; s. 30 INDEX. Ameiva litterata, vol. ix. 114; s. 29 tessellata, s. 30 Teyus, 114; s. 31 trilineata, s. 30 viridis, s. 31 vulgaris, s. 29 Ameiva, biack marked, 205 blue, s. 30 blue and black, s. 30 blue-headed, s. 30 checkered, s. 30 collared, s. 31 green, s. 31 graphique, 114 lettered, s. 29 striped, s. 30 three-streaked, s. 30 Amphibia, s. 99 Amphipneusta, s. 107 Amphisbeena, 246. 324; s. 66 alba, 247. 325; s. 66 blana, s. 66 ceca, 247; s. 67 cinerea, s. 66 flavescens, 247; s. 66 fuliginosa, 247. 526; s. 66 oxyura, s. 66 pathyura, s. 66 punctata, 247; s. 66 vermicularis, 247; s. 66 Amphisbeena, blind, s. 67 white, 325; s. 66 Amphiuma, 411. 474; s. 109 means, 411. 474; s. 109 tridactylum, 411.475; s. 109 Anacondo, 253 : Ancistodon, s. 79 Anguis, 241, 242, 243. 306; s. 74 alba, s. 91 ater, 251; s. 75 bipes, 161; s. 74 calamaria, s. 91 clivica, 244; s. 74 corallinus, 251. 327; s. 75 crocotatus, s. 77 erix, 244; s. 74 fragilis, 244. 306; s. 74 granulatus, 264 laticauda, s. 98 lineata, s. 74 lumbricalis, 248 maculatus, 25] melanosticus, s. 75 Meleagris, 245; s. 76 platurus, 280 quadrupes, 159. 240 reticulatus, 248 ; s. 76 rufa, s. 75 scytale, 251; s. 79 Anguis striatus, vol. ix; s. 75 tessellatus, 251; s. 75 ventralis, 243; s. 65 vermicularis, 247 zyphura, 264; s. 98 Anilius, 250; s. 75 corallinus, s. 73 latta, s. 75 maculatus, s. 75 melanotis, s. 75 melaustictus, s. 75 rufus, s. 75 scytale, s. 75 Anolis, 137. 205. 227; s. 46 bimaculata, s. 46 Cuvierii, s. 46 Edwardsii, 228; s. 46 equestris, s. 46 gracilis, s. 46 lineatus, s. 46 podargicus, s. 46 punctatus, s. 46 velifer, s. 46 violaceus, s. 46 viridis, s. 46 Anolis of Carolina, 159 Cuvier’s, s. 46 de terre, 158 dotted, s. 46 Edwards, s. 46 equestrian, s. 46 gigantesque, 157; s. 68 gouty, s. 46 great-crested, 138 green, s. 46 lined, s. 46 marbré, 158; s. 68 parcé, s. 68 pavé, 157 roquet, 138 slender, s. 46 small-crested, 138 striped, 139 two-spotted, s. 46 violet, s. 46 with white points, 140 Anolius, 137; s. 46 equestris, 138 gracilis, 140 Leachianus, 145 velifer, 138 viridis, 140 Aquaquetzpallia, 132 Ascalabotes, 140 stenodactylus, s. 49 Aspic of Cleopatra, 275 of Egypt, 275 Aspidura brachyorrhis, s. 92 Aspis, 270; s. 83 REPTILIA. Aspis Cleopatre, vol. ix; s. 81 ocellata, s. 81 Asterodactylus, s. 105 Atractos, s. 91 trilineatus, s. 91 Atropos, s. 79 puniceus, s. 80 Auletris, s. 101 Axolotl, 411; s. 108 common, s. 108 Axolotls, 411 Basilisk, 226 banded, s. 45 mitred, s. 45 Basilisks, 134 Basiliscus, 134; s. 45 Americanus, s. 45 vittatus, s. 45 Bathrops, 267 Batracians, 3 Batrachia, 5 Berus, 271; s. 81 ammodytes, s. 82 vulgaris, s. 82 Bimane wormlike, s. 66 Bipéde cannelé, 163 lepidopode, 160 Bipedes, 160 Bipeds, 240 Bipes, 160; s. 73. 74 anguinus, s. 74 Fraseri, s. 73 lepidopus, s. 74 lineata, s. 73 Bipes Brasilian, s- 73 Cape, s. 74 Fraser’s, s. 73 New Holland, s. 73 Blindworm American, s. 74 common, s. 74 Otto’s, s. 74 Boa, 251. 327; s. 96 aculeata, s. 82 albicans, 257 amethystina, 257 anacondo, 253; s. 96 Antarctica, s. 82 aquatica, 253; s. 96 canina, 254; s. 96 carinata, 255; s. 97 castanea, 257 cenchris, 253; s. 96 cenchrya, 204; s. 96 conica, s. 97 constrictor, 253; s. 96 contortrix, s. 85 elegans, 254; s. 97 133 134 Boa empereur, vol. ix. 253; s. 96 fasciata, 279 hipnale, 254 ; s. 96 horatta, 278; s. 82 hortulana, 254; s. 96 krait, s. 82 latotecta, s. 95 lateristriga, s. 96 lineata, 279 Merremii, 254 murina, 253; s. 96 mutus, s. 79 ocellata, 255; s. 97 orbiculata, 257; s. 97 ordinata, 257 ornata, s. 97 palpebrosa, 277; s. 62 porcaria, s. 85 regia, s. 97 reticulata, 257; s. 97 rhombeata, 257; s. 97 scytale, 253; s. 96 Tartarica, s. 98 , viperina, 255; s. 97 Boas, 251 Boicininga, 345 Boiquira, 345 Bojobi, 253 Bombina obstetricans, s. 103 Bombinator, 402; s. 104 Daudini, s. 104 igneus, s. 104 Bong bleu, 279 Bongare a anneaux, 279 Boodroopam, 269 Bora, 257; s. 97 Bothrops, s. 79 furia, s. 79 leucostigma, s. 79 leucurus, s. 80 Megera, s. 79 suruacea, s. 79 teeniatus, s. 79 Brachycephalus, 403; s. 104 Brachylopus, 129; s. 37 fasciatus, s. 37 Brachyorrhos, s. 91 albus, s. 91 badius, s. 91 brachyurus, s. 91 decussatus, s. 91 dimidiatus, s. 91 flammigerus, s. 91 Kuhlii, s. 91 schach, s. 91 torquatus, s. 91 trilineatus, s. 91 Brachypus, 162; s. 66 abdominalis, s. 66 INDEX. Brachypu, common, vol. ix; s. 66 Breviceps, 403; s. 104 albifrons, s. 104 gibbosus, s. 104 globosus, s. 104 granosus, s. 104 Surinamensis, s. 104 marmoratus, s. 104 Brodro pam, s. 80 Bronchocela, s. 55 Bufo, 398. 451; s. 102 acutirostris, 402; s. 103 agua, 402; s. 103 albifrons, s. 104. 403 Bengalensis, 402; s. 103 bombina, 402 calamita, 461; s. 103 chlorogaster, s. 103 cinereus, s. 102 cinctus, 402; s. 103 clamosus, s. 103 cognatus, s. 103 cruciatus, s. 103 cyanophlyctis, s. 100 ephippium, s. 104 flaviventris, s. 103 fuscus, s. 103. 399 gibbosus, 403 ; s. 104 globulosus, 403; s. 104 granulosus, 402; s. 103 ictericus, 401; s. 103 levis, s. 104 Lazarus, 401; s. 103 maculiventris, 401; s. 103 margaritiferus, s. 104 marinus, s. 103 melanostrictus, s. 103 musicus, 402. 463; s. 103 nasicus, 402 nasutus, 402 obstetricans, 400. 462; s. 103 Palmarum, 401 pretextatus, s. 103 proboscideus, 402; s. 103 pustulosus, s. 103 Roeselii, s. 103 roseus, s. 103 rudibunda, s. 100 salsus, s. 103 scaber, 401; s. 103 Schreberianus, s. 108 semilineatus, 402; s. 103 spinosus, 462 sitibundus, s. 103 stellatus, 401; s. 103 variabilis, s. 103 ventricosus, 402; s. 104 viridis, s. 103 vulgaris, s. 103 Bumbos, vol. ix. 193 Bungari, 279 Bungarum pamma, 279 Bungarus, 259. 279. 385 ; s. 95 annularis, s. 95 ceruleus, s. 95 filiformis, 259; s. 93 filum, s. 94 semifasciatus, s. 95 Cecilia, 281. 386; s. 109, 110 albiventris, 283; s. 110 annulata, 283, 284; s. 110 bivittata, 284; s. 110 glutinosa, 284 ; s. 110 hypocyana, s. 110 interrupta, 283; s. 110 lumbricoides, 284; s. 110 nasuta, s. 110 rostrata, 284; s. 110 tentaculata, s. 110 Cecilia, annulated, 283 bearded, s. 110 glutinous, 284; s. 110 interrupted-ringed, s. 110 Javanese, s. 110 ringed, s. 110 sharp-nosed, s. 110 tentaculated, 283 two-banded, s. 110 -wormlike, s. 110 Caiman, 105 Calamaria, s. 91 Calamita, 396; s. 101 bilineatus, s. 101 boans, s. 101 Carolinensis, s. 102 cinerea, s. 101. 102 maximus, s. 101 melanorabdotus, s. 102 Surinamensis, s. 102 Caliscertula, 211 Calotes, 126; s. 55 gutturosa, s. 56 lepidogaster, 127; s. 56 ophiomachus, s. 59 Tiedemanni, s. 55 tympanistra, s. 56 Calotes, armed, s. 56 blue, s. 55 common, s. 99 Indian, s. 55 Kuhl’s, s. 56 long-legged, s. 56 smaller, s. 55 Cameleo trapes, 153 Cameleonians, 152 REPTILIA. Caretta nasicornis, vol. ix; s. 21 Cascavela, 345 Cataphracta, s. 2 Caudisona, 267; s. 78 Causus, s. 83 Cayman, s. 21 pike-muzzled, 106. 197 spectacled, 105. 198 135 with osseous-eyelids, 107. 200 Caymans, 105. 196 Cecella, 159 Cenchris, 255; s. 79. 97 mockeson, s. 79 ocellatus, s. 97 regia, s. 97 Centropyx, 115 intermediate, s. 31 spurred, s. 31 striated, s. 31 Cerapes carinata, s. 92 Cerastes, 271; s. 81 plicatus, s. 96 Ceratophris, 395 Ceratophys, s. 101 boiei, s. 101. 104 clypeata, 395; s. 101 cornuta, s. 101 Daudini, 395 dorsata, 395; 101 granosa, 395; s. 101 granulata, s. 104 montana, s. 101 scutata, s. 101 Spixii, 395; s. 101 varius, 395; s. 101 Cerberus, 257 Chalcide, 162; s. 66 monodactyle, 162 Chalcides flavescens, s. 66 monodactylus, 162; s. 66 tridactylus, s. 66 zygnis, s. 72 Chalcides, 161. 240; s. 65 annulated, s. 66 common, s. 65 Chalcis, 162; s. 66 Chameeleopsis, s. 45 Hernandesii, s. 45 Chamesaura, 160; s. 73 cophias, 162; s. 66 propus, 163; s. 66 Chamelion, 232 dwarf, 154 of Molucea, with forked nose, 155 of Senegal, 154 Chameleons, 152 Chameleo, 152 bifidus, s. 54 136 INDEX. Chameleo bifurcus, vol. ix. 155. 237; s. Chelys Adansonii, vol. ix; s. 15 45 bilobus, 155; s. 53 Brookesii, s. 53 carinatus, 153 cucullatus, s. 54 dilepis, 155. 237; s. 53 fimbriatus, s. 53 gymnocephalus, s. 53 lateralis, s. 53 margaritaceus, 154; s. 53 monilifer, s. 53 Owenii, s. 54 pardalis, 154; s. 53 Parsonii, 155; s. 54 planiceps, 154; s. 53 castaneus, s. 14 Cayennensis, s. 17 depressa, s. 16 Dumeriliana, s. 17 expansa, s. 17 fimbriata, s. 17 lata, s. 17 longicollis, s. 15 Macquarii, s. 15 Matamata, s. 17 planiceps, s. 16 radiolata, s. 16 rufipes, s. 16 subrufa, s. 15 viridis, s. 16 pinnulus, 154 Chelys, Adanson’s, s. 15 pumillus, s. 53 Seichellensis, 154 Senegalensis, s. 53 subcroceus, 153 superciliaris, s. 53 tigris, 153; s. 53 verrucosus, 154; s. 53 vulgaris, s. 53 Chameleon, s. 52 banded, s. 53 Brookesii, s. 53 Cape, s. 53 common, 153; s. 53 Cape, s. 15 Cayenne, s. 17 chestnut, s. 14 Demerara, s. 17 depressed, s. 16 Dumeril’s, s. 17 expanded, s. 17 fiat-headed, s. 16 green, s. 16 long-necked, s. 16 Macquarie’s, s. 15 radiated, s. 16 red-footed, s. 16 eared, s. 53 Chersina, s. 5 hooded, s. 54 angulata, s. 5 panther, s. 53 Chersine, 9 Parson’s, s. 54 Chersydrus, 281; s. 99 Senegal, s. 53 granulatus, s. 99 streaked-sided, s. 53 Chirotes, 162; s. 66 three-horned, s. 54 Chlorosoma viridissima, s. 90 two-horned, s. 54 Chlamydosaurus, 217; s.60 - Champses, 102 Chrysodonta larveformis, 411. 474; s. Chaunus marmoratus, s. 104 109 Chelodina, 12; s. 15 Chysopelea, s. 94 longicollis, s. 15 Chelonia, 4. 14; s. 20 Paradisi, s. 94 rhodopleura, s. 94 caretta, s. 20 Cicigna, 159. 240; s. 63 coriacea, s. 20 imbricata, s. 2] lachrymata, 15; s. 20 Burnettii, 240 Madagascariensis, s. 64 sepiformis, s. 63 maculosa, 15; s. 20 Cicigna, common, s. 63 Mydas, s. 20 Madagascar, s. 64 olivacea, s. 20 smooth, s. 63 radiata, 16; s. 20 Cista sternalis, 404 virgata, 16; s. 20 -| Cistuda, 15. 77. 80; s. 7 Chelonians, 4. 81 Chelonura, 13 Chelydes, 17 Chelydra, 13; s. 14 lacertina, s. 14 Amboinensis, s. 7 Caroline, s. 7 Europea, s. 7 odorata, s. 13 trifasciata, s. 7 serpentina, s. 14 Clelia, s. 89 Chelys, 17; s. 14 aurora, s. 90 Clelia dorsata, ix. s. 90 melanocephala, s. 90 occipitalis, s. 90 Clamydosaurus, 247; s. 60 Kingii, s. 60 Clothonia, s. 98 Cobra, 270 di capello, 274. 376 Coclopeltis lacertina, s. 94 tigrina, s. 94 Colobus, 162; s. 66 Daudini, s. 66 Coluber, 256. 330; s, 85 acuminatus, s. 93 zneus, s. 96 zestivus, s. 86 AXsculapii, s. 87. 89 Africanus, s. 90 agilis, s. 89 ahetula, 259; s. 93 albus, s. 91 alvearius, s. 92 ambiguus, s. 79 ammobates, s. 88. 90 ammodytes, 271; s. 82 anastomosatus, s. 86 angulatus, s. 96 annulatus, s. 90 aspis, s. 82 atratus, 264 atriventer, s. 88, 89 atrofuscus, s. 90 atropos, s. 81 atrovirens, 262; s. 87 atrox, s. 79. 95 audax, s.92 _ aulicus, s. 92 aurora, s. 90 Austriacus, 262. 335 azureus, s. 87 baliedeira, s. 91 barbarus, s. 87 berus, 270. 272. 354; s. 82 bicarinatus, s. 89 bicinctus, s. 90 bilineatus, s. 87. 91 binatus, s. 89 bitis, s. 81 bozformis, 257 ; 97 Boddartii, s. 90 Borealis, s. 85 bracyurus, s. 91 Bramminus, s. 86 Brasiliensis, s. 81 buccatus, s. 95 bucephalus, 259; s. 95 cacodemon, s. 80 ceruleus, s. 94 calamaria, s. 91 Cuw. Index. REPTILIA. Coluber cancellatus, ix. s. 88. 92 candidus, s. 95 caninana, s. 87 canus, s. 87, 88 capistratus, s. 87 capite niger, s. 90 capite triangularis, s. 80 Caracaras, 259; s. 93 carinatus, s. 89 carinicaudatus, s. 95 castaneus, s. 83 catenulatus, 260 catenularis, s. 92 Catesbii, s. 95 caudiolus, s. 90 cenchoa, s. 95 cerastes, 271; s. 81 Cerberus, 257 ; s. 95 chersea, 272; s. 82 cinerascens, s. 88 Clelia, s. 89 clamacophorus, s. 88 cobella, s. 90 coccineus, s. 94 compressus, s. 95 conspicillatus, s. 88 constrictur, 335; s. 85 corais, s. 87 cornutus, s. 81 coronatus, s. 87 crassicaudatus, s. 90 crucifer, s. 88; 93 cyaneus, s. 87 decorus, 259; s. 94 dictyodes, s. 90 dimidiatus, s. 91 doliatus, s. 90 domicella, s. 83 domicellarum, s. 83 dora, s. 86 dubius, s. 8] Egypticus, s. 61 elaphis, s. 87 elegans, s. 94 Epidaurius, s. 90 erythrogrammus, s. 95 erythrogaster, s. 86 Esculapii, 263 fasciolatus, s. 92 fasciatus, s. 86 flavescens, 264; s. 87 flavilineatus, s. 88 flavius, 276 formosus, s. 89 fulgidus, 260; s. 93 fuliginosus, s. 87 fuscus, s. 89 Galathea, s. 92 Gallicus, s. 93 137 Coluber geminiatus, ix. s, 88 Geoffroyii, s. 87 getulus, s. 87 Girondicus, 262; s. 93 glaucus, s. 97 grammineus, s. 80 hzmachates, 273 haje, 274; s. 83 halys, s. 80 Hebe, s. 92 Hebriacus, s. 8k Helena, s. 88 heterodon, s. 85 hippocrepis, s. 87 hitambocia, s. 90 horridus, 263 humanus, s. 87 hybridus, s. 85 hydrus, s. 86 ibibcea, s. 94 ignobilis, s. 90 inornatus, s. &8 intumescens, s. 81 jaculatrix, 263 janthinus, 263; s. 90 Jara, s. 96 Javanicus, 257. 330; s. 97 korros, s. 88 lacertina, s. 94 lacteus, 276; s. 83 levicollis, s. 89 levis, s. 91 Janceolatus, s. 79 laticaudatus, 275; s. 84 Latonius, 276; s. 84 latratus, s. 83 lebetinus, s. 80 lemniscatus, 275; s. 83 leucocephalus, s. 92 leucomelas, s. 87 Lichtensteinii, s. 87 lineatus, 263; s. 90 lineolatus, s. 94 Linnzi, s. 91. 96 liocercus, s. 93 lubricus, 276; s. 84 lumbricoides, s. 91 lutrix, s. 89 macrorhinus, s. 92 maculosa, s. 91 malignus, s. 92 malpolon, s. 86 margaritaceus, s. 88 Maximiliana, s. 92 Megera, s. 79 Meifrenii, s. 87 melanocephalus, s. 90 melanopis, s. 88 melanurus, s. 88 INDEX, Coluber Meleagris, ix. s. 90 Meridionalis, s. 91 Merremii, s. 90 mikani, s. 94 miliaris, s. 90 minochronis, s. 87 monilis, s. 95 molurus, s. 96 multipunctata, s. 91 murorum, s. 85 Naia, 274; s. 83 nasicornis, s. 8] nasutus, 260; s. 93 natrix, 261. 333; s. 85 Nattereri, s. 94 nebulatus, s. 95 Nicandri, s. 90 Nove Hispanice, s. 87 nympha, s. 89 Bahaiensis, s. 87 obscurus, s. 88 octolineatus, s. 91 Olfersii, s. 87 olivaceus, s. 87 Oppelii, s. 85. 88 ordinatus, s. 86 Orientalis, s. 90 ornatus, s. 94 oxycephalus, s. 88 pecilogyrus, s. 89 pecilostoma, s. 86 palustris, s. 86 Parias, s. 88 parietalis, s. 86 personatus, s. 87 Peruvianus, s. 87.95 pethola, s. 90. 92 pictus, s. 94 pileatus, s. 87 plicatus, s. 96 plumbeus, s. 87 Plutonicus, s. 87 porcatus, s. 86 porphyraceus, s. 83 prester, 273; s. 82 proximus, s. 86 pseudo-echidna, s. 83 pullatus, s. 87 punctatus, s. 87 purpurascens, s. 93 pyrrhonotus, s. 89 quadricarinatus, s. 80 radiatus, s. 88 raninus, s. 90 regine, 263 ; s. 90 reticulata, s. 91 thabdocephalus, s. 88 rhombeatus, s. 91. 94 rufescens, s. 90 Coluber rufulus, ix. s. 90 Russellii, s. 81. 92 Saturninus, s. 88 saurocephalus, s. 88 REPTILIA. 139 Cophias hypnale, ix. s. 80 jacaraca, 269; s. 79 lanceolatus, s. 79 leucostigma, s. 72 scalaris, s. 87 “ leucurus, s. 80 scandens, s. 94 Megera, s. 79 schokari, s. 94 Neuweidii, s. 79 scurrula, s. 87 punicea, s. 80 Sebe, s. 97 Russellii, s. 80 serpentinus, s. 90 severus, s. 88 sexcarinatus, s. 89 sibilans, 264; s. 86.93 Siculus, 261 simus, s. 85 stolatus, s. 86 subcinctus, s. 92 subfuscus, s. 89 subirides, s. 86 subminiatus, s. 86 Sumatranus, s. 80 Surinamensis, s. 84 teniolatus, s. 91 trilineatus, 264 tessellatus, s. 91 Tisiphone, 268; s. 79 trabalis, s. 87, 88 trianguliferus, s. 86 triangulum, s. 67 tricolor, s. 88 trigonocephalus, s. 80 trinoculus, s. 81 triseriatus, s. Sl tristis, s. 94 trivirgatus, s. 88 typhlus, s. 90 Tyria, s. 94 variabilis, s. 86. 87 varius, s. 96 venustissima, s. 89 versicolor, s. 88 vip. nigrum, 273; s. 83 vipera, s. $1 viperinus, 261; s. 85, 86 virgulata, s. 91 viridiceruleus, s. 87 viridiflavus, s. 87 viridissimus, 263; s. 90 vittatus, s. 86 vulneratus, s. 88 Sumatranus, s. 80 teeniatus, s. 79 tessellatus, s. 79 triangulum, s. 79 trigonocephalus, s. 80 viridis, s. 80 Wagleri, s. 80 Coralle, 254 Corallus obtusirostris, s. 97 Cordylea, 120 Cordylus, 118. 213 dorsalis, 119 griseus, 119; s. 63 levigatus, s. 63 microlepidotus, 119 niger, 119 stellio, 214 Coronella, 260; s. 89 Austriaca, s. 93 cervina, s. 86 kotamboya, s. 90 petolaria, s. 90 pethola, s. 92 ‘tessellata, s. 86 venustissima, s. 89 Coui, 65 Craspedocephalus, 268; s. 79 Crest-bearer, 131 Criket, Savannah, s. 100 Crocodile armed, s. 23 common, 102; s. 22 double-crested, 103. 104; s. double-shielded, 105 flat-headed, s. 23 helmeted, 105 Indian, s. 22 intermediate, s. 23 lozenged, 105 of St. Domingo, 194 of the Nile, 102 rhombic, s. 22 2 ~ Dp) ~ Colubro uccellatore, 335 Ruppell’s, s. 22 Constrictor, s. 97 Siam, s. 22 Cophias, 162. 267; s. 72. 79 slender-muzzled, 104 atrox, 269; s. 79 two-shielded, s. 22 bilineatus, 269; s. 80 West Indian, s. 22 bothrops, s. 79 with armed-nape, 105 crotalinus, s. 79 Crocodiles, 98. 102. 184 flavescens, s. 66 Egyptian, 190 furia, s. 79 Crocodilians, 98 a ha 140, INDEX. Crocodilurus, ix. 111 Cyclura carinata, ix. 134; s. 39 Amazonicus, 112; s. 29 nubila, s. 39 ocellatus, s. 29 Shawil, s. 38 Crocodilus, 98; s. 21, 22 teres, s. 39 acutus, 104; s. 22 Cylindrophis, s. 75 biporcatus, 103; s. 22 melanotis, s. 75 biscutatus, 105; s. 22 resplendens, s. 79 cataphractus, 105; s. 23 Cynosaura, s. 62 complanatus, 103 punctata, s. 62 Cuvieri, s. 21 Cyrtodactyle, beautiful, s. 51 fissipes, 106 Brasilian, s. 52 galeatus, 105; s. 22 eyed, s. 51 Gangeticus, s. 23 flat-tailed, s. 52 intermedius, s. 23 marbled, s. 51 lacunosus, 103 Nilius’s, s. 52 longirostris, 200 piping, s. 52 lucius, 106. 197; s. 21 Cyrtodactylus, s. 51 marginatus, 103 ocellatus, s. 51 octophractus, s. 22 pipiens, s. 52 palpebrosus, 107. 200; s. 21 platura, s. 52 planirostris, s. 23 pulchellus, s. 51 punctulatus, 106 Spixii, s. 52 rhombifer, 105; s. 22 Cyrtophanes, s. 5d sclerops, 105. 198; s. 21 cristatus, s. 5d suchus, 103 Cystignathus, s. 100 tenuirostris, 101. 201; s. 23 mystaceus, s. 100 trigonatus, 107; s. 21 pachypus, s. 100 vulgaris, s, 22 pygmeus, s. 100 Crocodilea, 120 Crotalophorus, 267; s. 78 Daboia, s. 81 miliaris, s. 78 - Dactylethra, 396; s. 104 Crotalus, 266. 336; s. 78 Dacypeltis scaber, s. 85 atricaudatus, s. 78 Delma, s. 73 cascavella, s. 78 Dendrophis, 259; s. 94 Catesbii, s. 78 ahetula, s. 93 confluentus, s. 78 chaireacos, s. 94 durissus, 267. 346; s. 78 formosa, s. 94 Dryinus, s. 78 liocercus, s. 93 horridus, 267. 345; s. 78 maniar, s. 94 Loeflingii, s. 78 picta, s. 94 miliaris, 267. 348; s. 78 polychroa, s. 94 mutus, 268; s. 79 scandens, s. 94 rhombifer, s. 78 tristis, s. 94 strepitans, s. 78 Devin, 253; s. 96 tergeminus, s. 78 Dipsas, 259; s. 95 triseriatus, s. 78 bucephalus, s. 95 Cryptobranchus, 410 carinata, s. 94 Ctenosaura, s. 37 Catesbii, s. 95 acanthura, s. 38 cenchoa, s. 95 armata, s. 38 compressus, s. 95 Bellii, s. 38 cynodon, s. 95 cycluroides, s. 37 dendrophila, s. 95 lanceolata, s. 38 Drapiezii, s. 95 similis, s. 38 Indica, 259; s. 95 Curuacea, s. 79 irregularis, s. 95 Curucu, 463 multomaculata, s. 95 Cyclodus, s. 67 nebulatus, s. 95 flavigularis, s. 67 Savignii, s. 95 Cyclura, s. 37. 39 Schokari, s. 94 Dipsas Scholtii, ix. s. 88 trigonatus, s. 95 Disteyre, 280 Distera doliatus, s. 98 Disteria valakadin, s. 99 Doryphorus, 120; s. 42 long-tailed, s. 42 short-tailed, s. 42 Dracena, 203 Draco, s. 59 abbreviata, s. 59 fimbriatus, s. 59 fuscus, 223; s. 59 hematopogon, s. 59 lineatus, 222; s. 59 quinquefasciatus, s. 59 Timorensis, s. 59 viridis, s. 59 Dragon, banded, s. 59 black-pouched, s. 59 brown, 223 flying, 222 great, 112; s. 28 lined, s. 59 short-pouched, s. 59 Timor, s. 59 winged, 222 Dragonne, 111 Dragons, 98. 111. 217 Dryinus, 260; s. 93 zneus, 260; s. 93 auratus, s. 93 nasutus, s. 93 oxyrhinchus, s. 93 rostratus, s. 93 Dryophis, 260; s. 93 fulgidus, s. 93 nasutus, s. 93 panthoraria, s. 93 pavoninus, s. 93 prasina, s. 93 Russellii, s. 93 xanthozonica, s. 93 Dryophyllax Nattereri, s. 94 Duberia, 260 arctiventris, s. 89, Echidna, 270; s. 81 arietans, s. 81 cerulescens, s. 97 Echis, 255. 278; s. 82 arenicola, s. 82 krait, s. 82 carinata, s. 82 Ephimotes, 136 Eft, common, s. 106 web-~footed, s. 106 El adda, 156 Elaphoides fusca, s. 84 REPTILIA. Elaps, ix. 275. 384; s. 83 anguiformis, 276; s. 83 bilineatus, s. 94 bivirgata, s. 84 Boie, s. 84 Duberria, s. 89 chalybea, s. 84 coccineus, s. 84 collaris, s. 84 corallinus, s. 84 flavius, s. 84 furcatus, s. 84 fuscus, s. 83 ibaboca, s. 84 lacteus, s. 83 Latonius, s. 84 141 lemniscatus, 275. 384; s. 83 lutonia, s. 89 melanocephalus, s. 90 micrurus, s. 84 octolineatus, s. 91 plicatilis, s. 96 Surinamensis, 276; s. &3 triscalis, s. 90 Empereur, s. 96 Emyda, s. 19 punctata, s. 19 Emydide, 79 Emydosauri, s. 21 Emydosauria, 100 Emys, 1]. 71; s. 6.8 Adansonii, 12; s. 15 Amazonica, s. 17 Amboinensis, s. 7 annulifera, s. 12 barbatula, s. 17 Batagur, s. 9 Bellii, s. 12 bipunctata, s. 10 bitentaculata, s. 17 canaliculata, 12; s. 16 Caroline, s. 7 carunculata, 12; s. 16 Caspia, s. 9 castanea, s. 14 crassicollis, s. 8 Cayennensis, s. 17 centrata, 12 cinerea, 12 concentrica, 12; s. 1l concinna, 12 contracta, 12 constricta, s. 17 couro, s. 7 crassicollis, s. 8 decussata, 76; s. 11 depressa, 12 Dhor, s. 8 discolor, s. 16 142 Emys dorsata, ix. 12; s, 10 erythrocephala, s. 17 Europea, 71; s. 7 expansa, 12; s. 17 fusca, 12 Geoffroyana, s. 16 geographica, 75; s. 12 gibba, s. 17 guttata, s. 10 Hamiltonii, s. 9 Kinosternoides, s. 12 icterocephala, s. 17 insculpta, 12 leprosa, 12 Lesueurii, s. 12 lineata, s. 9 longicollis, 12. 76 lutaria, 12. 76 lutescens, 12 Macquarii, 12; s. 15 marmorea, s. 10 Maximiliana, s. 17 Muhlenbergii, s. 10 nasuta, 12 occilifera, s. 9 occipitalis, 75 odorata, 12; s. 13 olivacea, s. 15 ornata, 76; s. 12 Pennsylvanica, s. 13 picta, 73; s. 10 planiceps, 12 platicephala, 12 pseudogeographica, 12 pulchella, 12 punctata, 12 punctularia, s. 10 radiolata, s. 16 reticulata, 12; s. ll rubriventris, 12 rugosa, s. 12 scabra, 12; s. 10 scripta, 12; s. ll scorpoides, s. 13 Senegalensis, 12 serpentina, s. 14 serrata, 12. 76; s. 11 speciosa, s. 10 Spengleri, s. 8 spinosa, s. 8 stenops, s. 16 subrufa, 12 tecta, s. 9 thuryi, s. 8 tracaxa, s. 17 trifasciata, s. 7 tritentacula, 12 triporcata, s. 13 viridis, s. 16 INDEX. Emys vittata, ix. s. 11 vulgaris, s. 9 Enaliosauri, s. 23 Euchydus piscator, s. 86 Engyrus, s. 97 Engystoma, 396. 403; s. 104 dorsatum, 403; s. 104 granosum, 403; s. 104 marmoratum, 403; s. 104 ovale, 403; s. 104 ovalis, Surinamensis, 403 ventricosum, 403; s. 104 Enhydres, 264 Ephimotes, s. 41 Epicrates, s. 96 cenchria, s. 96 Epicrium, s. 110 Hasseltii, s. 110 Erpetodryas, s. 69 exoletus, s. 89 levicollis, s. 89 Erpeton tentacule, 256 Erpetons, 256 Erythrolampus, s. 89 formosus, s. 89 Erix, 255; s. 98 Eryx anguiformis, s. 98 Braminus, 248; s. 76 jaculus, s. 98 Indica, s. 98 melanostictus, s. 73 Meleagris, s. 76 rufus, s.. 79 Turcica, s. 98 Etrobenae, 166 Eublepharis, s. 49 Hardwickii, s. 49 Eubydris rhynchops, s. 95 Eumerodes, 165. 220 Eunectes, s. 96 lateristrigota, s. 96 murina, s. 96 Exypuestes, s. 29 Famo-cantrata, 149 Father of the leprosy, 148 Frog, Argus, s. 100 bell, 446 blue and yellow, 397 blue tree, s. 102 bull, 394. 445 common, 393. 443; s. 100 green, 392. 442; s. 100 grunting, s. 100 land, s. 103; paradoxical, 393 shad, 445; s. 100 Frog spring, ix. s. 100 Frogs, tinging, 397 tree, 396. 449 zebra, 397 390. 422 Galleywasp, 239 banded, s. 71 Bell’s, s. 70 black-spotted, s. 69 common, s. 69 coppery, s. 70 double streaked, s. 70 doubled, s. 69 eyed, s. 68 fine-scaled, s. 71 five-lined, s. 69 four-lined, s. 71 Lacepede’s, s. 69 large, s. 68 lateral, s. 70 many-scaled, s. 68 red-headed, s. 70 ribbon, s. 68 seven-striped, s. 69 thin-scaled, s. 71 two coloured, s. 70 Gariocephalus, s. 55 Gavial, common, s. 23 great, 200 little, 101. 201 of the Ganges, 101 Gavialis, s. 23 Gangeticus, s. 23 Gavials, 101. 200 Gecko, 144; s. 48 4 Gecko, aculeatus, 146; s. 51 fEgyptiacus, 144 ascolobates, s. 50 fascicularis, 143. 146 guttata, s. 48 inunguis, 142; s. 47 Leachianus, s. 49 levis, 147. 229 lobatus, 148 Mabuia, 146; s. 51 Madagascariensis, s. 49 marginatus. 147 rapicauda, 148 Reevesil, s. 48 squatydus, 148 spinicauda, 230 trihedrus, s. 5] verrucosus, s. 50 verruculatus, 146 vittatus, s. 49 American, s. 48 annulaire, s. 48 REPTILIA. 143 Gecko annulated, ix. s. 48 a queue épineuse, 147 a tubercules triédres, 147 banded, 144; s. 49 cepedian, 143 Chinese, s. 48 common, s. 48 fasciculated, s. 48 fringed, 149 Hardwicke’s, s. 49 Horsfield’s, s. 49 house, 148. 231 Leach’s, s. 49 Mabuia, s. 51 Madagascar, s. 49 Peruvian, 149 -porphyré, 150 sarroube, s. 50 smooth, 147. 229 spitting-banded, 150 of Surinam, 148 tuberculous, 119 wall, 143. 229 warty, s. 50 Geckos, 228. 140 Geckotians, 140 Geckotte, 119. 143 Geitje, 229 Gemmatophora, s. 59 barbata, s. 60 muricata, s. 60 Gemmatophore bearded, s. 60 muricated, s. 60 Geosaurus, 140 Gerrhonote, blue, s. 64 Burnet’s, s. 64 Depp’s, s. 64 imbricate, s. 64 retired, s. 64 rough-necked, s. 64 smooth-headed, s. 65 Gerrhonotus Burnettii, s. 64 ceruleus, s. 64 Deppii, s. 64 leiocephalus, s. 65 imbricatus, s. 64 rudicollis, s. 64 teniatus, s. 64 Gerrhosaurus, s. 63 flavigularis, s. 63 Goitreux, 114 Gonocephala, 128 Gonyodactylus, s. 51 marmoratus, s. 51 Gonyosoma viride, s. 88 Gongylophis, s. 97 Guana, allied, s. 38 armed, s. 38 banded, s. 37 144 INDEX. Guana, Bell’s, ix. s. 38 Hurria bilineata, ix. s. 89 black, s. 37 nympha, s. 89 clouded, s. 39 pseudotriga, s. 95 common, s. 36 Hyalinus, s. 65 cycluroid, s. 3f Hydochthon, s. 108 keeled, s. 39 Hydras 279 lancet-toothed, s. 38 Hydraspis, 12. 76 rough-headed, s. 37 Adansonii. s. 15 round, s. 39 Cayennensis, s. 17 smooth-necked, s. 37 depressa, s. 16 spiny-tailed, s. 38 Dumerilliana, s. 17 Gymnodactylus, 151; s. 51 expansa, s. 17 geckoides, 151; s. 52 lata, s. 17 Gymnotholamus, s. 71 Macquarii, s. 15 quadrilineatus, s. 71 pachyura, s. 17 Gyrinus, s. 108 planiceps, s. 16 radiolata, s. 16 rufipes, s. 16 Hemacates, s. 83 subrufa, s. 15 Hardun, 120 viridis, s. 16 Haje, 274. 376 Hydrophis, 279, 280. 385; s. 98 Hellbender, 410 chloris, 386 large, s. 109 melanurus, 386 Hemidactyle, margined, s. 51 nigrocinctus, 386 Hemidactylus, 146; s. 50 obscurus, 386 granosus, s. 51 Hydrus, 279. 280. 385; s. 98 marginatus, s. 51 atricapillus, s. 98 Hemiphractus Spixii, s. 101 bicolor, 280 Herpeton, s. 99 Brugmansii, s. 98 tentaculatus, s. 99 czerulescens, s. 98 Herpotodryas, s. 89 carinatus, s. 99 Heterodactyle Spix’s, s. 66 chloris, s. 98 Heterodactylus, s. 66 cinereus, s. 95 imbricatus, 162; s. 66 colubrinus, 276; s. 84 Heterodermata, 286 curtus, 280; s. 99 Heterodon, 258; s. 85 cyanocinctus, s. 98. nasua, s. 85 doliatus, s. 98 platyrhynchos, s. 85 fasciatus, s. 99 simus, s. 85 gracilis, s. 98 noiratre, 258 levis, s. 98 tacheté, 258 lanceolatus, s. 96 Hognose, 258 leiolepis, s. 98 Holoderma, s. 28 major, 280; s. 98 horridum, s. 28 melanurus, s. 99 Homalopsis, 260; s. 95 nigrocinctus, s. 96 asperus, s. 96 obscurus, s. 98 carinicaudatus, s. 95 palustris, s. 86 erythrogrammicus, s. 95 piscator, s. 86 Jara, s. 96 platura, s. 98 moluroides, s. 96 rhynchops, s. 95 obtusatus, 257; s. 95 schistosus, s. 98 plumbea, s. 96 Shawii, s. 98 rhynchops, s. 95 spiralis, 280. 386; s. 96 Homalosoma arctiventris, s. 89 striatus, s. 98 punctatum, s. 89 Hyla, 396; s. 101] Homodermata, 286 abbreviata, 398; s. 102 Horatta, 278 affinis, 397 ; s. 102 Hurria, 258; s. 89 albomarginata, 397; s. 102 carinata, s. 92 arborea, s. 101 Hyla aurantiaca, ix. s. 102 bicolor, 397; s. LOL bifasciata, s. 102 bilineata, 397; s. 101 Blochii, s. 101 boans, s. 101, 102 breviata, s. 102 Buffonia, 397; s. 102 bufonoides, s. 102 centripoda, s. 102 cinerascens, 397; s. 102 cyanea, 398; s. 102 delitescens, s. 102 erythropoda, s. 102 femoralis, 397 ; s. 102 frontalis, 397; s. 102 Gaimardii, s. 102 geographica, 397; s. 102 hypochondrialis, s. 102 Indica, s. 101 intermixta, s. 102 lactea, s. 102 lateralis, 397. 449; s. 102 Leschenaultii, s. 101 leucophyllata, s. 102 marmorata, 397; s. 101 oculata, 397 ocularis, s. 102 palmata, 397; s. 101 papillaris, 397 ; s. 102 pardalis, 397; s. 102 Peronii, s. 101 pulchra, s. 101 Quoyii, s. 102 raneformis, s. LOL rubeola, s. 102 ruber, s. 102 scelaton, s. 102 Scychellerii, s. 101 Seurii, s. 102 squirella, 398; 3. 102 Surinamensis, s. 102 tibiatrix, 450; s. 102 tibiceus, 597 tinctoria, 450; s. 10] trivittata, 398; s. 102 variegata, s. 102 venulosa, 397; s. 101 vermicularia, s. 101 verrucosa, 397; s. 102 violacepoda, s. 102 viridifusca, s. 101 viridis, s. 102 Hyle, 448 Hypochton, 412 Ichthyophis, s. 110 Ichthyosaurus, 164; s. 23 Cuv. Index. REPTILIA. Ichthyosaurus communis, ix. s. 23 grandipes, s. 24 intermedius, s. 24 latifrons, s. 24 platydon, s. 24 tenuirostris, s. 24 Iguana, 131. 223 acanthura, s. 38 armata, s. 38 atra, s. 37 Belli, s. 38 cerulea, 225; s. 36 carinata, s. 39 cornuta, 133; s. 36 cristata, s. 37 cyclura, 133; s. 39 cycluroides, s. 37 delicatissima, 133; s.37 emarginata, s. 36 fasciata, 225; s. 37 gutturosa, s. 56 lanceolata, s. 38 lophyroides, s. 36 nubila, s. 39 nudicollis, 133; s. 37 similis, s. 38 squamosa, s. 36 teres, s. 39 tuberculata, 131; s. 36 viridis, s. 36 Iguana, banded, 129 145 common American, 131. 223 horned, 133, 225 mud, s. 108 slate coloured, 432. 225 with armed-tail, 133 with armed-neck, 133 Iguane goitreux, 139 Iguanians, 117. 140. 215 Iguanodon, 140 Ilysia, 250; s. 79 rufa, s. 75 Istiurus, 130 Jacaratinga moschifer, 107 Jacaré, 199 Jurura, 68 Kalo-shouter-sun, 386 Katla tutta, s. 92 Kentropyx, s. 31 calearatus, s. 31 intermedius, s. 51 striatus, s. dl Keril patee, 386 Kinixys, 11. 69; s. 6 Belliana, s. 6 U 146 Kinixys castanea, ix. 69; s. 6 erosa, s. 6 homeana, s. 6 Kinosternon, 13. 77. 79; s. 13 Amboinense, 79 brevicaudatum, 79 longicaudatum, 79; s. 13 nigricans, 79 odoratum, s. 13 Pennsylvanicum, 79; s. 13 scorpoides, s. 13 Shawianus, 79; s. 13 triporcatum, s. 13 Kinosternon musky, s. 13 Pennsylvanian, s. 13 three-keeled, s. 13 three-ridged, s. 13 Koscordylos, 120 L’ Atropos, 270 La Bossue, s. 101 La Brazilienne, 270 La Daboré, 270 L’Elégant, 254 La Rouge, s. 102 La Vipére élégante, 270 Lacerta, s. 31 acanthura, s. 38 Africana, 153; s. 53 agilis, 116. 208. 211 alegyra, 117; s. 35 Amboinensis, 131 Ameiva, 114. 205; s. 29 anguina, 160; s. 73 apoda, 242; s. 65 arenicola, 116 Argus, 116; s. 26 arguta, s. 34 aurita, s. 58 azurea, s- 42 Basiliscus, 134; s. 45 bicarinata, 112. 204; s. 29 bilineata, 116; s. 32 bimaculata, 138; s. 46 bipes, 161; s. 74 bivittata, 110 Boscii, s. 34 bosquien, 116 bullaris, 138, 139. 227 calotes, 127; s. 55 Capensis, 109; s. 27 caudiverbera, 149; s. 50 caudavolvula, s. 59 chalcides, 159 chameleon, 154 cordylus, 119; s. 63 crocodilus, 102 eruenta, s. 34 INDEX. Lacerta Cuvieri, ix. s. 35 cyprius 157 draceena, 111; s. 26 Dugesii, s. 33 Dumerillii, s. 33 Edwardsiana, s. 33 exanthematica, 111; s. 26 facetanus, 143. 229 fasciata, s. 43. 69 fusca, s. 32 Gangetica, 101 gecko, 148. 231; s. 48 geitje, 229 grammica, s. 35 guttata, 129; s. 59 guttulata, s. 34 gutturosa, s. 30 Hispanicus, s. 35 homalocephala, 145; s. 49 hyacinthina, s. 43 iguana, 131. 223 Jamaicensis, s. 32 Javanica, s. 60 Knoxii, s. 34 Lalandii, s. 32 lemniscata, 114; s. 30 lepida, s. 32 Leschenaultii, s. 35 litterata, 205 lineata, s. 71 lobata, s. 58 lophura, s. 60 lumbricoides, 163; s. 66 marmorata, 135; s. 47 monitor, s. 27 monedactyla, 160; s. 73 montanus, s. 30 muralis, s. 32 muricata, 123; s. 60 mystacea, s. 58 nebulosa, 217; s. 39 Nilotica, 109; s. 27 occidua, 157. 239; s. 69 ocellata, 116. 208; s. 32 Olivieri, s. 33 orbicularis, 124. 216 pardalis, s. 34 pipiens, s. 52 platura, 151; s. 52 plica, s. 41 pumila, 154 quadrilineata, s. 71 quinquelineata, 115; s. 69 rapicauda, 147 rhombica, s. 32 rubropunctata, s. 34 salamandra, 406; s. 105 sanguinolenta, s. 58 Savignii, s. 33 Lacerta Schreibersiana, ix. s. 32 scincoides, 158; s. 67 scincus, 110. 156 scutata, 128; s. 54 scutellata, s. 33 sepium, 116 seps, 162: s. 63 sericea, 116 serpens, 159; s. 72 sputator, 230; s. 52 stellio, 120. 214; s. 57 stirpium, 210 strenuosa, 139 striata, s. 31 strumosa, s. 46 superciliosa, 134 teniolata, s. 68 Teguixin, 113; s. 29 terrestris, 116 tetradactyla, 162; s. 65 Teyou, s. 31 tiliguerta, 211 tuberculata, 224 Turcica, s. 50 Uralensis, 129; s. 59 varia, 110; s. 25 variabilis, s. 34 velox, 116; s. 34 viridis, 116. 209; s. 32 viridula, 211 vittata, 144 vivipara, s. 32 Lacertians, 107. 201 Lachesis, s. 79 mutus, s. 79 rhombeata, 269; s. 79 Lagarto, 105 Langaha, 278 Le geleote, s. 56 Lecolepis, s. 62 guttatolineatus, s. 62 guttatus, s. 62 maculatus, s. 62 Leiocephalus, s. 42 carinatus, s. 42 Leiocephalus, keeled, s. 42 Leiolepis, 125 guttatus, 125 Leioseloma obscura, s. 98 Lepidosoma, s. 71 Leposoma, 126 Leposternons, 247 Leposternon, s. 67 microcephalus, 247 ; s. 67 oxyrhynchus, s. 67 Leposternon dotted, s. 67 sharp-nosed, s. 67 Leptophis, s. 93 mancas, 5. 94 REPTILIA. Leyoselasme, ix. 280 Liophis, s. 69 Fosteri, s. 90 miliaris, s. 90 pecilogyrus, s. 89 regine, s. 90 Lizard, Bosc’s, s. 34 Cape, s. 32 clouded, s. 39 common toad, s. 45 Douglas’ toad, s. 44 Duges’, s. 33 Dumeril’s, s. 33 Edwards’, s. 33 eyed, s. 32 frilled, s. 60 gentil, 116 of Gibraltar, 210 grammic, s. 35 great green, 116. 208 green, s. 32 horned toad, s. 45 of Jamaica, 201 Indian, s. 35 Knox’s, s. 34 mountain, s. 33 nimble, 211 Olivier’s, s. 33 orbicular, s. 45 orbicular-toad, s. 45 of-the Pandang, 144 panther, s. 34 red-spotted, s. 34 Savigny’s, s. 33 scaly, 21] Schreibers’, s. 32 scutated, s. 54 serpent, 160 shielded, s. 33 Spanish, s. 35 spotted, s. 34 spotted green, 209 striped, 115 Ural toad, s. 59 variable, s. 34 wall, s. 32 Lizardet, 112. 204 Lizards, 5. 98. 115. 206 Lophura, 130; s. 60 Amboinensis, s. 60 concinna, s. 61 Cuvieri, s. 60 Lesueuri, s. 60 Lophura, beautiful, s. 61 Lophyrus, 127 agamoildes, 217; s. 41 albomaxillaris, 127; s. 40 auronitens, 127 gigas, s. 55 U 2 147 148 Lophyrus Kuhlii, ix. s. 55 Margaritaceus, 127; s. 40 ochrocollaris, 127; s. 40 panthera, 127; s. 40 rhombifer, 127; s. 40 xiphurus, 134; s. 40 Lophyrus with forked-casque, 128 Loricata, 100. 164 Luchensis, 269 Lycodon, s. 91 aulicus, s. 92 capucinus, s. 92 fuliginosus, s. 92 Galathea, s. 92 Hebe, s. 92 leucocephalus, s. 92 macrorhinus, s. 92 malignus, s. 92 pethola, s. 92 Russellii, s. 92 subcinctus, s. 92 unicolor, s. 92 Lygosoma, 159; s. 71 aurata, s. 72 punctata, s. 71 scincoides, s. 72 serpens, s. 72 Lygosoma, dotted, s. 71 golden, s. 72 short-footed, s. 7] Lyriocephala, 128; s. 54 Margaritaceus, 128 Maboina, 156. 158 Mabouia, 239 des Bananiers, 147 des Murailles, 146 Mabuia, 150 Macrosoma elegans, s. 93 Malpolon, 260 Marble, common, s. 47 Mastigura, s. 6] Matamata, 17 Brazilian, s. 17 Megera, s. 79 Megalophrys montana, s. 101 Megalosaurus, 140 Menobranchus, 412; s. 108 Lacepedii, s. 108 lateralis, 412; s. 108 Menobranchus Lacépéde’s, s. 108 Say’s, s. 108 Menopoma, 410. 475 Alleghaniensis, s. 109 Metaxa, s. 87 Microps unicolor, s. 104 Micruri, 276 Micrurus Spixi, s. 84 INDEX. Mokeson, ix. 258 Molge, s. 106 gigantea, s. 109 glutinosa, s. 106 tridactylus, s. 105 Monitor, s. 25 albogularis, 109; s. 28 Bengalensis, 111; s. 26 bivittatus, s. 25 chlorostigma, s. 26 crocodilurus, 112. 203 exanthematica, s. 26 flavescens, s. 25 heraldicus, s. 27 marmoratus, 111 nebulosus, s. 27 nigricans, 111 Niloticus, s. 27 ocellatus, s. 25 ornatus, 109; s. 27 pulcher, 202; s. 27 scincus, s. 27 Timorensis, s. 26 varius, s. 25 viridis, s. 26 Monitor, brown spotted, s. 26 clouded, s. 27 of Congo, 202 double-banded, 110 of Egypt, 110 elegant, s. 26 eyed, s. 25 green, s. 26 green spotted, s. 26 heraldic, s. 27 laced, s. 25 land, 202 of the Nile, 109. 202; s. 27 ornamented, s. 27. Timor, s. 26 two-banded, s. 25 varied, s. 27 yellowish, s. 25 Monitors, 108. 201 Monodactyle, Anguine, s. 73 Monodactylus, s. 73 Monoxillo, horrid, s. 28 Mosasaurus, 140 Murena, s. 108 Mutabilia, s. 99 Naia, 273; s. 62 hemachates, s. 83 haje, s. 83 latratus, s. 83 nivea, s. 83 rhombeata, s. 83 spectatrix, s. 83 Naia tricuspidans, ix. s. 83 tripudians, 274 Natrix ahetula, s. 93 alamensis, s. 90 aspera, s. 96 aulica, s. 92 bicarinatus, s. 89 bivittatus, s. 86 cherscoides, s. 86 chiametla, s. 90 cinnamomea, s. 89 exoleta, s. 89 Forsteri, s. 90 lappiata, s. 92 occipitalis, s. 90 ocellata, s. 86 punctatissima, s. 94 sculptura, s. 86 scurrula, s. 87 semilinea, s. 90 Necturus, s. 108 Oligdonon, 260 Oligodon, s. 88 atriventus, s. 88 bitorquatus, s. 88 punctatus, s. 89 Ophidia, 5 Ophidians, 5. 241 Ophidii, s. 78 Ophiodes Gronovii, s. 73 Ophiorhyza mungos, 274 Ophiosauri, s. 62 Ophiosaurus, 243 Ophiosaurus, s. 65 punctatus, 243; s. 65 striatulus, 243; s. 65 ventralis, 243; s. 65 Ophis, 273; s. 83. 88 Merremii, s. 83 subcinctus, s. 92 Ophoides, s. 73 Ophrias, 277; s. 82 acanthopis, s. 62 Ophryessa, 134; s. 39 Ophyessa, s. 39 azurea, s. 42 Braziliensis, s. 40 brevicaudatus, s. 42 Margaritaceus, s. 40 picta, s. 40 plica, s. 41 rhombifer, s. 40 superciliosa, s. 40 Ophyessa Brazilian, s. 40 lozenge, s. 40 painted, s. 40 pearly, s. 40 sword-tailed, s. 40 REPTILIA. 149 Ophyessa umber, ix. s. 41 Oplocephali, 277 Cuvieri, s. 84 Oplurus, 136; s. 41 torquatus, 137; s. 41 Otilopha, s. 103 ocellata, s. 104 typhonia, s. 103 Otilophes, 403 Ouaran, 109. 202 el hard, 110 Oular caron, 264 limpé, 281 Ouran grey, s. 27 white-throated, s. 28 Oxybelis, s. 93 zneus, s. 93 Oxyrhopus annulatus, s. 90 pethola, s. 91 Oxyrhynchus, 402; s. 103 Padani cootoo, s. 97 Paludicola albifrons, s. 104 Pareas, s. 94 Passericki, s. 93 Passerita, 260; s. 93 Pedda-poda, 257; s. 97 Pelamides, 279. 280 Pelamis, s. 98 bicolor, s. 98 carinatus, s. 99 curtus, s. 99 fasciatus, s. 99 gracilis, s. 98 Lindsayi, s. 99 melanurus, s. 99 ornatus, s. 98 Rupelii, s. 99 Valakadin, s. 99 Pelias, 272; s. 82 berus, 272; s. 82 chersea, s. 82 niger, s. 79. 81 Pelobates fuscus, s. 103 Pareas carinata, s. 94 Periops hippocrepis, s. 87 Phanerobranchus, s. 108 Phelsuma, 143; s. 47 Philodryas Olfersii, s. 87 Phrynocephale, eared, s. 58 eyed, s. 59 Pallas’s, s. 59 Phrynocephalus, 129; s. 58 auritus, s. 58 caudevolvula, s. 59 ocellatus, s. 59 Uralensis, s. 59 Phrynosoma, s. 44 150 Phrynosoma Buffonium, ix. s. 45 cornuta, s. 45 Douglassii, s. 44 orbiculare, s. 45 Phyllodactylus, s. 50 marmoratus, s. 49 pulchellus, s. 50 Phyllomedusa, s. 101 Phyllhydrus, s. 108 pisciformis, s. 108 Phyllurus, 151; s. 52 Cuvieri, s. 52 Nilii, s. 52 Physalamis Cuvieri, s. 104 Physignathus, 130 Cocin Cinus, 130 concinnus, s. 61 iguanoides, s. 6] Pipa, 403, 463; s. 105 Bufonia, 396; s. 104 curururu, 404; s. 105 levis, 396; s. 104 Pipa, common, s. 105 of Surinam, 463 Plica, s. 40 Platuri, 276 Platurus, s. 84 fasciatus, s. 84 laticaudatus, s. 84 semifasciatus, s. 84 Platydactyle cepedian, s. 47 clawless, s. 47 eyed, s. 47 ornamented, s. 48 Platydactylus, 142; s. 47 Aigyptiacus, s. 48 Americanus, s. 48 cepedianus, s. 47 fascicularis, s. 48 ocellatus, s. 47 ornatus, s. 48 Pleurodeles, s. 106 Plesiosaurus, 164; s. 24 auxois, s. 24 carinatus, s. 24 dolichodeirus, s. 24 pentagonus, s. 24 recentior, s. 24 trigonus, s. 24 Polychrus, 135. 227; s. 47 acutirostris, 136; s. 47 fasciatus, s. 47 of Guiana, 135 marmoratus, s. 47 strigiventer, s. 47 virescens, s. 47 Porte anneau, 254 Pneustes, 129 Pneustoides, 129 INDEX. Proteus, ix. 412. 475; s. 107 anguinus, 412. 476; s. 108 tetradactylus, s. 108 tritonius, 408 Proteus, common, s. 108 of the lakes, s. 108 Protonopsis, 410 horrida, s. 109 Psammodromus, s. 35 Hispanicus, s. 35 Psammosaurus, 110; s. 27 albogularis, s. 28 scincus, s. 27 Psammophis, 260 ; Psamnophis, s. 93 bicolor, s. 94 Girondicus, s. 93 lacertina, s. 94 pulverulenta, s. 94 rhombeata, s. 94 schokari, s. 94 Pseudo Ameiva, 115 striata, s. 3] Pseudo-Boa, 255. 279. 385 carinata, 278 coronata, s. 92 krait, 278; s. 82 Pseudobranchus, 414; s. 109 striatus, s. 109 Pseudoelaps, 260 Pseudopus, 242; s. 65 Olfersii, s. 73 Pallasii, 242; s. 65 serpentinus, s. 65 Pseudopus, Durville’s, s. 65 Pteropleura, s. 49 Horsfieldii, 145; s. 49 Ptychozoon, 145; s. 49 Ptygopleura, s. 62 Ptyodactylus, 148; s. 50 guttatus, s. 50 Pygodactylus, 161; s. 74 Gronovii, s. 73 Pygopus, 160; s. 73 cariococca, 161; s. 73 lepidopus, s. 73 striatus, 161; s. 73 Python, 330; s. 97 amethystinus, 330; s. 97 bivittatus, s. 97 bora, 330 Javanicus, s. 97 Peronii, s. 97 poda, s. 97 punctatus, s. 97 rhynchops, s. 95 Schneideri, s. 97 tigris, s. 97 Python amethyste, 257 REPTILIA. Python tigre, ix. 257 Pythons, 256 Pyxis, 11.69; s. 6 aranoides, s. 6 Quetzpalco, 121. 136 Rainette bleu, 398 a tapiner, s. 101] Rana 390. 422; s. 99 arborea, 396. 449; s. 101. 102 Austrasi, s. 102 bilineata, s. 102 boans, s. 101 bombina, 399. 461; s. 103. 104 bufo, 398. 460; s. 102 bufo calamita, 399 Bufonia, s. 104 cerulea, s. 102 Catesbiana, s. 100 clamitans, 394. 445; s. 100 coriacea, 395; s. 100 cornuta, 395 cultripes, s. 100 cutricularis, s. 100 cyanophlyctis, s. 100 Daudini, s. 100 dorsalis, s. 100 dubia, s. 103 esculenta, 392. 442; s. 100 fetidissima, s. 103 fasciata, s. 104 flaviventris, s. 100 fontinalis, s. 100 gibbosa, s. 101 gigas, 395; s. 100 grunniens, 446; s. 100 gryllus, s. 100 halecina, 394. 447; s. 100 hypscaphelia, s. 100 labyrinthica, 395; s. 100 lactea, s. 102 maculata, 395; s. 100 margaritifera, 403; s. 104 marina, 401; s. 103 maxima, 397; s. 100. 101 megastoma, 395; s. 101 melanota, s. 100 mephitica, s. 103 meriana, s. 101 miliaris, 395; s. 100 mugiens, s. 100 musica, s. 103 mystacea, 395; s. 100 nigrita, s. 100 : obstetricans, s. 103 ocellata, 394, 447; s. 100 151 Rana ovalis, ix. s. 104 pachypus, 395; s. 100 palmipes, 394; s. 100 palustris, s. 100 paradoxa, 393. 447; s. 100 pardalis, s. 100 pentadactyla, s. 100 pipa, 404; s. 105 pipiens, 394. 445; s. 100 plicata, s. 100 _protentosa, s. 103 pumilla, s. 100 punctata, 395. 444; s. 100 pygmeza, 395; s. 100 ridibunda, 462; s. 100 rubella, 395; s. 100 scapularis, s. 100 scutata, 395; s. 101 sibilatrix, 395; s. 100 sitibunda, s. 103 sonans, s. 100 squamigera, s. 101 Surinamensis, s. 104 sylvatica, s. 100 systoma, s. 104 temporaria, 393. 443; 5. 100 tigrina, 394; s. 100 tinctoria, 397; s. 101 typhonia, 395; s. 100. 103 variabilis, 400; s. 103 variegata, s. 104 venulosa, s. 101 vespertina, s. 100 Virginica, 394, 395; s. 100 viridis, s. 103 zebra, s. 101 Rattlesnake, 266 banded, 345 miliary, 348 striped, 348 Reptilia, 1 Rhinella, s. 103 acutirostris, s. 103 granulosus, s. 103 nasicus, s. 103 proboscideus, s. 103 Semilineata, s. 103 Rhinophis, s. 77 Rhinopirus, 256 Rhinostoma nasua, s. 85 proboscideum, s. 85. 94 Rondas tataloopam, 248 Safeguard, great American, 113. 204 variegated, s. 29 Safeguards, 112. 204 Saiphos, s. 72 equalis, s. 72 152 Saiphos, lacertine, ix. s. 72 Sal a trois doigts, 406 Salamander, 464 Alpine, s. 105 ashy, s. 106 banded, s. 106 Beechey’s, s. 107 black, s. 105. 107 brown, s. 107 brownish, s. 107 common, 406. 465; s. 105 crested, 408 cylindrical, s. 107 dorsal, s. 107 great, 410 Green’s, s. 107 glutinous, s. 106 long-tailed, s. 107 marbled, 408; s. 105 painted, s. 107 palmipedes, 409 2 punctated, 409; s. 107 red, s. 107 red-backed, s. 106 Spanish, s. 106 spotted, s. 107 tigrine, s. 107 two lined, s. 107 variolated, s. 107 violet, s. 106 white-faced, s. 107 with spotted-sides, 408 yellow, s. 107 Salamanders, 404 aquatic, 407. 473 land, 405 Salamandra, 404, 405; s. 105 Alleghaniensis, s. 108. 109 Alpestris, 408; s. 106 atra, 406; s. 105 Beechii, s. 107 bilineata, 407; s. 107 cinerea, s. 106 cristata, 408 cylindrica, s. 107 dorsalis, s. 107 erythronota, 407 ; s. 106 fasciata, 407; s. 106 fenestrata, s. 106 flavissima, s. 107 frontalis, s. 107 fusca, s. 105. 107 gigantea, 410; s. 109 glutinosa, s. 106 Greenii, s. 107 horrida, s. 109 Japonica, 407; s. 106 longicaudata, s. 107 maculata, s. 107 INDEX. Salamandra maculosa, ix. s. 105 - major, s. 106 marmorata, 408. 474; s. 105 nigra, s. 107 palmata, 409; s. 106 palustris, s. 105 perspicillata, 406 picta, s. 107 platydactyla, s. 107 punctata, 409; s. 106. 107 rubra, 407; s. 107 rubriventris, s. 107 savi, 406 sinciput alba, s. 107 subfusca, s. 107 subviolacea, 407; s. 106 symmetrica, 409; s. 107 tigrina, 407 ; s. 107 variegata, s. 107 variolata, 407; s. 107 venenosa, 407; s. 106 vulgaris, s. 105 Salamandrina, s. 105 perspicillata, s. 105 tridactyla, s. 105 Salem maculosa, 406 Sarruba, 149 Sauri, s. 24 Sauria, 5. 97 Saurians, 5 Saurocephalus, s. 24 lanciformis, s. 24 leanus, s. 24 Saurodon, s. 24 Saurophis, 162; s. 65 Lacepedii, s. 65 New Holland, s. 65 Scargus Valeno, s. 106 Scinc, shop, s. 67 a fleurs noirs, 158 Scincoidians, 155 Scincus, 155; s. 67 bicolor, 157 bistriatus, 158 brachypus, s. 71 crotophomelas, 158 cyanutus, s. 71 eyprinus, 157 decemlineatus, s. 68 erythrocephalus, 157; s. 70 fossar, s. 69 lateralis, s. 70 lineatus, s. 68 Mabouya, s. 69 multicarinatus, s. 68 multiseriatus, 157 nigrofasciatus, s. 68 nigroluteus, 158; s. 68 ocellatus, 158 Scincus octolineatus, ix. s. 68 officinalis, 156, 237; s. 67 pachyurus, s. 67 rufescens, 157 ; s. 68 sepiformis, s. 63 tiliguyus, s. 69 tiliqua, 239 trivittatus, 157; s. 68 tuberculatus, s. 67 unicolor, s. 70 undecim striatus, s. 68 variegatus, 158; s. 68 vittatus, s. 69 Scelophorus, s. 42; s. 43 zneus, s. 44 grammicus, s. 43 pleurostictus, s. 43 scalaris, s. 44 spinosus, s. 43 Scheltopusik, 242 Pallas’s, s. 65 Scytale, 255. 278; s. 82. s. 92 bizonata, 278; s. 82 brachyorrhis, s. 92 catenata, s. 79 coronata, 253; s. 92 krait, 278; s. 82 niger, s. 81 Semiphora, s. 57 Senembi, 132 Sepedon, 273; s. 83 hemachates, s. 83 Merremii, s. 83 porphyraceus, s. 83 rhombeata, s. 83 Seps, 158; s. 72 equalis, s. 72 fragilis, s. 73 Peronii, 159; s. 72 ruber, 211 scincoides, 159 sexlineata, 161; s. 74 striata, s. 72 tridactylus, 240 varians, 210 zyginis, s. 72 Seps, common, s. 72 four-toed, s. 72 Gronovien, 161 monodactyle, 161 Peron’s, s. 72 striated, s. 72 Serpent, Asculapian, 263 of Congo, 475 spectacled, 274 venomous, s. 78 yellow, 268. 349 Serpents, 5. 241. 307. s. 78. naked, 28] Cuv. Index. REPTILIA. 153 Serpents, queen of, ix. 345 true, 245 Sheathclaw, beautiful, s. 50 Egyptian, s. 50 fimbriated, s. 50 porphyry, s. 50 smooth, s. 50 Shoutur sun, 386 Sibons, 260 Siguana, s. 74 Ottonis, s. 74 Siphonops, s. 110 Siredon, s. 108 axolotl, s. 108 Siren, 413. 478; s. 108 anguina, 412. 476; s. 108. intermedia, 414; s. 108. lacertina, 414. 478; s. 108 pisciformis, 411; s. 108 striata, 414; s. 109 Siren, common, s. 108 four-footed, s. 109 intermediate, 414; s. 108 lacertine, 414 striated, s. 109 striped, 414 Sitana, s. 57 Pondicherry, s. 57 Skink, common, 237 Skinks, 155. 237 Slow-worm, common, 306 Snake, black, 335 black coral, s. 75 black eared coral, s. 75 blind pintado, s. 76 Cape pintado, s. 76 common, 333 common Congo, s. 109 common coral, s. 75 common glass, s. 65 common rattle, s. 78 dottled coral, s. 75 French, 334 Indian coral, s. 75 Javan, 330 lozenge spotted rattle, s. 78 miliar rattle, s. 78 netted pintado, s. 76 rattle, 336; s. 78 ribbon, s. 8&6 scytale coral, s. 75 spectacled, 376 spotted coral, s. 75 three-toed Congo, s. 109 wampum, s. 86 Snakes, 242; 243 sea, s. 98 water, s. 98 Sourancou, 268 xX 154 Spcenops capistrata, ix. s. 71 Spheriodactylus, 150; s. 52 sputator, s. 52 Sphargis, 16; s. 20 Spheriodactyle, banded, s. 52 Squamata, s. 24 Stellio, 118. 140. 143. 213; s. 57 argyropus, s. 51 azureus, 120 brevicaudatus, 120 fimbriatus, 149 Hasselquistii, 141 Mauritanicus, 147 niger, s. 62 perfoliatus, 147 phyllurus, 151 platyurus, 147; s. 51 spinipes, 121.215; s. 61 vulgaris, 214; s. 57 Stellio, common, s. 57 gecko, 144 of the Levant, 120. 214 Stelliones, common, 119 batards, 121 Steneosaurus, 102 Stenodactylus, 151; s. 49. 51 guttatus, 151; s. 49 pipiens, s. 52 Stenostoma, 247; s. 76 albifrons, s. 77 Stercus lacerti, 120 Sternotherina, 79 Sternotherus, 78. 80; s. 14 Boscii, 80 castaneus, s. 14 Leachianus, 79, 80 odoratus, 80; s. 13 trifasciatus, 80; s. 7 Stombus, 395; s. 104 Tachydermum horridum, s. 28 Tachydrome, Chinese, s. 36 Tachydromus, 117; s. 36 quadrilineata, s. 36 sexlineata, s. 36 Tadpole, 415, 416 Talectée, 200 Tapayaxin, 217 Tapayes, 216 Tar tutta, s. 92 Taraguira, 114 Tarente, 143 Tarentola, 143; s. 48 Tarentole, 119 Tayapaxin, 124 Tecoixin, s. 43 Tedo, 463 INDEX. Teguixin, ix.s. 29 monitor, s. 29 Teius, 111; s. 28 ameiva, 114 bicarinata, s. 29 ceruleocephalus, s. 30 calcaratus, s. 31 collaris, s. 31 crocodilus, s. 28 cyaneus, 114 cyanomelas, 114; s. 30 intermedius, s. 31 lateristriga, s. 30 lemniscatus, s. 30 litteratus, s. 29 monitor, s. 29 ocellifer, 114; s. 29 striatus, s. 31 tessellatus, s. 30 triteniatus, 114; s. 30 viridis, s. 31 vulgaris, s. 29 Temapara, 113 Terrapene, 13. 69. 77. 80 bicolor, s. 7 Caroline, 80; s. 7 clausa, 77 Europea, 80 guttata, s. 7 nebulosa, s. 7 triporcata, s. 13 Terrapin, American box, s. 7 banded, s. 11 batagur, s. 9 Bell’s, s. 12 Caspian, s. 9 common, s. 9 concentric, s. 11 dhor, s. & dotted, s. 10 eastern box, s. 7 European box, s. 7 eye bearing, s. 9 furrowed, s. 11 Hamilton’s, s. 9 Lake Erie, s. 12 lettered, s. 11 lineated, s. 9 marbled, s. 10 Muhlenberg’s, s. 10 ornamented, s. 12 painted, s. 10 reticulated, s. 11 ring-bearing, s. 12 rough, s. 10 rugose, s. 12 serrated, s. 1] Thury’s, s. & specious, s. 10 Terrapin, Spengler’s, ix. s. 8 spinous, s. 8 spotted, s. 10 tented, s. 9 thick-necked, s. 8 three banded box, s. 7 white spotted, s. 12 Terrentola, 143 Testudinata, s. 2 Testudo, 8.9; s. 2 actinodes, 68; s. 4 Amboinensis, s. 7 angulata, 10; s. 5 aranoides, s. 6 areolata, 10. 67; s. 5 armata, s. 4 atra, s. 20 Belliana, s. 6 Bellii, s. 5 biguttata, 10 bipunctata, s. 4 Boscii, s. 13 brevicaudata, s. 7 Brongniartii, 9; s. 18 Cafra, 10; s. 5 cagado, 10; s.3 calcarata, s. 4 Testudo, Californica, s. 3 campanulata, s. 4 carbonaria, 10; s. 3 caretta, 16.92; s. 20 carinatus, s. 18 Carolina, 10; s. 3. 5.7 Caspia, s. 9 centrata, s. 11 ceppediana, s. 20 clausa, 13; s. 7 coriacea, 17.93; s. 20 coui, s. 4 denticulata, 10; s. 3. 6. depressa, 10; s. 3. 16 Dussumierii, s. 3 elegans, s. 4 elephantopus, s. 3 erosa, s. 6 Europea, J1 ferox, 19. 96. fimbriata, 17. 95 flava, 71; s. 7 galeata, s. 15 geometrica, 10. 64. s. 5 gigantea, s. 3 glutinosa, s. 13 Graji, s. 4 granosa, 19 Greca, 9; s. 4. 5 Hercules, 10; s. 3 Hermanni, s. 9 155 Testudo, Homeana, ix. s. 6 imbricata, 15. 89; s. 21 Indica, 10.63; s.3. 15 irregulata, s. 7 Japonica, s. 20 juvencella, s. 5 Leveriana, s. 7 longicollis, s. 15 lutaria, 71; s.7.9 . luteola, s. 5 marginata, 10; s. 4 martinella, s. 16 matamata, s. 17 Meleagris, s. 7 miniata, s. 5 multiscutata, s. 20 Mydas, 15. 57. 81; s. 20 nasicornis, s. 20 nigra, 10; s. 3 nigricans, s. 15 odorata, s. 13. orbicularis, 11. 71; s. 7 palustris, s. 11 pardalis, 68; s. 4 Pennsylvanica, 13; s. 13 picta, 12 planiceps, s. 16 platycephala, s. 16 Polyphemus, s. 3 pulchella, s. 7 punctata, s. 7. 10 pusilla, s. 5 radiata, 10, 65; s. 4 Rascht, s. 19 reticulata, s. 11 retusa, s. 3 Retzii, s. 13 rugosa, s. 12 scabra, s. 15 Schweigeri, s. 3 scorpoldes, s. 13 sculpta, 10; s. 3 Senegalensis, s. 15 serpentina, 13; s. 14 serrata, s. 8. 11. 14 signata, 10; s.5 Spengleri, s. 8 stellata, 10; s. 4 subnigra, 13; s. 14. 15 subrufa, s. 13, 15 sulcata, s. 4 tabulata, 10. 65; s. 3 teutoria, 68; s. 5, tricarinata, 13; s. 8. 13 triunguis, 18. 95; s. 18 truncata, s. 3 viridis, 15 zolhafa, s. 9 xe 156 Téte plate, ix. 149 rouge, 115 Tetradactylus, 162; s. 65 Chalcidices, s. 65 Decresiensis, 159 Tetraonyx, s. 19 Cuvieri, s. 19 Teuhtlacot zauhqui, 345° Teguguazu, 113 Thammodactylus punctissimus, s. 94 Thecadactylus, 147; s. 49, 50 fimbriatus, s. 50 levis, s. 50 lobatus, s. 50 poli, 146; s. 51 porphyreus, s. 50 Theleosaurus, 102 Tiliguerta, 116. 211 Tiliqua, 157; s. 67 znea, s. 70 Bellii, s. 70 bicolor, s. 70 bistriata, s. 69. 70 Capensis, s. 68 carinatus, s. 68 crotaphomelas, s. 68 Cyprinas, s. 68 erythrocephala, s. 70 fasciatus, s. 71 homolocephala, s. 69 lateralis, s. 70 microlepis, s. 71 multiscutata, s. 68 nigrolutea, s. 68 nigropunctata, s. 69 occidua, s. 69 ocellata, s. 68 quinque lineata, s. 69 Sloanii, s. 70 teniolata, s. 68 tenuis, s. 70 trivittata, s. 68 Whitii, s. 67 Tiliqua, black and yellow, s. 68 Cape, s. 68 Indian, s. 68 New Holland, s. 67, 68 three streaked, s. 68 Tisiphone, 268; s. 79 cupea, s. 79 Shausii, s. 79 Catesbii, s. 79 Toad, brick coloured, s. 103 brown, 399. 461 common, 399. 460; s. 102 marine, 401 obstetric, 400 pearled, 403 reed, 399 INDEX. Toad, variable, ix. 400 yellow bellied, 402 Toads, 398. 451 Tomacolin, 210 Torquatrix, 250; s. 75 Tortoise, 8 alligator, 80 angular, s. 5 areolated, 67; s. 5 Bell’s, s. 6 bell-shaped, s, 4 box, 13. 77 box, of Amboina, 13 cinereous, 75. common, 9 European fresh-water, 71 fierce, 19. 96 fimbriated, 17 geometrical, 10. 64; s. 5 Gopher, s. 3 Greek, 57; s. 5 Hercules, s. 3 Hicatée, 67 Home’s, s. 6 Indian, 10. 63; s.3 Lake Erie, 75 leopard, s. 4 long necked, 76 marked, s. 5 mud, 76; s.9 painted, 12. 73 radiated, 10. 65; s. 4 radiated box, s. 6 Schweiger, s. 3 serrated alligator, s. 14 snake, 13 soft, 18. 95 soft of the Nile, 18 speckled, 11. 7] starred, s. 4 sulcated, s. 4 tabular, 65; s. 3 terrestrial, 57 worn, s. 6 Tortoises, 4; s. 2 fresh-water, 1]. 71 land, 9 sea, 14 Tortrix, 250; s. 74 corallinus, 327 latta, 251; s. 7d punctata, 251; s. 7a rufa, 251; s. 75 Russellii, 248 ; s. 76 Trachydosaurus, s. 67 rugosa, s. 67 Tragops nasutus, s. 93 Trapelus, 125 ; s. 57 fagyptius, 125; s. 58 REPTILIA. 157 Trapelus mutabilis, ix. s. 58 Tropidolepis scalaris, ix. s. 44 hispidus, s. 57 spinosus, s. 43 Savignil, s. 58 torquatus, s. 43 subhispidus, s. 57 undulatus, s. 43 Trapelus, of Egypt, 125 Tropidolepis, zneous, s. 44 Tridactylus Decresiensis, 159; s. 72 banded, s. 44 Trigonocephalus, 267. 349; s. 79. 80 Bell’s, s. 44 Blomhoffi, s. 80 Boeii, s. 80 cacodzmon, s. 80 halys, s. 80 hypnale, s. 80 lanceolatus, 268. 349 Megera, 349 orophyas, s. 80 rhodostoma, s. 80 Trigonocephalus, lozenged, 269 yellow, 268 Trimeresure petite téte, 277 Trimeresuri, 277 Trimesurus, s. 84 leptocephalus, s. 84 viridis, s. 80 Trionyx, 18. 95; s. 18 fEgyptiacus, 18. 95; s. 18 carinatus, 18 Coromandelicus, s. 19 Cuvieri, s. 19 Euphraticus, 19; s. 19 ferox, s. 18 Gangeticus, s. 18 Georgicus, s. 18 granosus, 19 Indicus, s. 18 Javanicus, 19; s. 19 muticus, s. 18 punctatus, s. 19 spiniferus, s. 18 stellatus, 19 subplanus, s. 19 Trionyx, armless, s. 18 Egyptian, s. 18 Euphratic, s. 19 fierce, s. 18 flat, s. 19 Hurum, s. 18 Indian, s. 18 Javan, s. 19 punctuated, s. 19 Triton, 407 Alleghaniensis, s. 109 Gesneri, 408; s. 105 lateralis, 412; s. 108 Tropidolepis, 125; s. 42 aculeatus, s. 43 zneus, s. 44 fasciatus, s. 44 grammicus, s. 43 pleurostictus, s. 43 collared, s. 43 green, s. 43 northern, s. 43 side streaked, s. 43 spinous, s. 43 thorny, s. 43 Tropidolemus, s. 79 Wagleri, s. 80 Tropidonotus, s. 85 estirus, s. 86 chrysargus, s. 85 cyanocephalus, s. 86 dimidiatus, s. 86 dorsa, s. 86 hypostictus, s. 86 lacrymans, s. 86 lugubris, s. 86 melanozostus, s. 85 mortuarius, s. 86 natrix, s. 85 Nattereri, s. 86 ordinatus, s. 86 peecilostoma, s. 86 parietalis, s. 86 piscator, s. 86 porcatus, s. 86 proximus, s. 86 rhodomelas, s. 86 spilogaster, s. 86 subminiatus, s. 85 tessellatus, s. 86 trigrinus, s. 86 trianguliferus, s. 86 vibikari, s. 86 vittatus, s. 86 Tropidurus, s. 41 Cuvieri, s. 41 cyclurus, s. 42 semitzniatus, s. 41 torquatus, 136; s. 41 tuberculata, s. 41 Tropidurus, collared, s. 41 cycluroid, s. 42 half-banded, s. 41 tubercular, s. 41 Tropidosaurus, 126; s. 35 montanus, s. 35 Tupinambis, 108. 111. 201, 202 albogularis, s. 28 bivittatus, s. 25 caudivertus, s. 26 cepedianus, s. 26 158 Tupinambis exilis, ix. s. 25 griseus, s. 27 lacertinus, s. 29 maculatus, s. 29 marmoratus, s. 25 monitor, 113; s. 29 nigropunctatus, 113; s. 29 ornatus, 202; s. 27 stellatus, s. 27 viridomaculatus, s. 26 Tupinambis a taches vertes, 113 bigarré, 110 * cepedien, 111 élégant, 111 étoilé, 111 variegated, 202 Turtle, coriaceus, 17. 93; s. 20 green, 15. 81; s. 20 imbricated, 15. 89; s. 21 loggerhead, 16. 92; s. 20 Turtles, 14. 81 Typhlops, 247; s. 76 albifrons, 248; s. 77 Braminus, 248; s. 76 cinereus, 248; s. 76 crocotatus, 248; s. 77 fasciatus, s. 77 leucogaster, s. 77 leucorrhous, 248; s. 77 lineatus, s. 77 oxyrhynchus, 249; s. 77 Philippinus, 249; s. 77 reticulatus, s. 76 rostralis, s. 77 septemstriatus, 248; s. 77 undecimstriatus, 248; s. 77 vermicularis, s. 77 Typhlops, ash, s. 76 banded, s. 77 Brahmin, s. 76 lined, s. 77 netted, s. 76 Philippine, s. 77 seven streaked, s. 77 sharp-nosed, s. 77 white-bellied, s. 77 white-fronted, s. 77 worm-like, s. 77 yellow, s. 77 Tyria, 260 Tyrse, 18 Ular sawa, 257 Ureus, s. 83 Uran elegans, s. 26. 27 punctatus, s. 26 Russellii, s. 25 Uranocentron, ix. s. 42 azureus, s. 42 Uromastix, 121; s. 61 acanthinurus, 121; s. 61 dispar, s. 61 griseus, 121; s. 62 Hardwickii, s. 62 maculatus, s. 62 niger, s. 62 ocellatus, s. 61 ornatus, 121; s. 61 Reevesii, s. 62 reticulatus, 121; s. 62 spinipes, s. 61 Uromastix, Bell’s, s. 62 black, s. 62 common, s. 61 of Egypt, 121 ornamented, s. 61 spotted, s. 62 two coloured, s. 61 Uronectes, 165 Uropeltis, 251 ; s. 50. 76 Ceylonicus, 251 Philippinus, 25] Varanus, 109 Viper, black, 273 brown, 268 common, 270. 354 horned, 271 little, 272 of Charas, 271 plumed, 272 red, 365 short-tailed, 270 Swedish, 365 with horned-muzzle, 271 Vipers, 269 Vipera, 269, 270; s. 61 fEgyptica, s. 81 arietans, s. 81 aspis, s. 80 atrox, s. 79 Atropos, s. 81 berus, 272; s. 82 brachyura, 270; s. 81 Brasiliana, s. 79 buccata, s. 95 cerulescens, s. 97 cerastes, s. 81 chioris, s. 80 Clotho, 270 Daboia, s. 81 elegans, s. 81 flava, s. 81. 83 heemachates, s. 83 haje, s. 83 Vipera halys, ix. s. 80 Tllyrica, 271. 368; s. 82 inflata, s. 81 Lachesis, 270 lanceolata, s. 79 lebetina, s. 80 lophophris, 272; s. 81 moderans, s. 97 nasicornis, s. 81 nasua, s. 85 ocellata, 270; s. 81 Pallasii, s. 80 pretextata, s. 80 Pysche, s. 84 Russellii, s. 81 semifasciata, s. 96 severa, s. 81 stolata, s. 86 trigonocephala, s. 80 Tigrina, s. 79 Weigelii, s. 79 Vipére fer de lance, 268 Psyche, 276 Walker’s, double, 246 Wasp, galley, 157 Woodslave, 230 Xenodon, 260; s. 88 zneus, s. 88 inornatus, s. 88 Merremiil, s. 88 ocellatus, s. 88 REPTILIA. Xenodon saurocephalus, ix. s. 88 Xenopeltis, 258; s. 92 concolor, 258; s. 92 leucocephalus, s. 92 unicolor, s. 92 Xenopus, s. 104 Boiei, s. 104 ovalis, s. 104 Xiphes dorsale, s. 97 ornatum, s. 97 Xiphosoma, 255; s. 96 aramboja, 254; s. 96 canina, s. 96 dorsale, 254; s. 97 hortulana, s. 96 Xiphura, s. 39 Yacaré, 199 Zacholus Austriacus, s. 93 Girondicus, s. 93 Zamerinus Aisculapii, s. 87 viridiflavus, s. 87 Zolhafa, 58 Zonurus, 119; s. 63 cataphractus, s. 63 microlepidotus, s. 63 Zonurus, armed, s. 63 common, s. 63 small-scaled, s. 68 Zygnis, 159 striata, 160; s. 72 159 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, &e. &e. > ASiesy : th 3 OHNSON’S COURT, FLEE ‘as HENRY BAYLIS, J THE ANIMAL KINGDOM ARRANGED IN CONFORMITY WITH ITS ORGANIZATION, BY THE BARON CUVIER, MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, &c, &c. &c. WITH ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTIONS oF ALL THE SPECIES HITHERTO NAMED, AND OF MANY NOT BEFORE NOTICED, BY EDWARD GRIFFITH, F.L.S., A.S., CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, &c. AND OTHERS. VOLUME THE NINTH. LONDON : PRINTED FOR WHITTAKER, TREACHER, AND CO. AVE-MARIA-LANE. MDCCCXXXI, THE CAS Ss en Phi rA ARRANGED BY THE BARON CUVIER, SPECIFIC DESCRIPTIONS BY EDWARD GRIFFITH, F.L.S., A.S., &c. AND EDWARD PIDGEON, Esa. LONDON: PRINTED FOR WHITTAKER, TREACHER, AND CO. AVE-MARIA-LANE. MDCCCXXXI. - LONDON: _—--'s'- HENRY BAYLIS, JOHNSON’S COURT, TOO Rene a LIST OF PLATES IN THE NINTH VOLUME. To face Page --Comparative View of Sub-genera of Tortoises.....-...- 2202+ ee eeeeeee 19 Starred Tortoise ssc sae ois sales cio'sietacs ns ies © Sere BES ope a OI Shee ee aley dees 68 Meo par dD Ort Oise aiotesevaetep ara oe lanes wield oie ota) 5) cnep VE, o aheLOGIR EES MS CIOMTS ib. BENS PKAN TY, SS © (a cayarey 21 +561 aashovodstaheVan ere iar ce Oasis Pore Be aie aa ae 70 Walco rie 7 T OTLOISE! << sje -crevave yo veyistarsycrsnsis oiecei evs emer eves Nae Erte 75 RirirEo wedi Mortoise = \<:.Glo1s,0uc(<s3ysi ie isco Soketode: <Pavele Reema ave set Pexcy=toera ecko ar 76 1 1UG | ROTO Caer are tera eee ey Grete CELI GE OE c DES GEMM nao Oa oe ib. Mongenecked sort oise su. soto ce ete co agentes eee eR ekoae ele aise 77 Coriaceous} Puirtley repay ayes sais seca soos tees shod sees eM he ee Se eee ais 94 INeckstandsHootiof@rocodiles: lpr. ace eeri- oc ater atl ecroreie einioe 107 INecksiandHootof Crocodiles, 25 21-).5 sie ce ciate cies clei lets Seeteteniaine One ib. IMEI Gy OF tne © live AuEIP So's chananoddonedéasdb ep so oop obo dN 6 164 ouble-crestedi@rocodilen sa sere ces vererctst oe sercreleetoerve. ae Ne) eae RA Nap svatene 194 BikesMizzled!(Cayaniambetacis se 15.0), st\25)>1ssisistsdarsvevs) ote elousisielerspavoreie eteicleeree 197 Wearie de IMLOrat Or -srataisiSetanerapar suet aie ietel aueu's 16:4 eoatells ont arate Varertaciere,< Gre teusrshaiauet ee 203 Greate rato of Liackpedelss. csc si. seu olan sce te feta acne ood esd eralees 5 hoy PherAreivasandsthe) Spurred Wrzard oes eri-fol-i-\eisieiai etre aay eeicieaieine 205 Green Lizard, Fierce Algyra, and Eyed Tachydromus..............:..-- 212 Wromastrix (Of Heyipt cit: sva che ptt ke soi obevsict vera stair eke yh te ieatueds sereiessieyaiet 215 SIDTIONE AVERT cad oonnogonubood co ONGmODda OO od Una CCOMCoOOGOUCGN OO 216 Orbrerlar Wizards ee So rsscko alg hee area eee 217 Joa Gal J DICE i Le eae OCA ian Geciciretod ain's. cloGUeer oo cabo ouaomAGHee ib CloudedWiizard) 5s tae ae ete ee ra esi ohegshinrs atatovetera che otonetele ib Lah hng AA MG pono daouendaegcdud00 0000000 DDODUAN AS OODS ib. MMiTtred PE aarlishkss 35 ,.<)otsio: cc vepeieesoperole te lo etevere orMele al cnere/=ieie skal evs, ny aencreday er eta ce 226 Green yPOlycrusi a1 mim sotekell = sacle sro siey eke niictet iby uate) ret ayefear cre eace Ce races 227 Bidiy ards svAlmi Olis\s..-eccet yo pevsy sai occ is)'sso\ekstarvarn-etehetay ete) «) otals < esnlotd, evs cl-ebccws vases 228 LUG OE TT EG ene EOD D.ePee MIDIS Oo. CCU CIO PRO Gt Tio Ce Oy Be 237 Morked-noseds @AMeleony toys ict sts ae ale, ofvicaimreloterercisiceyetere) elelereslae ects ue ree. a,c ib STi Gita Op IVRcIGaartee austen state caneiate take acinbay ct tts aleteted Paes aieies sl syaiia e's hasiaheas s/o Sicus 239 Green Cophias ......... SUG OOO BLOOD COCOnEae bio DOC oad CO OUODD OUR OamC es & 269 PMOTE= AUC VAPEX ctatetsre sVetatters,o¥e lclaialerotaiiiel A earnssterai ote \sceis (AVA aisyers <u acevey stele) e 270 Ohilekeerasporawam tates slerae se eccetme create alate artes ett alntoheahte outs: 271 MAR CIALE Ce AICO CHON AUIS trays el si7A101 xin eraroval oh Hiei left cheer shia fohereVsicietste.oraieleeid wtaretals) = 281 PACH Oks NEAL, EnV HOT ay OCC) sya! etal asa vayaten ay eV aiclovate/s\ =n hui BeN oys\e)alie iostceitr ovatavovoyorn ole 284 LIST OF PLATES IN THE NINTH VOLUME. To face Page Headiof Genus @oeciliay 8.7.00 - «20 ele ete iae rep a 284 Duarvilless*Pseudopus soccer ce @ eiec se eee e eee eeeeeoioe 807 PunctatedeAwphisbocnaecierieeoe cece eerie el eiceriieeereeeaeaele 326 Viertebre of'b0a=Constrictor eces 75 4 -leiel ei ete - eee eee eine 326 The Jiboyay sence tei aeeeie csc oud aholelsuets ts che treisios ese ea ea ee An CREE 330 Peron’s tPay thom 3 66 aya) sessscouls tela a 88 ane mate aeeaue ais eyes Giiskele ee Oe IE 3ol The Common Snake; 86.0.2 vn v's genes ov dee dase Lae ee ee 334 WrantrapPam SMa kes \eiess ieisicis ololsvae sleds arr eleva nteeeestotetcl cian eer eens 336 ‘Brazilian ‘Waried. Snake... v1. < h6 << Pee ie eels eile See eae ee ib Striped-headed Coluber ..... 1.2.26... 220s. e scene ee etre eee cece ib. Ornamented: Snakes ssc) 4 = yeyer ale atel cys iy erevorelre eyelet or ete\ nvel(olois) ekenet rR erenen ib. Banded sBunsarumy asc aise co eve oo sieielem arehetetasetonetencioks Pe an ole Oc 385 SpiraltHy russ 35 selsrer rataratete wr ststonevoteterehedetoysreveirenaa ooiciey heel =) cteteeeoneh arene 386 White Faced Horned Frog, and Agua Toad .............0-..0 see ee eee 395 Greens Bx oi Hyer re geretera ele ehetosee Reteles totekeyenetacereia:s eleielshehateretore olstar sie etn rnentere 442 Were) ae Coun 1h S 55 ooogdudondonosd0de5 6 c050000sb00Gq00C00000C 400 Paparisrercectet-feleystote-leletoiiiiete (-kekohs Tore rotehehe fafolatereKokel ole’ olatensfanedeiekalsthetatstattetetetetals 464 Gigantic Salamander .......--+2.+~ sogs00000 Baddudco00C Go00000000008 475 Harlan?silWfenopranchus syle e)-re\efeletet ole e)-1e)-) clelie ih fareke eilereletelteielictetetetel-roreneteaets ib. PAK Olt beter tonctaverenetete ieisielerreleleterelierimiens Re na ree S Ain bo 5 Gg BOi00.0 Ol.7 6.0106 ib. ERRATA IN THE PLATES. Green Lizard, &c. For Lachydromus, read Tachydromus, bis. To the Chuckeerabora, add ““ La Vipere elegante, Daud. Russ. vij.”’ ERRATA. Page Line 68 9 and 20 for teutoria yead tentoria 96 3 .. Tierce .. Fierce, and for ferx read ferox 204 25 .. bicarivata -. bicarinata 223 32 -. Molychrus .. Polychrus 258 19 .. arms -. anus 267 17 .. Bathrops Se Bothrops THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. Crass REPTILIA. Rertites have the heart disposed in such a manner, as that, on each contraction, it sends into the lungs only a portion of the blood which it has received from the various parts of the body, and the rest of that fluid returns to the several parts, with- out having passed through the lungs, and undergone the action of respiration. From this it results, that the oxygen acts less on the blood than in the mammifera. If the quantity of respiration in the latter animals in which the whole of the blood passes through the lungs, before returning to the parts, be expressed by unity, the quantity of respiration in the reptiles must be expressed by a fraction of unity so much the smaller, as the portion of the blood sent to the lungs on each contraction of the heart, is less. As respiration communicates to the blood its heat, and to the fibres their nervous irritability, so we find VOL. IX. B 2 CLASS REPTILIA. that reptiles have cold blood, and that their muscular power is less, upon the whole, than that of quadru- peds, and @ fortiori than that of birds. Accordingly, they do not often perform any movements, but those of creeping, and of swimming; and though many of them leap, and run fast enough, on some occasions, their general habits are lazy, their diges- tion excessively slow, their sensations obtuse, and in cold and temperate climates, they pass almost the entire winter in a state of lethargy. ‘Their brain, proportionally smaller, is not so necessary to the exercise of their animal and vital faculties, as it is in the first two classes of the animal kingdom. ‘Their sensations appear less referable to a common centre. They continue to live and exhibit voluntary motion, after having lost the brain, and even after decapita- tion, and that for a very considerable time. ‘The connexion with the nervous system is also much less necessary to the contraction of their fibres, and their flesh, after having been separated from the rest of the body, preserves its irritability much longer than in the preceding classes. Their heart will beat for several hours after it has been plucked out, and its loss does not hinder the body from moving for a long time. In many of them, it has been observed, that the cerebellum is remarkably small, which perfectly accords with their little propensity to motion. The smallness of the pulmonary vessels permits reptiles to suspend their respiration without arrest- CLASS REPTILIA. 3 ing the course of the blood; accordingly, they dive more easily, and for a longer time, than mammifera or birds: the cellules of their lungs being less numerous, because they have fewer vessels to lodge on their parietes, are much wider, and those organs have sometimes the form of simple sacs, which are scarcely cellular. Reptiles are provided with a trachea and larynx, though the faculty of an audible voice is not accorded to them all. Not possessing warm blood, they have no occasion for teguments capable of retaining the heat, and they are covered with scales, or simply with a naked skin, The females have a double ovary, and two ovi- ducts. The males of many genera have a forked or double organ of generation. In the last order—that of the batracians—they have none. No reptile sits upon its eggs. In many genera of batracians, the eggs are not fecundated until after they have been laid; and hence they have only a mem- branous envelope. The young of this last-men- tioned order, on issuing from the egg, have the form and the gills of fishes; and some genera preserve these organs, even after the development of their lungs. In many of the reptiles which lay eggs, especially in the colubri, the young one is already formed, and considerably advanced in the egg at the moment when the mother lays it ; and it is the same B 2 A CLASS REPTILIA. with the species, which may, at pleasure, be rendered viviparous by retarding their laying.* The quantity of respiration in reptiles is not fixed, like that of mammifera and birds, but varies with the proportion which the diameter of the pulmonary artery bears to that of the aorta. ‘Thus tortoises, and lizards, respire considerably more than frogs, &c. From this proceed differences of energy and sensi- bility, much greater than can exist between one mammiferous animal and another, or one bird and another. Accordingly, the reptiles exhibit forms, move- ments, and properties, much more various than the two preceding classes; and it is more especially in their production that nature seems to have sported in the formation of fantastic shapes, and to have modified, in all possible ways, the general plan which she has followed for vertebrated animals, and espe- cially for the viviparous classes. The comparison of their quantity of respiration, and their organs of motion, has, however, given a foundation for M. Brogniart, to divide them into four orders, viz. : — I. The CuetontaAns, or Torrotsss (CHELONIA), in which the heart has two auricles, and the body supported on four legs, is enveloped by two * For example, colubri when deprived of water, according to the experi- ment of M. Geoffroy. CLASS REPTILIA. iS plates, or shields, formed by the ribs and the ster- num ;— . I]. The Saurtans, or Lizarps (Saurta), in which the heart has two auricles, and the body supported on four, or on two feet, is covered with scales ;— III. The Oruipians, or SERPENTS (OpuipiA), in which the heart has two auricles, and the body is always destitute of limbs ;-—and IV. The Barractans (Barracuia), in which the heart has but one auricle, the body is naked, and the majority of them pass, with age, from the form of a fish respiring by gills, to that of a quadruped respiring by lungs. Some, however, never lose their gills, and some have never more than two feet.* * Other writers, as Merrem, make a different arrangement of the Sauria and Ophidia. They make a separate order of the crocodiles, and unite, to the rest of the Sauria, the first family of the Ophidians (Anguis), a distribution founded on some peculiarities of organization in the croco- diles, and on a certain resemblance between the angues and the lizards. We have thought it sufficient merely to hint at these relations, which are all internal, while we preserve a division more easy of application. 6 CLASS REPTILIA. THE FIRST ORDER OF REPTILES. Tue CHELONIA, Better known under the name of tortoises, have the heart composed of two auricles and one ventricle, with two unequal chambers which communicate with each other. The blood of the body enters into the right auricle, that of the lungs into the left: but both are mingled more or less in passing through the ventricle. These animals are distinguishable at the first glance, by the double buckler in which the body is enclosed, and which leaves only the head, neck, tail, and four feet to pass out. The upper buckler, which is named carapace, or back plate, is formed by the ribs, eight pairs in num- ber, widened and united by dentelated sutures between them, and having plates adhering to the muscular portions of the dorsal vertebree, so that all these parts are without motion. The lower buckler, termed plastron, or breast-plate, is formed of pieces which represent the sternum, and which are usually nine in number. A frame-work, composed of osseous pieces, in which there has been supposed to be some analogy to the sternal or cartilaginous portion of the ribs, surrounds the carapace with a cincture, and unites all the ribs which compose it. In one sub- ORDER CHELONIA. Y genus, this frame-work always remains cartilaginous. The vertebre of the neck and tail alone are move- able. | These two osseous envelopes being covered imme- diately by the skin or scales, the omoplate, and all the muscles of the arm, and of the neck, instead of being attached to the ribs and the. spine, as in other animals, are attached underneath. It is the same with the bones of the pelvis, and all the muscles of the thigh, which might lead us to term the tortoise, in this point of view, an verted animal. The vertebral extremity of the omoplate is arti- culated with the carapace; and the opposite extre- mity, which may be considered as analogous to the clavicle, is articulated to the plastron, so that the two shoulders form a ring, into which the cesophagus and the trachea pass. A third osseous branch, greater than the other two, is directed downwards, and hindwards, and represents, as in the birds, the coracord process ; but its posterior extremity remains free. The lungs are very much expanded, and in the same cavity as the other viscera.* The thorax being immoveable in the greater number of species, it is by the play of the mouth that the tortoise respires, holding the jaws well closed, and lowering * Remark, that in all the reptiles, in which the lungs penetrate into the abdomen (and the crocodile is the only one in which this does not take place), they are enveloped, as well as the intestines, in a fold of the peritoneum, which separates them from the abdominal cavity. 8 CLASS REPTILIA. and raising alternately the hyoid bone. The first movement lets the air enter by the nostrils; and the tongue then closing their interior aperture, the second motion forces this air to penetrate into the lungs. The tortoises have no teeth: their jaws are clothed with horn, like those of birds, except in the chelydes, where they are only furnished with skin. Their tympanic cavity, and palatine arches, are fixed to the cranium, and immoveable. ‘Their tongue is short and bristly, with fleshy threads. Their sto- mach is simple, and strong. Their intestines of moderate length, and without coecum, and they have a very large bladder. The male has a simple and considerable penis. The female produces eggs covered with a hard shell. The male may often be recognised by its external appearance, because the plastron is concave. The tortoises possess amazing tenacity of life. Some have been known to move without a head for many weeks. Very little nourishment is necessary for them; and they can pass entire months, and even years, without eating. The Chelonians, all united by Linnzus in the genus i Tortoise. Trestupo. L. Have been divided into five subgenera, principally, according to the forms and teguments of their cara- paces, and their feet. 4 ORDER CHELONIA. 9 - Lanp Tortoises. TrEstupo. Brongn.* Have the carapace convex, sustained by an osseous frame-work, altogether solid, and synostosized by the greatest part of its lateral edges to the plastron. The limbs seem as if truncated, and the toes are very short, and very closely united as far as the claws. ‘The limbs, as well as the head, can be with- drawn entirely within the shields. ‘The fore feet have five claws, the hinder four—all thick and coni- cal. Many species subsist on vegetable substances. The Common Tortoise. Testudo Greca, L. Schoepf. pl. viii. ix. Is the most common species in Europe. It inhabits Greece, Italy, and Sardinia, and, as it would seem, the entire circuit of the Mediterranean. It is dis- tinguished by its broad carapace, uniformly convex ; by its elevated scales, granulated in the centre, striated at the edge, and with large marbled spots of black and yellow; also by the hinder edge, which has, in the middle, a prominence, a little recurved over the tail. It rarely attains a foot in length; subsists on leaves, fruits, insects, and worms; exca- vates a hole to pass the winter in ; couples in spring, and lays four or five eggs, resembling those of pigeons. Among the foreign species, there are many be- * Merrem has changed this name into CuERSINE, 10 CLASS REPTILIA. longing to the East Indies, of an enormous size, and three feet or more in length. One of dren has been, too, exclusively named,— The Indian Tortoise. Test. Indica, Vosm. Scheoepf. Tort. pl. xxii. Its carapace is compressed in front, and the ante- rior edge is raised above the head. Its colour is a deep brown. There are also several species remarkable for the handsome distribution of their colours, as— The Geometrical Tortoise. Test. Geometrica, L. Lacep. I. ix. Scheepf. x. A small tortoise, whose black carapace has each of its scales regularly adorned with yellow lines, in rays parting from a disk of the same colour. And— The Radiated Tortoise. T. Radiata, Shaw. Gem. Zool. III. pl. 1, and Daudin IL. xxvi. A New Holland species, almost as well and regularly lineated as the geometrical, but which attains a much larger size.* * Add: TZ. stellata, Schepf. xxv.;—T. angulata, Schweig;--T7. areo- lata, Schw., xxiii ;—T". denticulata, Sch. xxviii. 1.:—T. cafra, Schw. ;— 7’. signata, Schw.;—T. marginata, Schw. xii., 1, 2;—Z. carbonaria, Spix, xvi.; Z. Hercules, id. xiv.;—T. cagado, id. xvii. ;—T. tabulata, Sch. xiii. ; —T. sculpta, Spix, xv. ;—T’. Nigra, Quoy et Gaim. Voy. de Freyc., Zool., XXXVli;—Z"'. depressa, Cuy.;—T. bigutiata, id.;—T'. Carolina, Leconte, &c. ORDER CHELONIA. PE Some species, as the Pyzis, Bell. have the anterior part of the buckler moveable, like the box-tortoises ; and others, Kinixys, Id., can move the posterior part of the carapace.* Tue Freso-Water Tortoises. Emys. Brongn.t Have no other constant characters to distinguish them from the preceding than more separated toes, terminated by longer claws, and the intervals occupied by membranes, though in this respect there are gradations. Like the last subdivision, they have five claws before, and four behind. The form of their feet suits their aquatic habits. ‘The majority live on insects, small fish, &c. ‘Their enve- lope is generally more flattened than that of the land tortoises. The Speckled Tortoise. Testudo Huropea. Schn. Orbicularis, Linn. Schoepf. pl. if Is the most extended species. It has been observed in all the south and east of Europe as far as Prussia. * See Mr. Bell’s papers in The Linnean Trans., Vol. XV., Second Part, p. 392. In two of these Kinixys, which we have seen alive, the edges of the juncture of the carapace were unequally worn; and as it were carious, so much so, that one might easily believe that there was something morbid in this conformation. + From <5. (Tortoise.) } It is the same as la verte et jaune, Lacep. pl. 6 ; and his Ronde, pl. 5. On this species, the excellent monograph of M. Bojanus, Vilna, 1819, in folio, ought to be consulted. 12 CLASS REPTILIA. Its carapace is oval, not very convex, pretty smooth, blackish, and altogether sown with yellowish points disposed in rays. It is about two inches long. Its flesh is an article of food, and for that purpose it is reared on bread and young herbs ; it also eats insects, slugs, small fish, &c. Marsigli says, that its eggs take a year before the young are excluded. The Painted Tortoise. Test. Picta. Schoepf., pl. 4. Is one of the handsomest species. It is smooth, brown, and each of its scales is surrounded with a yellow band, very broad at the anterior edge. It is found in North America, along streams, on rocks, and trunks of trees, from which it lets itself drop into the water as soon as it is approached.* We must remark, among the fresh water tortoises, * Add: Em. lutaria, Lacep., pl. 4;—Em. Adansonii, Schweig; Em. Senegalensis, Dumer; — Em. subrufa, Lacep., xii.; — Em. contracta, Schweig ;—Hm. punctata, Schep., 5;—Em. reticulata, Leconte ;—Em. rubriventris, id.;—Em. serrata, Daud. il, xxi.;— Em. concinna, Lec. or geometrica, Lesueur;—Em. pseudogeographica, Lesueur; Em. scripta, Scheepf,. iii., 4; Em. scabra, id., iii. ;—Em. cinerea, id., li., 5.—Em. cen- trata, Daud., or terrapen, Lin. Schepf., xv.;—Em concentrica, Lec. ;— Em. Odorata, id.;—Em. fusca, Lesueur ;—Em. leprosa, Schw. ;—Em. nasuta, id.;—Em. dorsata, Schep.;—Hm. pulchella, Schep., xxvi., or insculpta, Lec. ;—Em. lutescens, Schw. ;—Em. expansa, id. ;—Em. macqua- ria, Cuv. M. Fitzinger separates under the name of Curtopina, and Mr. Bell under that of Hypraspis, the species with more elongated neck, such as, Em. longicollis, Shaw ; Em. planiceps, Scheep, or canaliculata, Spix, viii. ;— Em platicephala, Merrem ;—Em. depressa, Spix, ili., 2;—Eim. carunculata, Aug. St. Hil. ;—Enm. tritentacula, id. ORDER CHELONIA. 13 The Box Torrotse.* In which the plastron, or breast-plate, is divided into two lids, by a moveable articulation, and which can entirely close their carapace, when the head and limbs are withdrawn into it. Some have the anterior lid alone moveable.t In others, the two lids move equally.t There are, on the contrary, tortoises of the fresh water, whose long tail and voluminous limbs cannot enter completely within their bucklers. In this respect they approach the subsequent sub-genera, and especially the chelydes, and consequently merit a distinct notice.§ Such is, The Snake Tortoise, T. Serpentina, L. Scheepf. pl. vi. Which may be recognised by its tail, which is almost as long as its carapace, and bristling with sharp and denticulated crests, and by its scales, which are raised * Jt is of this subdivision that Merrem has made his genus Tenrarene ; Spix his genus Kinosternon; and Fleming his genus Cistupa. The European species, and others, have also something of this mobility, which renders it difficult to define the genus. + Test. subnigra. I. vii. 2;—T. Clausa, Schoepf, vii. $ The box-tortoise of Amboyna. Dand. II. 309; Test. tricarinata, Scheepf. II.; Test. Pensilvanica. I. d, xxiv. § M. Fitzinger has made of this subdivision his genus CufLypra, and Fleming his genus CuHeLonora. 14 CLASS REPTILIA. in a pyramidical form. It inhabits the warm parts of North America, destroys many fish and water- fowl, removes occasionally pretty far from rivers, and weighs sometimes above twenty pounds. The Sera-Tortotses, or TuRTLEsS. CHELONIA. * Brongn. Have their envelopes too small to receive their head, and especially their feet, which are extremely elon- gated (particularly the fore-feet), flatted into fins, and all the toes are closely united and enveloped in the same membrane. ‘The first two toes of each foot alone have pointed claws, which fall not unfrequently at a certain age. ‘The pieces of their plastron do not form a continuous plate, but are variously denticu- lated, and leave great intervals, which are occupied only by cartilage. The ribs are narrow, and separated one from the other at their external part. Never- theless, the round of the carapace is entirely occupied by a circle of pieces correspondant to the sternal ribs. ‘The temporal foss is covered above by a vault, formed by the parietals, and other bones; so that the whole head is provided with a continuous osseous casque. The cesophagus is armed throughout, inside, with cartilaginous and sharp points, directed towards the stomach. * Chelonia from y«0n. Merrem has preferred the barbarous name of CARETTA. ORDER CHELONIA. 15 The Green Turtle, Testudo Mydas, Lin. T. Viridis. 7 Schn. lLacep, i. 1. Is distinguished by its greenish scales, thirteen in number, which do not cover each other like tiles ; and those of the middle range are pretty nearly in regular hexagons. It is about six or seven feet long, and weighs as much as seven or eight hundred pounds. Its flesh furnishes an agreeable and salutary aliment to sailors in all the latitudes of the torrid zone. It feeds in large flocks on the alga at the bottom of the sea, and approaches the mouths of rivers to respire. Its eggs, which it deposits on the sand in the sun, are very numerous, and are excellent eating. Its scales are not employed. An approximating species ( Chel. JZaculosa Nobis) has the middle plates twice as long as they are broad, and of a fawn-colour, marked with large black spots ; and another (Chel. Lachrymata Nobis), with plates like the preceding, has the last one elevated into a boss, and broad irregular black stripes on the fawn- colours. ‘Lheir scales are employed with utility. Imbricated Turtle. Testudo Imbricata. L. Wace. I. ii. Schoepf. xvii. A. Smaller than the green turtle, with a more elongated muzzle, and denticulated jaws. It has thirteen fawn- coloured and brown scales, which cover each other 16 CLASS REPTILIA. like tiles. The flesh of this species is disagreeable and unwholesome; but the eggs are very delicate, and it furnishes the finest tortoise-shell which is employed in the art. It is found in the seas of warm climates. There are also two species approximating to this, Chel. Virgata nobis—Bruce, Abyss. pl. 42—which has the plates less elevated; those of the middle equal, but with sharper lateral angles, and black and radiated streaks on:its scales :—and Chel. radiata, Schepf. xvi. B., which does not differ from the pre- ceding but in having the last of its middle plates broader. It is probably only a variety. Loggerhead Turtle. Test. Caretta. Gen. Scheepf. ply xvi. Is more or less brown or red, and has fifteen scales, the middle ones of which are raised in ridges, espe- cially towards their extremity. The pomt of the upper bill is crooked, and the fore-feet are longer and more narrow than in the preceding species, and preserve, too, more marked claws. It inhabits many seas, and even the Mediterranean, and lives on shell fish. Its flesh is bad, and the scales in no estimation ; but it furnishes a good oil for burning. Merrem has recently distinguished, under the name of Spuareis, the Chelonians whose shell is not scaly, but covered with a sort of leather only.* ~* Fleming names them Coxtupo; M. Lesueur, DrrmocHeris. ORDER CHELONIA. LF Such is one great species of the Mediterranean— The Coriaceous Turtle. Testudo Coriacea. L. Lacep. I. iii. Schoepf. xxvii. Its oval carapace, and pointed behind, presents three longitudinal ridges projecting through the hide.* Ture Cuetypres. CyHrztys. Dumeril.t Resemble the emydes in the feet and claws. The envelope is much too small to receive the head and feet, which have considerable volume. ‘The nose is prolonged into a small trunk ; but the most marked of their characters is the mouth, which is cleft cross- wise, not being armed with a horny beak, like the other Chelonians, but resembling that of certain batracians, particularly the prepa. Fimbriated Tortovse. Testudo Fimbriata. Gm. Bruguieres Journ. d’Hist. Nat. I. xiii. Schoepf. AG : The carapace bristling, with pyramidal eminences ; the body edged all round with an unequally indented fringe: it is found in Guiana. * Add, Dermochelis adantica, Lesueur. + Merrem has preferred for this genus the barbarous name of Mara- MATA. VOL, LX; Cc 18 CLASS REPTILIA. Tue Sort Tortotssts. Trionyx. Geoff. Have no scales, but only a soft skin to envelope their carapace and plastron, neither of which is completely supported by the bones, the ribs not reaching the edges of the carapace, and not being united together but in a portion of their length, the part analagous to the sternal ribs being formed of a simple cartilage, and the sternal pieces partly indented, as in the sea- tortoises, not filling all the lower face. It is easy to perceive, after death, through the dried skin, that the surface of the ribs is very rugged and uneven. The feet, as in the fresh-water tortoises, are palmate, without being elongated ; but three of their toes only are provided with claws. ‘The horn of their beak is clothed externally with fleshy lips, and their nose is prolonged into a small trunk. The tail is short, and the anus pierced under its extremity. They live in the fresh water, and the flexible edges of their envelope assist them in swimming. The Tyrsé, or Soft Tortoise of the Nile. Testudo Triunguis. Forsk. and Gm. Tirionyx Augyptia- cus. Geoff. Ann. du Mus. xiv. 1. Sometimes three feet long; green, spotted with black, and the carapace not very convex. It de- vours the little crocodiles at the moment when they /} qi to \ nA if \ \( f] aa A 7 JE MISS. conenna. 3.0 STOWIDO. derefsa. 2.ClHRIGONIA. wirgalw. 4: IR WOIN IDE. gangelzcus. 5 CHELIS. fintria. Londow, Published by Whiltaher lo C2 Ave Morrie Lane.1830. i ee Comparabir Wt” ple five yy, Vi yh Oi ORDER CHELONIA. 19 escape from the egg, and renders more service in this way to Egypt than the ichneumon.* The Fierce Tortoise. Testudo Ferox. Gm. Penn. Trans. Phil. LXI. x. 1—3. Cop. Lacep. I. vu. Schoepf. xix. Inhabits the rivers of Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Guiana; remains in ambuscade under the reeds, &Xc., and seizes birds, reptiles, &c.; devours the young alligators, but becomes the prey of the old ones. Its flesh is good eating.t * Sonnini, Voyage en Egypt, t. il. p. 332. + Add, Trionyx Javanicus, Geoff. Ann. du Mus. xiv. ;—T'r. Carinatus, id. ;—Tr. Stellatus, id.; Tr. Euphraticus, Olivier, Voy. en Turg. &c. pl. 42;—T'r. Gangeticus, Duvaucel ;—Tr. Granosus, Leach; or Test. Granosa, Schepf. xxx. A. and B. N. B. The tortoise of Bartram appears to be the testudo ferox, to which the artist by mistake has given two claws too many on each foot. SUPPLEMENT ON REPTILES IN GENERAL. In the history of nature, exhaustless as its subject, and varied as the prodigious multitude of productions which it examines, there are parts capable of occupying, for a series of years, with ever-growing interest, the true lover of science, though presenting to the vulgar mind no images but those of terror and disgust. They relate to animals, from which the majority of mankind start with involuntary abhorrence, and which in almost all nations, and all ages, have been dreaded for their malignancy, or despised for their stupidity. In the popular superstitions of different lands, the reptile races have almost invariably been clothed in revelting attributes, and even the worship which has sometimes been paid te them, was a religion, not of gratitude, but of fear. The God of Day was arraed by the Grecian mythology with his unerring shafts to pierce the enormous Python; the terrific Acheloiis was strangled, by the son of Jove, in spite of his contorted foldings. ‘The Garden of the Hesperides, and the Golden Fleece, were protected by furious dragons. 'The serpents of the dripping head of Medusa were sown by Perseus on the arid Lybian sands. ‘The Gorgons, the Furies, Discord and Envy, are armed with snakes by the poets, as an appropriate emblem of their ministry of vengeance and torture. But of what consequence, in the estimation of the sage, are ‘the vain opinions and absurd prejudices of mankind? To him are equally indifferent the dream of the poet and the prepossession of the clown. Like a new Cadmus, he becomes the vanquisher of monsters, assisted by the segis of science and the wand of discovery. He finds that the power of ORDER CHELONIA. | nature is manifested with as much glory in these vile objects of universal animadversion as in the more favourite races, which excite our admiration, or awaken our cupidity. Her energies are equally exerted, and her manifold resources equally developed in their production. The philosopher calmly proceeds to their examination and study—to their enumeration and classification. He sees nothing in the class of reptiles but animals singular in their forms, curious in the diversity of colours by which they are embellished, marvel- lous in the metamorphoses of some species, and in the extra- ordinary habits of almost all. Scarcely one-sixth of all the individuals of this entire class is venomous. Many among its species furnish wholesome and abundant aliment, resto- rative medicines, aud productions useful in the arts. Some, even the fiercest, such as crocodiles, have been tamed, and will suffer infants to sport upon their backs. So true it is that the superiority and domination of man extend over beings of every class. He can derive from the most ignoble, or the most odious, useful supplies for the necessities of his existence, or new ideas for the extension of his intelligence. Such are among the especial privileges granted to man by the Author of his being, which elevate him so considerably above all other animals, and mark the dignified character of his destiny upon earth. Few beings, indeed, are more worthy of the attention of the thinking observer than the proscribed and persecuted animals to whose history the course of our labours now con- ducts us. If the graphic and eloquent descriptions, sug- gested to the historians of nature by the two preceding classes of the animal kingdom, have power to instruct and delight us, with no less pleasure and profit may we accom- pany them in their researches on the present, and penetrate into the sombre retreats of the reptile races in the bosom of the earth, behind the broken masses of the rock, or under the 22 CLASS REPTILIA. scattered débris of gigantic vegetables. We may pursue their evolutions over the tranquil surface of lakes, of streams, and rivers; mark the tortuous folds by which they attach themselves to the branches; and unveil the mechanism by which they creep, climb, walk, run, leap, and even fly. Reptiles consist of oviparous quadrupeds and serpents. To the first, the name of reptile is as suitable as to the last : for though they have feet, they make little use of them, except in creeping, and their belly almost always touches the ground. Tortoises, lizards, frogs, toads, and salamanders, afford suffi- cient proof of this. Though the three last-mentioned genera live in the water, and swim there with facility, they also live on land very well. For this reason some naturalists have considered them as true amphibia. But, in fact, for an ani- mal to be amphibious, in the strictest acceptation of the term, it is necessary that it should possess the power of respiring under the water like fishes, and on the earth like man—none, therefore, of these animals are true amphibia, except, perhaps, the siren and the proteus, which possess both lungs in the chest, and external gills. Frogs, toads, and salamanders, when in the tadpole state, are provided only with gills, which respire the water, and, accordingly, in this tadpole state, they cannot live out of the liquid element. When they become perfect animals the gills disappear, and they breathe by lungs, consequently, they are then obliged to respire the air, and would perish by suffocation under water, were they forced to remain submerged for too long a period of time. : It is the more necessary to insist on all this, as the term amphibious, in popular language, like most other terms of Natural History, is grievously abused—we have heard it applied to the hippopotamus, the seal, and even to the beaver. There are fewer links of connexion in reptiles than in birds ORDER CHELONIA. 93 to viviparous quadrupeds, which may be considered as the élite of the animal kingdom, notwithstanding that the majo- rity of reptiles have four feet. It is rather with birds and fishes that they seem to exhibit an alliance of manners and habits. There is an inter-resemblance in these classes in many points of internal organization, and even in the exter- nal forms of some species ; but it is more especially striking in the reptiles and the fish. Vertebrated animals, with cold blood, may, in fact, be considered as almost forming another world. They preserve some analogy, it is true, with the superior classes, in the bony skeleton, in the general arrangement of the brain, of the senses, and of the principal viscera; but the heart, both in reptiles and fishes, has but one ventricle, or cavity. The vesicular lungs of the reptiles, instead of receiving, as in mammifera and birds, the entire blood to be impregnated with the vital air, receives but a small streamlet of the venous blood, which is even oxygenated but feebly, for these ani- mals breathe but very slowly through this pulmonary viscus, the tissue of which is so very lax. From this it results, that the blood, scarcely warmed and vivified by combination with the vital air, excites but languidly the entire organization ; accordingly, we find the reptiles nearly cold to the touch like inanimate bodies: for this reason, they are observed to seek and court atmospheric heat, or the warm sunshine; and the cold of winter reduces them to a state of torpidity. They seem, for the most part, to vegetate rather than live, to be insensible of a wound, and even scarcely to discover any con- siderable degree of anguish when cut in pieces. Their organi- zation very speedily renews many parts, such as the tail or toes, when they have been removed. As these animals have but very little cerebellum in proportion to their size, and a brain composed of but six small tubercles, their existence is not so absolutely concentrated in their head as ours. It Q4 CLASS REPTILIA. seems rather to be attached to their spinal marrow, and to be more generally disseminated throughout their body. <A tor- toise has been known to live for eighteen days after the brain was removed, still waiking about, but groping its way, for its eyes were closed, and the power of vision lost in. conse- quence of the cutting of the optic nerves. A salamander has lived several months although decapitated by means of a ligature fastened tightly round the neck. The heart of a viper, when plucked out, will beat and contract on being pricked for the space of forty hours. From all this it appears that these animals have not such a centralized life as that of a quadruped or a bird, which would instantly perish from similar amputations. This pertinacious irritability in frogs and serpents renders them very proper subjects of gal- vanic and electrical experiments. Electricity is found to exercise a most powerful influence on them. Reptiles are exceedingly sensible to storms, and to an electric state of the atmosphere, of which they appear to forsee all the changes, as appears by the croaking of frogs, &c. This want of concentration of vitality in the brain has, in the reptiles, as its natural accompaniment, a marked dimi- nution of intelligence; and though, as we hinted before, some of them can be tamed, it is next to impossible to teach them any thing. The system of respiration in reptiles is the principal cha- racter which separates them from all other animals, and exercises the most powerful influence over all the parts of their organization. In organized bodies there are certain general modes of conformation which necessitate a multi-— tude of particular conformations. Thus, for example, the animal whose stomach is found to digest flesh, must be fur- nished with teeth proper for tearing it, robust muscles for vanquishing his prey, agile limbs for overtaking it, &e. In like manner, the external organs of every being are all in ORDER CHELONIA. D5 relation to the wants of the internal organs; the latter must, therefore, be investigated, if we want to ascertain the cause which determines the conformation of the former. Moreover, there are in each class of animals, and of plants, certain parts which may be said to give the impulse to the whole organized machine, and certain organs which assume an ascendancy over the other organs, in consequence of the extent and the energy of their functions. Thus, the pulmonary apparatus is predominant in birds; in man, the brain and the nervous system; and in the carnivora, the muscular system, because the said ergans in these different animals are more developed and more active than all the rest. In reptiles and in fishes, it is the muscular contrac- - tility which claims pre-eminence, above all other properties, for its influence and duration. But if it is essential to recognize the predominating organs in any class of animals, it is equally important to study those which are feeble and comparatively inactive, because they produce effects inverse of those of the former in the living economy. The knowledge, in fact, of the one, necessarily determines the others, and weakness thus becomes as influen- tial as strength on the animated machine. In truth, it is to the imperfect state of the respiratory apparatus that the entire constitution of reptiles must be referred. These animals all respire the air because they have lungs. But this organ is vesicular, and the blood vessels which arrive at it, are only branches of the vena cava and the aorta, so that those vessels form no considerable system, and tran- sport but asmall quantity of blood to the lungs, instead of a mass of this fluid almost equal to that of the rest of the body, as in warm-blooded animals. For this same reason the heart of reptiles possesses but a single ventricle, which suffices to make their blood circulate, independently of respi- ration. The latter may remain suspended for some time 26 CLASS REPTILIA. without interrupting the course of life, and the circulation of the fluids. This is witnessed in frogs, salamanders, and marine tortoises, which dive under water, or bury themselves in mud for entire days. The colder the atmosphere is, the longer these animals can subsist under water, without having occasion to respire the air, and without perishing, for they are then in a state of semi-torpor. But in warm weather, the respiration of the atmospheric air becomes necessary, and the reptiles enjoy a more active life. In consequence of the imperfect respiration of reptiles, the vital air combines with the portion of blood which is exposed to it, in small quantity only, and disengages very little heat from the sanguine fluid ; for the degree of heat is always in proportion to the extent of the respiratory function. Accord- ingly, these animals are all cold, and the temperature of their blood exceeds, by a very few degrees, that of the atmosphere ; while the birds, as we have formerly observed, which respire so vigorously, are always exceedingly hot, and almost burn- ing ; in fact, they are naturally, and habitually, in a state which would be pronounced fever in a mammiferous animal. If the reptiles are naturally cold, the rigour of winter may be presupposed to exercise a powerful influence over them. This, accordingly, is the fact. They all grow torpid during the cold season, and do not awaken until spring expands its genial warmth. In this state of torpor they are immoveable and almost frozen. Their blood circulates very slowly. Their sensibility and life are suspended; they remain plunged in a profound sleep, and lose scarcely any thing by transpiration, because they are covered by a thick, coriaceous, and almost impermeable skin. It is also in consequence of this natural coldness of rep- tiles, that we must account for their almost total disappear- ance from the polar regions, and the more rigorous latitudes of the north, while on the contrary they are excessively mul- ORDER CHELONIA. Oi tiplied in the ardent climates of the tropics, where the heat of the earth supplies the deficiencies of their respiration. This feebleness of respiration presents to our notice another result equally remarkable in the reptiles. As it causes a sort of stagnation, a slowness, an almost continual insensibility in the life of these animals, it follows that this life is less rapidly worn out and exhausted. We see, in general, that life is longer in proportion as it is less active, unless its course be abridged, or its thread be cut, by maladies or unforeseen accidents. We have, all of us, a determinable sum of exist- ence, as it were, which we may expend more or less quickly. The reptile, which lives, if we may so express ourselves, but little at a time, and remains torpid for a part of the year, should naturally exist a good while. This we find to be the fact. It has even been asserted that the crocodile continues to grow during almost its entire life, which is a certain mark of longevity: for as long as the growth is going on, the animal is young, and its cessation is the mark of approaching age. The serpent, among the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Mexicans, was the emblem of eternity, or of time, in con- sequence of its long life. It even seems every year to assume a rejuvenescence in casting its former skin, like the earth, which in winter throws aside its faded livery only to invest itself with richer verdure on the return of spring. Were not the reptiles exposed to be destroyed by their adversaries, in consequence of their tardy movements, and general want of the means of defence, they would become too numerous, as to a long life they unite an exceeding fecundity. There is one very singular property in the reptile races, which has been noticed in the text. This is the power of reproducing certain parts, such as the tail, feet, &c., when they have been lost. This fact is particularly demonstrated in salamanders and lizards, and was known as long ago as the time of Aristotle. They are also, as has before been hinted, 28 CLASS REPTILIA. remarkable for their extreme tenacity of life, and the long duration of their fibrous irritability after life is extinguished. The weakness of respiration diminishes the activity of the nutritive system in reptiles, because the one is always in relation with the other. Accordingly, these animals eat but little, and digest slowly. The small quantity which reptiles eat, is another reason for the slowness of their growth, and the length of their existence ; and the same character is also connected with the inactivity of their senses. Their organs of sensation seem scarcely developed. Their touch is very obtuse, in consequence of the density and hardness of their skin. The sense of taste cannot be otherwise than dull, because the tongue is either cartila- ginous, or covered with a thick and viscous humour. The smallness of the organs of smelling, indicate the weakness of that sense. That of hearing appears to be less imperfect, though its organ in reptiles is destitute of many useful parts, such as the cochlea, the conch, and the meatus externus. Fiven the tympanum is usually covered with skin, scales, or muscles. Sight is the most perfect sense in reptiles. They have, for the most part, very large eyes, a contractile pupil, like that of cats (especially the geckos, which appear to see clearly by night), and a nictitating membrane, the same as in birds. This indicates a great sensibility in this organ in these two classes of animals, and the necessity under which they labour, of having the intensity of the light moderated in its action on their eyes. Nevertheless, the Cmcrzia, a genus of serpents approaching the batracians, have excessively small eyes concealed under the skin. The brain of reptiles is remarkably small, and does not even completely fill the cavity of the cranium, though that is far from being capacious. We shall now consider the nature of those localities in which the reptile races most generally abound. Though shaded and humid tracts of land, and slimy ORDER CHELONIA. 29 marshes, nourish in our European climates the majority of those reptiles which breed among us, it is necessary to study this class of beings in their natural empire, in the deep morasses, the lakes, the rivers, the wastes of uncultivated vegetation, where every thing concurs to their development and multiplication, under the burning suns of tropic and equatorial regions. We shall avail ourselves here of an eloquent description relative to this subject, given by Buffon, in his history of the Screamer, or Kamichi, a bird already described in our account of the order Gralle. “We have already painted,” says this delightful writer, “the arid deserts of Arabia Petrea, those naked solitudes where man has never yet breathed beneath the shade; where the earth, destitute of verdure, presents no subsistence to quadruped, to bird, or to insect ; where all appears dead, because nothing can be born, and because the element neces- sary to the developement of the germs of every being, whether animal or vegetable, far from impregnating the earth with streams of living water, or fertilizing it by penetrating showers, does not even moisten its surface with a simple dew- To this picture of absolute drought, in a land too ancient, let us oppose that of the mighty morasses and inundated savan- nahs of the New Continent. Here we shall behold the excess of that of which we there lamented the deficiency. Rivers of immense breadth, such as the Amazons, La Plata, and the Orinoco, rolling onward their huge and foaming billows, seem to menace the earth with invasion, and attempt to over- whelm it altogether. From them originate stagnant waters, which spreading far and near, cover the alluvial slime which they have deposited. These vast marshes exhaling their vapours in fetid fogs, would soon communicate the infection of the earth to the air, did not their exhalations quickly fall again in precipitous rains, or become rapidly dispersed by storms and hurricanes. These regions, alternately inundated 30 CLASS REPTILIA. and left dry, where earth and water appear to contend for unde- fined possessions; the masses of aquatic herbage, which are cast on the undecided confines of those belligerent elements, are peopled only by unclean animals, which swarm in those revolting haunts, the very cloaca of nature, where every thing retraces the image of those monstrous births which mythological poetry has fabled to have sprung from the slime of the ancient earth, on the recession of the waters of the deJuge. Enormous serpents trailing their slow length along, impress the miry soil with broad and indented furrows ; cro- codiles, toads, lizards, and a thousand other reptiles, knead with broad feet the yielding clay. Millions of insects, developed by the humid heat, rise in dense masses from their muddy cradle, obscuring the atmosphere with their clouds, and deafening the ear with their hummings. All this impure population of creeping, or of winged vermin, attracts in numerous cohorts the birds of prey, whose piercing cries, mingled with the hoarse croakings of their reptile victims, breaking the awful silence of those frightful deserts, seem to interdict the approach of every other living being. Regions like these, impracticable and unformed, recal our imagination to chaotic ages, ere the elements were yet separated, when earth and water made but one common mass, and the living tribes had not yet received their allocation in the different districts of nature.” It is amid these masses of aquatic vegetation that the alli- gator lies concealed in ambush for his unsuspecting prey. It is in these impure marshes that the tortoise buries itself —that serpents devour each other—that large and hideous toads withdraw themselves from the light of day, and secrete their venom. Painful it is, without doubt, and disgusting to the mind, to dwell on images like these ; but strange mar- vels are hidden in these gloomy recesses, where the most won- derful operations of nature are proceeding in the very bosom ORDER CHELONIA. 31 of putrefaction ;—where those fearful legions of amphibious monsters, and those incalculable multitudes of pestiferous insects are engendered, developed, and reproduced. The reptile, cast by nature into this intermediate domain, between the waters and the land, and as it were in the battle- field of those two elements, is neither a perfect quadruped, like the mammiferous animal which treads the solid earth, nor a true fish, like the multitudinous population of the seas. It is a sort of divided being, one of those ambiguous produc- tions of nature, now appearing as a quadruped, and now as a fish. This inconstancy of the medium inhabited by reptiles, is the cause of the fantastic variety of their conformation, and the strange singularity of their habitudes. It was necessary that they should be fashioned to those perpetual elementary changes, and enabled equally to subsist in the water, on the earth and in the air. It is as necessary that those species, which seem, as it were, to have been deformed and disgraced by the hand of nature, which denuded of defence, or even deprived of limbs, trail themselves along with effort and with difficulty, should be protected by their prudence— should glide in obscurity—should retreat from the light of heaven and the persecutions of their foes. The slow-paced tortoise, retiring under his osseous roof, awaits without appre- hension the various shocks to which he is exposed. The more agile lizard shoots into some hole or cavern, at the hazard of abandoning his tail, the loss of which he can easily repair ; but the serpent, unable, for want of limbs, to avoid his enemies, would in vain exert himself to escape. Nature has, therefore, provided some of the slowest and most feeble species of this kind with a terrible weapon, impregnated with fatal venom, to repel the aggressions of injustice: for we must be equitable even to the serpent race, and confess, that they but seldom act on the offensive ; on the contrary, they 52 CLASS REPTILIA. are rather timid than ferocious—conscious of their own weak- ness, they are the emblem of prudence, and have been instanced for their wisdom by no meaner an authority than the great Founder of Christianity himself. It is only when forced by necessity, by despair of escape, or by the impe- rious stimulus of hunger, that they employ those empoisoned arms, so deadly to all other races, but perfectly harmless to their own.* To the more powerful species, such as the boa, similar weapons are not accorded, because they are suffi- ciently protected from attack by their magnitude and strength. Though some smaller species of reptiles, such as geckos, salamanders, and toads, can distil from their skin an acrid, fetid, disgusting humour, this is an harmless defence aceorded to them by nature, to hinder these otherwise defenceless animals from being seized, and to prevent them from being immolated to the general hatred in which they ‘are held by all other creatures. In general, all the reptiles, though hideous and even ter- rific to the sight, cause more repugnance or horror than real evil. Nature environs them with this apparatus of terror, covers them with this revolting mask, to keep off other ani- mals, and thus protects them by the disgust which they inspire. That their existence was necessary, is argued from this consideration, that the impure and filthy recesses which they inhabit, swarming with such a fearful multitude of worms and insects, would become more fatal and more infectious from this enormous multiplication of parasite creatures, but for the ministry of the reptile tribes, which feed upon, and. purge the marshes of these vermin. In the same point of view, the reptiles, too much multiplied by a superabundance of aliment, would have invaded and overrun the earth, but nature has sent quadrupeds, such as the ichneumon and the swine, or * This, perhaps, is a httle too unqualified. The fact is not yet clearly ascertained, ORDER CHELONIA. 33 legions of long-legged aquatic birds, which come to devour the reptiles in their turn. Thus the ibis performs this pur- gative operation on the alluvial depositions of the annual inundation of the Nile. The stork performs the same office for the marshes and stagnant waters of Holland; as do likewise for other places the flocks of cranes, which transport themselves into the various climates of the earth. It may be superfluous, however, to refer the philosopher to these and such like conditions of existence; he knows that the system of being, in all its changes and modifications, is a system of necessity; he knows that the laws of physics are just as immutable as those of mathematics. It is nothing but our own ignorance, short-sightedness, or inattention, that ever makes us imagine them to be otherwise. It is most particularly in warm climates that reptiles mul- tiply to the greatest extent, that they arrive sometimes to an enormous size, and that the poison of the venomous races becomes most acrid and pernicious. There are marine tor- toises in the Antilles so large, that fourteen men may stand at once upon their backs. The missionary Labat tells us, that he has been repeatedly carried in this way. A tortoise of this size would suffice for the repast of a hundred men: it is cooked in its shell, as in a great dish. Knormous croco- diles are found in Africa; and these animals, which are very small when born, continue to grow for so long a time, that they arrive at last to those exceeding dimensions. Those of the Nile, adored by the ancient Egyptians, attained even to forty feet in length; but they have been seen in Madagascar as long as sixty. The gavials, or crocodiles of the Ganges, have jaws five or six feet in length—all bristling with long, sharp, and curved teeth. The alligators, or caymans of Ame- rica, are extremely numerous in the lakes: they howl fero- ciously night and morning. All these animals, though agile enough, cannot turn themselves with facility. VOL. IX. D 34 CLASS REPTILIA. Serpents have been found in the East Indies more than fifty feet in length. When these enormous serpents creep along, one might well imagine that it was the great trunk of a pine-tree, or the mast of a man of war, advancing, and winding through the bushes, and leaving immense furrows behind it. We are told by the Roman historian, that Regu- lus found between Carthage and Utica a monstrous serpent, which darted on the soldiers when they went to draw water from the river. It strangled them in its folds, and stifled and poisoned them with its breath. No darts could pierce its scales, which were as brilliant as brass. Catapultas, and other machines of war, were raised against it. Its spine was thus broken by an immense fragment of rock, discharged with great violence ; but it even still remained formidable to the army, whose cohorts had some difficulty in despatching it. Regulus sent its skin to Rome, which was a hundred and twenty feet in length. When Cato traversed Lybia with the wrecks of the army of Pompey, he was surrounded by a multitude of serpents, by whose deadly bites great numbers of his warriors perished, whose sufferings have been sublimely depicted by the majestic pen of Lucan. The poets, to explain the abundance of serpents and other reptiles in the Lybian sands, have invented the fable, to which we before alluded, that the blood which dropped from the head of Medusa, cut off by Perseus, was changed into these animals :— ** Gorgonei capitis guttee cecidére cruentz Quas humus exceptas varios animavit in angues Unde frequens illa est, infestaque terra colubris.” Ovin, Met. iv. The external coverings of reptiles present general characters not difficult of distinction. If all the viviparous quadrupeds are, more or less, covered with hair, and birds with feathers or a warm and light down, at least on some parts of their bodies, nothing similar is ever found among oviparous qua- ORDER CHELONIA. By) drupeds or serpents. The skin is naked in frogs and sala- manders, scaly in lizards and serpents, covered with an osseous shell in tortoises. Those- which have a naked skin, like all the batracians, are susceptible of absorbing a deal of water through its pores, which to these animals is a substi- tute for drink; for though frogs and salamanders are often plunged in water, they drink none of it; but their skin imbibes this liquid, and distributes it to the internal organs. It even appears, from recent observations, that water partly ministers to the respiration of these batracians, through the skin: for we know that the skin in all animals has the power of absorbing oxygen, and can thus receive this elemental gas contained in the water, in the same manner as do the gills of fishes. The water even collects in a sort of bladder, which it has been supposed was intended to receive the urine ; but this last secretion is immediately transmitted to the cloaca, or intestinem rectum, by the ureters; and the water of the blad- der in toads and frogs, which has been regarded as a vene- mous urine, has no more odour nor sapidity than distilled water. Frogs and salamanders have certain glands upon the skin, from which exudes an acrid and virulent humour, which in the brown toad has the smell of garlick. A very dangerous humour, of a similar kind, exudes from the feet of geckos. The crocodile has, towards the neck, the anus, and under the axilla, certain glands which spread a musky odour; and many tortoises exhale the like. Something analogous is found about the glands of the thighs in lizards and chalcides, and near the anus of amphisbenze, especially in the season of re- production. Adders and serpents exhale a nauseous vapour, which produces sensations of faintness, or even a putrid and pestiferous odour, which the negroes can perceive at a very considerable distance. Their prey does not seem to digest, but by putrifying in the stomach, which produces this disa- D2 36 CLASS REPTILIA. greeable effluvium—as persons who digest badly have a fetid breath, especially in the morning. This fact has, probably, given rise to the notion of the pretended fascination exercised by serpents on their prey ; to which may be added the lively terror which they inspire by their fiery glances, wide-gaping mouth with trenchant teeth, upreared body, and tremendous hissings of rage and fury. What weak animal would not be terrified at that which would make the bravest man recede, were he unarmed? It is thus that it has been pretended that serpents could charm birds, and make them fall by this fasci- nation into their mouths. It is, unquestionably, to this oppressive vapour and horrid aspect, that we must attribute the strange effects of the look of toads on dogs, and even on men themselves. The power of another over us is very frequently founded on the weakness of our imagination. A strong individual, by his very aspect, inspires terror in the timid—as the dog is seen, by his glance alone, to arrest the game; and as we see persons blush with shame, turn pale with fear, or lose the power of articulation, at the mere look of another. In warm climates, where the imagination of the inhabitants is very ardent and susceptible—and, indeed, among the savage and semi-barbarous of all countries, even our own—we find this doctrine of the fascination of looks very generally prevalent. . The envenomed glances of envy or of hatred are dreaded with regard to infants, and other delicate beings, supposed to be subjected to their influence. What has not been written and spoken, and with much truth, concerning the looks of love and their prodigious empire? Animals are not destitute of this sensibility, or rather this moral impressibility : they act upon each other by these looks and influences, as we act upon them, and as they unquestionably can upon us. <A story has been related of a pretended magician, who having shut up several toads in a large box well closed, was desirous, after ORDER CHELONIA. OT]. some time, to see the result of this confinement. On opening the box, however, whether from horror at the sight of these deformed creatures, heaped together, and fixing with fury their huge eyes upon him—or overcome by the fetid odour which they exhaled, he turned pale, and fainted ; while the reptiles, having escaped, were found croaking and jumping around him. The people who witnessed this spectacle, immediately conceived the man to be surrounded by demons, in the shape of these reptiles, punishing him for his sorceries and wicked- ness. Toads have been seen as large and inflated as pump- kins, covered with sanious pustules, and opening, in their obscure hole, their large projecting eyes and wide mouth. It is not wonderful that dogs should tremble to attack an hideous enemy of this kind, especially as the acrid humour exuding from the skin is highly corrosive to the mouth of the animal that is adventurous enough to bite one of these creatures. Many species of oviparous quadrupeds are endowed with the singular property of changing colour, through certain moral affections. The case of the cameleon is known to every body, which does not, however, as has been pretended, assume the tints of the objects which surround it, but which changes the shade of its colours, through fear, anger, love, cold, heat, &e., as we shall more fully enlarge upon hereafter in the proper place. The common frog, and its kindred species, also change colour, and become more grey or brown when terrified. The green lizard, the green iguana, and many other reptiles, are liable to the same changes of colour. All the animals of this class, like most others, exhibit more lively and brilliant tints in the season of their amours than at any other period. The skin of the majority of reptiles is armed with polished and shining scales, embellished with metallic re- flexions, like those of brass or steel, relieved with gold and 38 CLASS REPTILIA. silver, as is seen in various lizards and serpents. They also display the azure of lapis lazuli, and the hues of the emerald, the amethyst, and the turquoise. This variegated armature is more especially splendid in spring, when these reptiles throw off the old epidermis of the preceding year. Then they may be seen, in renewed youth, gliding under the new- born vegetation, glittering in the sun-beams, and essaying their recovered vigour and agility. Among the reptiles with thick skin, this renovation takes place but once a year. In the rattle-snakes, this epidermis of the body sliding towards the tail, remains adherent there in the form of small bells— a marvellous provision of nature, who by this means warns other animals of the approach of these redoubtable serpents, whose poison is the most fatal of all. The batracians, instead of parting with a solid epidermis, detach it in shreds. The explication of the change of colour in variable rep- tiles seems to belong to the following mechanism. The skin of all the multi-coloured reptiles is not at all of the nature of the feathers of some birds, which assume different tints according to the various reflections of the light, like silk of certain tissues. But in the skin of which we are speaking, the change of colour, whether partial, total, or instantaneous, is dependent on the will of the animal, or some internal emo- tion, without being affected by the circumstances of position, orthe aspect of the light. This skin is fine, demi-transpa- rent, and traversed by an infinity of vessels in all directions, like the dermis of all other animals. But these reptiles, respiring slowly, have a blackish or violet-coloured blood rather than red, because it is so little oxygenated. Now, according as this blackish blood precipitates itself more or less abundantly into the small capillary vessels of the skin, it will produce these shades more or less deep, varied ecchy- moses, or eXtravasations, with the other natural humours ORDER CHELONIA. 39 which are found there. Just in the same manner, under the influence of anger, the human countenance becomes red or livid. Fear produces paleness, cold, violet-colour, diffused bile, yellowness, &c. In fact, the cameleon, and other chang- ing reptiles, do by no means assume the tints of neighbouring objects, but according to the emotions of fear, anger, or love, the want of food, heat or cold, or the greater or less degree of respiration, they undergo these divers colourations. These even become so varied, that it is not always easy to deter- mine what is the natural colour of the animal. The reptiles with naked skin, such as the batracians, are closed up in this covering, as inasack. It adheres to the flesh only toward the mouth, the eyes, the anus, and the toes. These last are always without claws in the batra- cians, the species of which order are also always destitute of scales, and of osseous plates or carapaces. The reptiles possess three kinds of teeth, tortoises excepted, which have in lieu of them semi-osseous and trenchant gums. In some species these are crenulated. The teeth which are observed in the lizards are pointed, like canines, and more or less long according to the genera. The crocodiles have them very numerous, and very long, through the entire extent of the jaw. But we have already in another place entered pretty fully into the dentition of these animals. The serpents have also sharp teeth in both jaws, and, what to them is peculiar in their class, teeth in the palatine arches, like many of the fishes. These teeth are fixed, or implanted in the bone, and not hollowed. There are many ranges of them. In addition, the venomous serpents have attached to the maxillary bones very sharp and long teeth, hollowed like a funnel, from which they can distil a yellow poison into the wound which they make. These teeth are called fangs. In the very venomous species, they stand in the upper maxil- 40 CLASS REPTILIA. lary bone only. Under the tooth is a gland which secretes the poison. The teeth of frogs, toads, &c., are very short, and almost reduced to nothing. Almost all reptiles live on animal substances; for scarcely any, except some tortoises, feed on alge, fucus, &c. Accord- ingly, their stomach is more capacious than that of other rep- tiles. Frogs, and the majority of lizards, feed on insects and worms, ,which they catch with their gluey tongues. The larger species of lizards, such as crocodiles, swallow other animals. Serpents seek for their food animals of all species, whose size is not too disproportioned with their own. The stomach of all reptiles has but poor digestive powers, espe- cially in the order of serpents, in which it forms a sort of membraneous funnel. All reptiles, except the tortoise, are destitute of coeca. The skeleton of reptiles is not so hard as that of warm- blooded animals. Their bones contain less phosphate of lime, and the gelatinous matter is more abundant, especially in frogs and salamanders. The limbs of reptiles vary in their forms, proportions, and number. The tortoises and lizards have four, and also a tail. There are no ribs in the batracians. They have four legs: but the salamanders alone have a tail. These and frogs are remarkable in their first age for breathing by gills, like fishes. Their mode of circulation is then similar to that of fishes, and their intestines are considerably extended, and destined to digest vegetable nutriment ; but they are after- wards transformed into their last state, and changed not only externally, losing their gills, but also, internally, as to the constitution of their viscera. They no longer seek vegetable aliment as before—animal food becomes necessary to their subsistence. There are, however, two genera in the order of » ORDER CHELONIA. 41 batracians, which always preserve their gills, and have inter- nal lungs beside; —these are the siren and the proteus. Some salamanders do not lose their gills for the first year, if the weather happen to be too cold. The lungs of reptiles extend into the abdominal cavity, without a diaphragm, except in crocediles, which have a peritoneal membrane, which answers the same purpose. There is but a small number of gross vesicles in the lungs, and respiration is performed by a sort of deglutition of the air. There are reptiles resembling lizards which have but two feet; and the feet of the chalcides are so small that they are scarcely perceptible. Here we have an evident gradation to the serpent family which are destitute of limbs altogether. One species, conformed like the lizards, has on each side of its body a membrane, supported by many rays, by means of which it can run with greater quickness, or leap with greater force. This species, called the flying dragon, is not very suitably designated as a reptile, though it clearly apper- tains to the class. The act of generation in tortoises, lizards, and serpents, which lay calcareous eggs, is complete, and similar to that of mammalia. In the batracians, it is performed like the fish. The eggs have a shell more or less calcareous in tortoises, lizards, and serpents. In the batracians they have only a membraneous covering. These last are laid in the water. The generality of reptiles being little capable of self- defence, and exposed without parental protection from their earliest infancy, and surrounded by numerous enemies, forming as they do the common food of most birds, quad- rupeds, and fishes, and held in such detestation by man, their races would speedily become extinct, but for the asto- nishing fertility in which they are, as it were, resuscitated annually from the bosom of corruption. Nature has bestowed AQ CLASS REPTILIA. upon them a wonderful fecundity, and in many species has even doubled the reproductive organs, apparently with a view to increase their multiplication. It is at the period of reproduction that the voices of rep- tiles are chiefly to be heard, which vary very considerably. The crocodiles, but more particularly the caymans of America, are said to howl loudly. The hissing of serpents and the croaking of frogs are well known. A traveller towards the desert shores of the Caspian and the Volga, would imagine that he heard of a sudden, in the evening, a joyous assembly of men and women laughing very heartily. He approaches; the inextinguishable laughter redoubles among the rocks, and, to his astonishment, he finds that it proceeds from an assembly of enormous black toads cele- brating their nuptial orgies. Certain species of America imitate the sound of a funeral bell tolling during the night, and others the rattling noise of cymbals. Though reptiles never sit upon their eggs, it does not appear that the sentiment of maternity is altogether non- existent among these animals. There are serpents (and those are particularly the venomous species,) which retain their eggs in their oviductus longer than other animals of their kind. These eggs disclose within, and the young ones come out alive. These animals produce in smaller number than those reptiles which lay their eggs. It is said that the female crocodile lays its eggs ona bed of rushes and sand, and that she covers them with a second and a third similar bed, with other layers of eggs, to conceal them from the watchful ichneumon. The serpents heap up theirs in some hole exposed to the sun. Small lizards have been observed carefully carrying their eggs in the mouth to warmer places, more favourable for the exclusion of the young. But the young, once disclosed, have nothing more to expect from the mother. She has no milk to offer them—she takes no care ORDER CHELONIA. AS to provide them with nourishment of any kind ; still, even if a great number of these young should perish, there is no fear ‘of the extinction of the species, nature having made a sufficient provision against that in the excess of their fecundity. The obscure recesses inhabited by the majority of the rep- tile tribes are, in all probability, far from being even yet thoroughly explored. How many of these still unknown beings may lie concealed in the depths of inland waters, and of vast and desert marshes, of unthreaded and impervious wilds of vegetation? How many may creep yet unheeded among the gorges of the Alpine mountains, of the Alleghanies, and of the Andes? It is in such retreats that those double- natured animals have been found, those true amphibia, such as the siren and the proteus, equally capacitated to visit the profoundest depths of the liquid element, and to sport through the humid prairie and the drowned Savannah. Of the manners, the modes of reproduction, and, perhaps, the metamorphoses of many of these, we are entirely ignorant. Let the consciousness of this ignorance, then, teach us modesty in our judgments, and diffidence in the establish- ment of our systematic codes. Naturalists should remember that they are not the lawgivers of nature, but the humble registrars of her operations, and that, if they do turn inter- preters of her statutes, they should he especially regardful of the nature and the number of the cases on which their conclusions shall be founded. It is true that we have made great progress in the Book of Nature; but how many leaves of the mighty volume yet remain unturned ! We have now exhausted all the observations which can come with propriety in this place concerning reptiles in gene- ral. The osteology of these animals presents a very wide field of discussion, but we have avoided entering into it for two reasons ; the first is, that with regard to the Chelonians and Saurians, this subject has been already pretty fully AA CLASS REPTILIA. treated on, in an account of fossil reptiles; and, in the next place, all observations of that kind, which may be neces- sary in addition to the text of Cuvier, will come with more propriety under the particular divisions to which they are applicable.* * M. de Blainville, considering, according to anatomical observa- tions, that all the reptiles which are not aquatic, have an organization approaching to that of birds, while the others in their conformation more or less resemble fishes, has divided this class into two sub-classes, the first of which he names OrnitHoipes, the second, Icutuyoiprs. He has also made some changes in the order of the subdivisions ; but his arrangement, though very scientific, is perhaps not so easy of general application as that of our author. ORDER CHELONIA. 45 SUPPLEMENT ON THE ORDER CHELONIA. Tue name of this order is of Greek origin. X:awyn is the name given by Aristotle to the marine tortoise, which is derived from X:vs, testudo, simply signifying the shell or covering. It must be confessed, that there is some objection against the employment of this term to characterize the order, as it is also applied to designate the subdivision of the turtles. Testudinata is a preferable appellation. This order, strictly speaking, consists but of asingle genus, that of the tortoises, and one of the most natural that can be well imagined. Linnzeus divided these animals into three sections according to the difference of organization which prescribes a different mode of life to each. The first is that of the marine turtles, the Chelonia of Brongniart ; the second, the river turtles, Eemys of later writers; and the land tor- toises, which are the true tortoises of modern authors. The tortoises in general possess a very remarkable organi- zation. Nature has compensated for the absence of those active faculties of which they are destitute, by passive means of preservation, far more complete and extensive than what she has accorded to any other genus. Invested with a solid armour, the nature of which has already been pretty fully described, they can shelter themselves within it very effectually from the attacks of all their adversaries, except man, and some few other animals of surpassing size and strength. The body of the tortoise being thus protected by its back-plate and breast-plate—called carapace and plastron by our au- thor, and which terms we have thought it right to adopt— is unprovided with a skin, except on its extremities, and on 46 CLASS REPTILIA. that portion which intervenes between the two divisions of the armature. This skin is usually covered with scales, or with scaly turbercles more or less inter-approximated. Its contexture is so solid that the sharpest instruments can with difficulty make any entrance into it. It is closely fixed through its entire border, at some distance from the internal edge of the carapace and plastron, and it is susceptible of very great extension. The head of tortoises has, in general, the form of a quad- rangular truncated pyramid, that is, it presents four. faces, more or less convergent, and more or less rounded, the upper one of which is formed by the cranium, the lateral by the orbit of the eyes, and the upper jaw, and the under one by the under jaw. It presents, besides, an anterior truncation, where the nostrils are situated. The eyes of tortoises are generally small, though usually placed in very large orbits. ‘They are conformed like those of other reptiles, but independently of the two external and horizontal lids, there is a third lower and vertical. The lower is more susceptible of elevation than the upper is of depression. It would appear that the sense of sight is not much extended in those animals, and that of hearing still less so; but it cannot be true that they are deaf, for they have a tympanum, though concealed, which may yet be remarked from the tension and colour of the skin in that peculiar place. The nose of tortoises is formed by two oblong holes, which are seen in the upper part of the muzzle. Some species have them placed at the end of a short and cylindrical trunk, which projects from this same part. It has also been asserted that the sense dependent on this organ is also very feeble in the chelonia; but direct observation does not authenticate this conclusion. The tortoises have a slender pyramidical tongue, of thrice greater length than breadth, covered with a great number of ORDER CHELONIA. 47 nervous papillz, which indicates a certain degree of sensibi- lity in the organ of taste. The instruments of manducation in the tortoises are two jaws, or to speak with more propriety, two trenchant gums, pointed and recurved, and greatly resembling in their form and consistence the bill of parrots. Sometimes they also possess teeth, or asperities enchased in the palate, which are more or less numerous. Many of them have fleshy lips, with- out either teeth or horn. The neck of tortoises is generally cylindrical, and capable of great extension. It is almost always covered with small scales, separated and very hard. It is, notwithstanding, the part of the animal the least capable of defence, and that in which it may be the most easily killed. Accordingly, we find that the tortoise very seldom projects it out of the testa, and on the slightest appearance of danger withdraws it so completely, that it cannot be seen. The feet of tortoises are always covered with scales more or less numerous, which prove a considerable protection to them from accidents and impediments of various kinds. Many can withdraw them completely within the carapace, the apertures of which are stopped by one of their ribs, which is always more furnished with scales than the rest. The shortness of their limbs prevents the tortoises from turning themselves when they are laid upon their backs. Though the walk of these animals is in general so slow as to have passed into a proverb from all antiquity, yet there are some species which run tolerably fast. The fresh-water and marine tortoises swim very well. The tail of the tortoise is usually of no great length, always conical, and furnished with scales on the upper part. In danger, this tail is recurved and concealed under the hinder limbs, after they have been folded up in the testa. It is 48 CLASS REPTILIA. sometimes terminated by a sharp and corneous point, which has been considered as a defensive weapon. Under this tail is the anus, which also constitutes the aperture for the organs of generation, both in male and female. Having enlarged on the osteology of the tortoise in pepe place, we shall content ourselves here by briefly stating that their frontal bones constitute only the vault of the orbits; that the parietals are three times as long as those; that the mammillary processes are considerable; that the very nume- rous bones of the face cover each other by their edges, which are basiled; that there are seven or eight vertebrae in the neck, two of which alone have spinous processes; that there are from eight to eleven in the back, and three to the sa- crum, which, as has been observed in the text, are soldered to the carapace; and that the vertebra of the tail vary in number according to the species, and their condyle is turned in a contrary direction to that of the neck. When the plastron or breast-plate of a tortoise is removed, we find a membranous periosteum-like parchment, which is nothing in fact but the skin of the belly. When this is open we can see the different muscles which give play to the head and feet, and the peritoneum is then visible. This, again, being open, we see the intestinal canal, the liver, and the lungs, which consist of two lobes separated by the dorsal spine. To Townson we owe the discovery of the very remarkable manner in which tortoises respire, a mode to which there is nothing analogous in other animals, because no other has, like them, an immoveable thorax. This anatomist, on examining some muscles of the region of the flanks, placed on the sides of the hind legs, and at the extremity of the lobes of the lungs, was convinced that two of them were distinct, though strongly joined in the middle. The first originates at the carapace, near the dorsal spine, ORDER CHELONIA. 49 and is inserted in the peritoneum ;—this one is the contractor of the lungs, or the expirator muscle. The other extends over almost the entire cavity, between the under part of the carapace, and the inside of the sternum, and is inserted on the edges of the carapace above and below. These muscles act alternately. The first, compressing the little lobe of the lungs, expels the air; the other, stopping this compression, determines the fresh air to come and supply the place of that which has issued forth. Thus, respiration takes place in this genus, as it does in those which have a genuine thorax ; but it is never so complete, that is, the pulmonary cavity is not emptied at each expiration of all the air which it contained. To this cause, doubtless, as also to the direct passage of the blood from one chamber of the ventricle into another, must be attributed the faculty which tortoises possess of living without respiration at the bottom of the water, and even of not perishing for a long time, in the vacuum of a pneumatic machine. Duvernois explains this action somewhat differently. He believes that the muscles above mentioned do not act directly on the lungs, but on the viscera of the abdomen, which thereby compress the lungs. Like other vertebrated animals provided with lungs, the tortoises have a trachea and larynx, capable of producing a voice. It is accordingly ascertained that certain species, chiefly the marine, send forth hissings, and utter cries more or less sharp. They are also said to snore in sleeping. Anatomists, for a long time, believed that the heart of reptiles had but one ventricle and one auricle. But it is now ascertained that there are two auricles, and in the tortoises a ventricle separated by a fleshy partition, pierced with small holes ; so that in reality there are two auricles and two ven- tricles in this genus. It is known, moreover, that the tor- toises have a third ventricle in the middle. From this heart proceed three arterial trunks, the insertion of which varies VOL. Ix. E 50 CLASS REPTILIA. according to the species. Perrault has given us the following explanation of the circulation of the blood in one of the fresh- water tortoises :—‘* The right and left ventricle receive the blood of the two pulmonary veins, because these veins dis- charging themselves into each axillary vein, mix the blood of the lungs with that of the vena cava, to carry it into the right ventricle from which issues the aorta. The anterior, or little ventricle, has no other vessel than the pulmonary artery, and this artery, as well as the aorta, has three sigmoid valves, which hinder the blood which has issued from the heart from re-entering there, when the ventricles come to be dilated to receive the blood of the vena cava, and the pulmonary vein. The aorta, on issuing from the right ventricle, is divided into two branches, which form two crosses, which, before turning entirely downwards, produce the axillaries, and the carotids. Afterwards, the left one of these casts out three branches, the first of which is distributed into all the parts of the ventricle ; the second proceeds to the liver, the panereas, the duodenum, and the spleen; the third furnishes branches to all the intes- tines. The left cross then unites itself with the branch of the right, and they form together but a single trunk, which descends along the body of the vertebra, and ees out branches to all parts of the abdomen.” As to therest, the circulation of tortoises is extremely slow. They remain lethargized during the winter, but this lethargy is merely a simple diminution of the vital force, not a sus- pension of certain faculties as in the hybernating mammalia. The transpiration too, of tortoises, amounts almost to nothing, and the only loss of substance they sustain is by the dejec- tions. It was ascertained, that at the end of six months’ abstinence, the only diminution of weight in a tortoise of four’ pounds and-a-half, was one ounce. ~ The bladder of tortoises is distinguished by its size, cover- ing the entire of the intestines and all the other parts of the ORDER CHELONIA. 51 abdomen. The stomach is situated under the liver, and is not formed unlike that of dogs. It discharges itself into the duodenum, which, like it, has folds and interior membranes, and may be considered as a second stomach. The liver is a firm substance, and composed of two parts, which are divided into seven lobes on their edges. In the spleen, pancreas, and kidneys, there is nothing remarkable. The marine tortoises lay their eggs about the middle of spring. Then they proceed on shore during the night, dig a hole out of the range of the high tide with their fore feet, and lay about a hundred eggs there, which they cover with the sand. ‘This operation is repeated three times, at intervals, as is said, of fourteen days. The tortoises, though in general so timid, are so much absorbed by this occupation, as to be quite insensible to the approach of danger. At this period they can be turned over and caught with great facility. It is the females alone which come to the shore on these occasions, and therefore we cannot be astonished if tortoises are growing more rare every day in the places where they were formerly numerous. Both themselves and their eggs are sought after with avidity, and each year thus destroys the hope of future generations. This consideration sug- gested to Martin Moncamps, who had travelled much in the Indian seas, the idea of establishing, at the Sechelle Islands, depots for the tortoises, where males and females might be preserved for reproduction. This idea, probably, is not one of very easy execution ; but it could not have originated but from a true friend of humanity. There are, indeed, depots of this kind in Jamaica and elsewhere, but they rather increase the destruction of these animals, by administering to the luxury of our civic banquets. The eggs of the marine tortoises, thus abandoned in the sand to the vivifying influence of the sun’s heat, do not E 2 52 CLASS REPTILIA. exclude the young regularly at a fixed period. The birth of the latter depends rather on climate, season, and species. We know that at St. Vincent, one of the Cape de Verde islands, and the most northerly of those where the marine tortoises lay, the young tortoises issue from their eggs at the end of seventeen days. In the very warm climates it ispro- bable that they are born sooner. Still, it has been said, that twenty-four, and even forty days, were necessary for their exclusion. On this point, however, it must be observed, that there is nothing but contradiction among authors. The eggs of tortoises are more or less round according to their species, and they have a white and a yolk. Their enve- lope is more or less calcareous, but never so much so as that of the eggs of birds, and it is often soft. They are cooked in the same manner as those of hens, and their flavour is not inferior, though the white does not harden so easily. : They are in great request in those countries in which tor- toises abound. It is even reported that dogs are trained to find them in some parts of South America. The little tortoises, issuing out, of the sand, proceed directly to throw themselves into the sea, which they will do in spite of any efforts made to turn them away from it. They walk quicker at this age than when they have grown more ‘bulky. They at first experience considerable difficulty in plunging into the water, and, accordingly, many of them then become the prey of aquatic birds. When they do enter this element, they frequently become the victims of voracious fish, so that great numbers of the young ones thus perish. In proportion, however, as they advance in age their means of defence are strengthened ; and at the end of the first year few fishes can attack them with much chance of success. These little tortoises have a form pretty similar to that of the mother ; but the carapace is at first covered with a tran- sparent membrane, which grows brown by degrees, and forms Q ORDER CHELONIA. 53 wrinkles, or transverse folds. This skin hardens by degrees, and is afterwards divided into scaly plates. The tortoises of the fresh-water also in general deposit their eggs at the end of spring in the sand, exposed to the sun; but they lay much fewer eggs than the others. The land tortoises, in Sardinia, lay only five or six. Observa- tions, however, on these points are far from being exact, nor can we present our readers with any very positive results from them. Nicholas Stenon has remarked, that the eggs inside the tortoise are very numerous, and adhere around a membrane in each of the ovaries. They are, as in hens, unequal, and proportioned to the epoch of their first development ; but those which are fecundated soon acquire a similarity of bulk. They come out by the same aperture. One would imagine, from the heavy form of the tortoises, and the want of vivacity in their motions, that their growth was slow. Nevertheless, some facts seem to prove that it is rapid. There is a story told by Valmont de Bomare, of a native of St. Domingo bringing a sea tortoise to France, and being obliged to increaée the size of the vessel in which he carried it, so as to prove that the animal grew a foot in the space of a month. We confess that we cannot attach much credit to this relation. There is every reason to believe that tortoises are very long lived. Cetti mentions a land tortoise in Sardinia that was ascertained to be sixty years of age, and which did not appear to be older than those fresh taken in the country. We are not in possession of sufficient data to establish the difference which exists in this respect between sea, fresh- water, and land tortoises. When marine and fresh-water tortoises have remained out of the water for a certain length of time, they have consider- able difficulty in replunging into it at first. This proceeds 54 CLASS REPTILIA. from their lungs being inflated with an unusual quantity of air, from their having lost by the dessication of the carapace (according to the observation of Lacépede) at least one-sixth of their weight, and their specific gravity being inconsiderable in proportion to the volume of water which they displace. Accordingly, they are observed, on entering the water, to discharge from their mouth and nostrils, in bubbles, the super- abundant air of which they must get rid before they can sink to the bottom. The brain of tortoises is extremely small, and appears to be scarcely necessary to their existence. The experiment of Redi is well known, who removed the brain from a land tor- toise, which lived six months after the operation. If, as every fact with which we are acquainted on the sub- ject appears decisively to prove, the intelligence of the animal is in proportion to the capacity of the cranium, the tortoises must be placed among the most irrational and inert of the living tribes. The range of their sensations may be said to be confined to the strictest limits of necessity, or, in other words, merely to what is indispensable for the purposes of self-preservation and reproduction. All of them, whether observed in captivity or in freedom, have a stupid, hebetated physiognomy. It is said, that at the epoch of their amours, they assume somewhat more of a lively character, and that the males, according to the custom of most animals, fight furiously for the possession of the females. “ Causa teterrima belli.” But at other periods they wrap themselves up in apathy, and remain inert until some severe evil obliges them to make use of their formidable beak and claws. M. Bosc says, that he has frequently removed the breastplate from a living tortoise, and the animal exhibited no uneasiness, nor made any effort of resistance. It was not until they experienced the utmost degree of pain, in the removal of the internal organs, that ORDER CHELONIA. 55 they ceased to remain in a state of contraction, and made any attempt to bite or scratch. It is asserted, however, that there are some species which know how to defend themselves when an attempt is made to seize them; if so, they are assuredly by much the fewer number. But if the tortoises do not very readily bite their adver- saries, it appears that when they do bite they bite most cruelly. There is no possible means of making them let go their hold. Even killing them will not suffice. They will retain the piece unless their jaws be completely broken. The naturalist above cited, used to avail himself of this pecu- liarity of the tortoise in the operations which we have men- tioned. It was sufficient to present them with a piece of wood to bite, to hinder them from making any effort to revenge themselves for the pain inflicted on them. Having mentioned that M. Bosc employed himself in strip- ping those animals of their testa while alive, for the purpose of stuffing and preserving it, it would be gross injustice not to state that gentleman’s apology for this seemingly wan- ton cruelty. To the question, why did he not first kill the tortoises, whose spoils he was desirous of preserving ? M. Bosc replies, because the thing was impossible. It is difficult to conceive the degree of tenacity of life in these animals. There is no means of killing them without destroy- ing their general organization; and it was necessary for the purposes of science that their skin and carapace should remain unaltered. Privation of air, and the deleterious gases, scarcely exercise any action upon them. It was only after removing all the internal organs, that M. Bose could put an end to their sufferings, by cutting the spinal marrow: and even this did not always succeed. A tortoise has been seen in Paris, enfeebled by a voyage of two hundred leagues, and a fast of many months, to live an entire day after the head was cut off. 56 CLASS REPTILIA. Tortoises, of all the subdivisions of this order, can remain along time without eating. Marine tortoises have been on board vessels for many months without food, before they were delivered up to the dealers and cooks. Those sent from Algiers to Paris for the use of apothecaries, arrive there after a fast of two or three months, and often remain there as long in the same condition before they are made use of. Blasius mentions one that remained at his house ten months without taking any nourishment. All those tortoises which inhabit the countries beyond the tropics, pass annually four or six months buried in the mud of marshes or in sand hills, and of course without eating. Nature has accorded to them, as she has to other hybernating animals, the faculty of accu- mulating, during the summer, an enormous provision of fat, on which they subsist during winter, a period in which, as we have already seen, their loss of substance amounts almost » to nothing. In India and America, the children often amuse themselves by mounting on the backs of tortoises, and being thus carried about. Some of these animals can thus carry a great many, and walk as fast as if they had no burthen. But this amuse- ment soon becomes very fatiguing to these youngsters, because the tortoise cannot advance one of its paws without raising the corresponding side of the carapace, which occasions very violent shocks, and no small danger of being overturned to the riders, if they are not perpetually on their guard. Pliny and Diodorus Siculus have informed us, that entire people made use of the scales of marine tortoises to shelter them from the inclemency of the weather, or to form boats, &c. They are employed at the present day in many places for similar objects. Even in the European colonies they are frequently used for domestic purposes, such as holding the drink or food of cattle, washing children, &c. They form a large dish, the shape of which is not ugly, but which can- ORDER CHELONIA. 57 not be kept straight, but by fixing the convex part in the ground. In the family of ferrestrial tortoises, the Greek tortoise, Testudo Mydas, is common enough in all the southern parts of Europe, and naturalists have had ample opportunities of observing and studying it. Notwithstanding this, according to Daudin, almost all of them have confounded under this specific name, three different and approximating species. Scheepff is the first observer who has properly separated these three species, and given a just description of them. The true Greek tortoise, which was so well known by the ancient Greeks, and which Phidias placed at the feet of his statue of Venus, as the symbol of gentleness, was first ascribed by our countryman Ray, under the name of the common land tortoise. He says that it is to be recognized by the spots, or rather by black and yellow areolz, or circles, on the back, by its osseous shell, very convex above, and flat underneath, by its small head not unlike that of a serpent, which it can elon- gate or withdraw at will under the carapace, and by the absence of upper eyelid, and of tympanum. Ray adds, that it passes the whole winter in a state of torpor in the ground, and that it can live a length of time without eating. The general length of the shell in the Greek, or common tortoise, is from six to eight inches. M. Daudin has seen one - of this species ten inches French measure, in entire length. It does not seem ever to exceed this last dimension. The skin of the neck, though scaly, is very loose, and folds, occasionally, according to the inclination of the animal, in a sort of capote behind the head. This tortoise is very common in the southern parts of Europe, as we have before mentioned, and especially in the various countries which border on the Mediterranean. It is found wild in Dalmatia, Sardinia, Portugal, on the coast of Barbary, and probably also in Egypt, if the land-tortoise 58 CLASS REPTILIA. named Zolhafa, by the Arabs, is to be regarded as synonymous with it, and of which Forskaél has given but an indication in his Fauna of Arabia. According to him, it is a foot long. The plastron, or breast-plate, of the male is flat, that of the female somewhat concave. The latter lays thirty or forty eggs, pretty nearly as large as those of a pigeon. It is rare in Cairo, but found commonly enough towards Aleppo and Mount Libanus. It is sold in the markets in Egypt, and the Greeks eat it during Lent, regarding it in the same point of view as fish: they cook its eggs for their table, and drink the blood fresh. According to Cetti, the common tortoise seldom weighs above three pounds. It is not often brought up in the gar- dens of France or Germany, but very frequently in those of Italy, where Targioni Tozzetti, professor of medicine at Florence, has examined it with some attention. According to this observer, it multiplies there, grows very slowly, and may live for forty years and more. We have already men- tioned one cited by Cetti, which was sixty years old and upwards. But we are told in Shaw’s General Zoology, that there have been several well-attested examples of the tortoise having lived considerably beyond the period of a century. In the time of Archbishop Laud, one was introduced into the episcopal garden at Lambeth, about the year 1633, and con- tinued to live there until 1753, when it died, as it would seem, from neglect, and not the mere effect of age. The shell is preserved in the library of the palace of Lambeth. This tortoise appears to have exceeded the usual dimensions of its species, for the shell measured ten inches in length, and six and-a-half in breadth. | The common tortoise, about the end of October, buries itself about two feet under ground, and does not emerge until April. Weare told that it hybernates in this manner even in Barbary, and it is probable that it does so in all the coun- ORDER CHELONIA. 59 tries which it inhabits, without being determined to this torpor merely by the severity of cold. The males are sometimes seen to trot about, and make little bounds upon the earth ; but it is hard to say, whether this manifestation of vivacity is the result of anger or of love. When many males are assem- bled together in one place, they attack each other pertina- ciously, butting with the head and biting. This tortoise prefers for its habitual haunts, woods, and elevated lands. It feeds equally on the roots of plants, on fruits, on insects, and on worms. It breaks the shells of snails with facility, and swallows the animal. It does not touch fish, as it never goes into the water. Its character and habits are gentle, and it is easily domesticated. In gardens it is very useful, as it destroys a considerable quantity of insects and mollusca, which are pernicious, and never does any harm. If it experience hunger for many days, it may be given bran moistened with a little milk. There is no risk, however, in allowing it to fast even for months, especially _ when a part of the autumn is gone by, for it is then so replete with fat, that a fast and torpor of four or five months are absolutely necessary to its preservation. The tortoise of Blasius, which we mentioned before, and which lived ten months without eating, died in consequence of the rigour of the cold. On being opened, blackish, green, and yellow excrements were found in its intestines. If the Zolhafa of Forskaél, belong to this species, as M. Daudin believes that it does, the German writer must be erroneous in saying that it lays thirty or forty eggs. Cetti tells us, on the contrary, that the common tortoise, in Sar- dinia, lays, towards the end of June, only four or five eggs, which are white, and about the size of those of a pigeon. These eggs, deposited in a hole, .and covered with sand, disclose about the end of September, and the young which then come forth are not larger than a walnut shell. 60 CLASS REPTILIA. That we may leave nothing unsaid respecting the manners of this tortoise, we shall quote an interesting account given by Mr. White in his History of Selbourn, of one in a domesti- cated state :—*‘* A land tortoise, which has been kept thirty years in a little walled court, retires under ground about the middle of November, and comes forth again about the middle of April. When it first appears in the spring, it discovers very little inclination for food, but in the height of summer grows voracious; and then, as the summer declines, its appetite declines, so that for the last weeks in autumn it hardly eats at all. Milky plants, suchas lettuces, dandelions, sowthistles, &c., are its principal food. On the first of November, 1771, I remarked that the tortoise began to dig the ground, in order to form its hybernaculum, which it had fixed beside a great tuft of hepaticas. It scrapes out the ground with its fore feet, and throws it up over its back with its hind, but the motion of its legs is ridiculously slow, little exceeding the hour hand of a clock. Nothing can be more assiduous than this creature, night and day, in scooping the earth, and forcing its great body into the cavity ; but as the noons of that season proved unusually warm and sunny, it was continually interrupted and called forth by the heat in the middle of the day, and though I continued there until the thirteenth of November, yet the work remained unfinished : harsher weather and frosty mornings would have quickened its operations. No part of its behaviour ever struck me more than the extreme timidity which it always expresses with regard to rain; for though it has a shell which would secure it against the wheel of a loaded cart, yet does it discover as much solicitude about rain, as a lady dressed in her best attire, shuffling away on the first sprinklings, and running its head up inacorner. If attended to, it becomes an excellent weather-glass, for as sure as it walks elate, and as it were on tip-toe, feeding with great earnestness in a morning, so sure it ORDER CHELONIA. 61 will rain before night. It is totally a diurnal animal, and never pretends to stir after it becomes dark. “< The tortoise, as well as other reptiles, has an arbitrary stomach, as well as lungs, and can retrain from eating, as well as breathing, for a great part of the year. I was much taken with its sagacity, in discerning those that do it kind offices ; for as soon as the old lady comes in sight, who has waited on it for more than thirty years, it hobbles towards its bene- factress with awkward alacrity, but remains inattentive to strangers. Thus not only ‘the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib,’ but the most abject and torpid of beings distinguishes the hand that feeds it, and is touched with the feelings of gratitude. This creature not only goes under the earth, from the middle of November to the middle of April, but sleeps great part of the summer ; for it goes to bed in the longest days at four in the afternoon, and often does not stir in the morning until late. Besides, it retires to rest for every shower, and does not move at all in wet days. When one reflects on the state of this strange being, it is a matter of wonder that Providence should bestow such a waste of longevity on a reptile that appears to relish it so little, as to squander away more than two-thirds of its existence in a joy- less stupor, and be lost to all sensation for months together in the profoundest of all slumbers. Though he loves warm weather, he avoids the hot sun, because his thick shell, when once heated, would, as the poet says of solid armour, ‘ scald with safety.” He therefore spends the more sultry hours under the umbrella of a large cabbage-leaf, or amidst the waving forests of an asparagus bed. But as he avoids heat in the summer, so in the decline of the year, he improves the faint autumnal beams, by getting within the reflexion of a fruit-tree wall; and, though he has never read that planes inclining to the horizon receive a greater share of warmth, he 62 CLASS REPTILIA. inclines his shell, by setting it against the wall, to collect and admit every feeble ray.” On the observation of this amiable and agreeable writer relative to the longevity of the tortoise, we may remark, that it is more philosophical to consider the necessary conditions of life in any being, than to puzzle ourselves about the final causes of its duration. Without reference to peculiarity of constitution, we might pronounce, in a general way, that the life of any animal passed in great activity and intense enjoyment, will, of necessity, be comparatively short. The capital of life, if we may be permitted to use such a phrase, is sooner spent. When the functions of an animal are numerous and energetic in their action, when its sensations are lively and varied, its constitutional vivacity great, and it appears, as it were, to be perpetually under the influence of a powerful stimulus, we may naturally expect that the vital principle will be soon exhausted, unless, as is the case in some few instances, a strong counteracting principle is found in the strength, soli- dity, and compactness of the different systems of which its structure is composed. This principle does exist in some mammalia and birds, which are, therefore, longer lived than others; but, in general, we find that the species endowed with most activity and evident sense of enjoyment, are not at all distinguished for longevity. The result of the most extended and accurate observations on nature confirms one great truth, which may be laid down as an axiom; namely, that to procure certain advantages, a certain arrangement is necessary, and that this arrangement is quite incompatible with other and opposite advantages. Any arrangement cal- culated to secure the latter must exclude the former. The activity of the lively bird, incessantly on the wing; the longevity and tenacity of life in the cold-blooded reptile ; and the intelligence of man, cannot co-exist in any material being, ORDER CHELONIA. 63 no more than the properties of a square and a circle can be united in one and the same simple figure. The only dif- ference between the two cases is, that we see plainly the impossibility in the latter, because the entire subject is com- pletely within our view. In the former this is not the case, because the whole is not within our grasp, yet, as far as we can see, the impossibility is equally evident in the one as in the other; and could we survey all things with the eye of a divinity, we should find that the laws of physics are as immu- table as those of mathematics. There are six or eight varieties of the common land tor- toise, which have been pointed out by Schepff and Daudin. It is not necessary to describe them here. The Indian Tortoise (Test. Indica) has the carapace about three feet long, compressed in front, and elevating itself above the head, at the anterior edge. The general tint is deep brown; and the tail is terminated by a corneous point. This tortoise, of which, by the way, the opportunities of observation have not been numerous, would appear to be the largest species of the genus. Perrault has described it at considerable length, and left pretty ample and useful details on its anatomy. It has been figured by Scheepff; and M. Dumeril has shown, that, in collections under the general name of J'estudo Indica, many species have been confounded, similar in their system of coloration, but nevertheless to be distinguished by the form of the carapace. A tortoise of this species, according to Perrault, was brought from the coast of Coromandel to Europe, and lived more than a year in Paris, towards the end of the seventeenth century. Ina Dutch collection, Vosmaer observed a cara- pace like that of this tortoise, and which came from the Cape of Good Hope. 64 CLASS REPTILIA. Perhaps the Indian tortoise has some analogy with those which were seen by Dampier on the Gallapagos islands, and which, according to him, are so plentiful there, that five or six men might subsist there for many months, without any other provision. Some of these tortoises weighed a hundred and fifty, and two hundred pounds, and their flesh was as finely flavoured as that of the most delicate chicken. It is also very possible, that certain land tortoises seen by another traveller, Leguat, at the Island of Rodriquez, in 1692 and 1693, belonged to this species. They weighed about a hun- dred pounds each. This last statement was verified, in 1761, by the astronomer Lacaille, who mentions that these animals assemble in troops of from two to three thousand individuals, so that their carapaces touch, and present a sort of pavement of almost a hundred paces in extent. The Geometrical Tortoise (Test. Geometrica) is remark- able for the elegant form of its carapace, and the yellow lines agreeably disposed in rays on each of its scaly plates. It is much sought after by the curious, and specimens may be found in most collections. M. Daudin tells us, that the largest shell of this species which he has seen, was ten inches six lines (French measure) in length, and eight inches broad. The depth, about three inches nine lines. The geometrical tortoise closely resembles the common in its osseous covering, which is oval, very convex, especially towards its hinder part: also in the scaly plates of its cara- pace, surrounded with concentric strize, very numerous, and similarly formed. The marginal pieces are said to be twenty- four, and sometimes twenty-six in number. The number of pieces composing the disk is said to vary, there being four- teen sometimes instead of thirteen, as is the case with a speci- men in the British Museum, figured in the Naturalist’s Miscellany. ORDER CHELONIA. 65 This tortoise is found in Asia and Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Ascension Island. Grew tells us that it is found at Madagascar. Seba received one individual from Brazil, and another from Amboina. In the former of these countries, according to Pison, it bears the name of Jaboti, but this name would appear to be applied to many Bra- zilian tortoises. 'Thunberg informs us that the Hottentots make use of its shell to hold their stock of tobacco, and adds, that it is very common in the small woods near the Cape. According to Bruguiere, it lays twelve or fifteen eggs. The Yabular Tortoise (Test tabulata) is an American species, in which the shields are in general hexagonal; but some on the sides are nearly pentagonal. The central part of each shield is large and slightly granulated, the sides are deeply furrowed, and the whole has a sort of tabular or flattened appearance, as intended to be expressed by its name. The whole shell is very convex, of a deep yellowish chestnut, palest at the centre of each shield. The legs are thick, and are remarkable for having a number of blood-red spots on each. The radiated tortoise, or Cowi, of the French, (7. Radiata,) has the carapace very rounded and convex ; yellow rays on one or two sides only of the scaly plates; twenty- four marginal plates ; the general colour is black. This tortoise was first observed by Daudin, in the galle- ries of the Museum of Natural History in Paris. This writer was ignorant from what country it came. The baron states it to be from New Holland, without giving his autho- rity ; but the native country of this species is said by Grew to be Madagascar, whose very accurate description of the animal we present to our readers. ‘“‘It was sent from Madagascar. I find the animal no where described or figured. It is above half oval, being, of VOL. IX. F 66 CLASS REPTILIA. all that I ever saw, the most concave; a foot long, eight inches over, and almost six inches high. The convex is curiously wrought with black and whitish pieces, alternately wedged in one against the other, and notched, as it were, with transverse incisions. Those near the margin and on the sides are composed into several pyramidal areas, or great triangles, whose bases are about two inches broad; on the back, into six angular ones, each of them convex; on the sides, and quite behind, the shell is carried somewhat inward ; before and hinderly, the edges are toothed, and bended out- ward and upward. The inward edges are covered with shelly plates above an inch and a half broad. The concave is composed of six and forty bones. Along the middle of the back are twelve, all, except the foremost ‘and the four last, almost square. Next to these are eight on each side, like so many contiguous ribs, together with two lesser square bones before. Next to these, eight more, as it were, under-ribs on each side. To the twelve middlemost bones, the ribs are joined by an alternate commissure, so that one of them answers to the halves of two ribs, and vice versd. To these the under ribs are attached in a wonderful manner, viz. by a branched suture or indenture. For the great teeth of the under ribs being first inserted into those of the upper ribs, the indenture is afterwards repeated by lesser teeth, out of the sides of the great ones. Besides the most elegant order- ing of the work, in the convex there are three things chiefly observable, which serve for the greater strength of the shell. That is to say, the convexity of the several areas on the back, the branched sutures, and the alternate commissures of the bones; answerable to the rule of nature in a human skull, and of art in laying of stones in buildings, and in covering of broader vaults, not with one arch, but several lesser ones, for the greater strength.” Dr. Shaw seems to consider that this tortoise is also a ORDER CHELONIA. 67 native of Jamaica, as the Hicatée tortoise mentioned by Brown, seems to agree pretty well with it in characters and. size, and by no means so with the geometrical tortoise. Daudin, however, considers this tortoise of Brown to belong to a variety of another species, the marginata. The Areolated tortoise (T. Areolata). The individual of this species, figured by Schepff, in his Natural History of Tortoises, was brought from the East Indies by Thun- berg. Seba, on the other hand, has figured another indi- vidual, which he names the land tortoise of Brazil. The length of this animal is only three or four inches. The cara- pace is oblong, a little more narrowed in the front, scarcely indented at the top of the neck, and moderately convex. The disk is covered with thirteen plates, more or less square or sexangular, moderately raised, and with their sutures depressed. The edge of these plates is surrounded by some concentric striz. The areolz, or central parts, are smooth on their edges, and have their centre slightly sunk in, and punctated roughly. On the centre of the areola of the two anterior vertebral plates, there is a small projection dis- posed length-wise, which is either effaced or non-existent on the other plates. The centre of the areolz is yellow, the edges white, and the rest of the plates of a dirty bay. The marginal plates are square, nearly of an equal length, and four and twenty in number. The marginal collar-plate is small, and more narrow, while that which is placed above the tail has a wider form than the others, and a little furrow on the middle, which makes it appear almost double. These plates are of the same colour as the disk, and are separated from it by a sufficiently well-marked furrow. The plastron, or breast-plate, is yellowish and flat, trun- cated, and scarcely notched in front, but marked with a sin- gular notch behind, and covered with twelve scaly plates, which are surrounded by some brownish furrows. F 2 68 CLASS REPTILIA. Seba thinks that the aquatic tortoise, found by Marc- grave in Brazil, and which is named Jurura by that writer, should be referred to this species. But this is a mistake. Seba is also in error in making Brazil the habitat of his tor- toise. Daudin believes it to be Indian, but it is more likely that it belongs to the Cape. Mr. Bell, in the third volume of the Zoological Journal, has described three new and beautiful species of the land- tortoise, under the names of 7’. actinodes, T'. teutoria, and T.. pardalis. The actinodes has a black head, with yellow spots. On the fore-feet are numerous large black yellow spots ; not so nume- rous, but larger, on the thighs. The shell is elevated, ovate, with the margin anteriorly notched, posteriorly denticulated ; the whole of the scuta sulcated, black, with regular yellow radiations, and with large yellow areole. The marginal scuta are twenty-three, forming a deeply-serrated outline; the sternum is yellow. In the young state, this however appears to be the 7". stellata of Schneider. ; The teutoria has the dorsal scuta conical, acute, at the apex black, striped with yellow ; the marginal scuta, twenty- four ; sternum narrowed behind, with a deep acute emargina- tion; deep uniform brown in the middle, through the whole length, and pure light yellow at the sides. In the pardalis, the head is of a uniform dull brown, which also pervades the neck, feet, and tail, but with occasional shades of dirty yellow. The neck is very long, feet robust, furnished with strong conical and triangular scales. The shell is very deep, and formed like that of J. Indica; scuta, flat sulcated, of a dirty light yellow ; claw with nume- rous large irregular black spots, as if splashed, but assuming in a slight degree a radiating direction; the areole of the vertebral scuta, a little elevated; those of the costal scuta, placed very near their upper margin, towards their junction = ™ WATS ay 86s )BL IL “mmo 7E axrvaiornk Be apnea Ma Pena STIPUMP A lh O6GL {AON PUT PRY ad ——————— Gee 5 al yes tipo = SES, MA fol UBT witoy mp 29 R syouyy AQ Paysyqny “SM UONDLL QE aE ee eee a MSLOLUOL CkUUVLS : Sees ILS Nae BAC ORDER CHELONIA. 69 with the vertebral,—which character constitutes almost the only distinction of importance between this species and 7’. Indica, excepting the colour. Marginal scuta, twenty-three. Mr. Bell adds, that the specimen from which his descrip- tion was given was then living, and had been in his possession since the commencement of the summer, during which time it had had the range of a small orchard, feeding heartily on grass, which it plucked with a movement similar to that of a goose. The neck is so extensile as to permit the head to be raised above the level of the top of the back, and thus to enable the animal to look around on all sides by merely turning the head. It is the largest known species of land- tortoise, (having the shell following the curvature two feet long,) excepting 7’. Indica. To Mr. Bell we shall be indebted for our account of two genera (or subgenera, according to the Cuvierian plan) of land tortoises, which form a natural passage from the land to the fresh-water tortoises: these are the pywis and kinywys. We shall present our readers with an abstract of that gentle- man’s paper on the subject, in the fifteenth volume of the Linnean Transactions, Part the Second. This gentleman was formerly of opinion that the affinities which connect the fresh-water tortoises with those of the land, were to be found in the genus J'errapene, and especially in those species confounded by writers under the trivial name Clausa. These last, however, are true fresh-water tortoises, notwithstanding a certain approximation in their habits and structure to those of Y'estwdo proper; and Mr. Bell was unable to find in the known species of the latter family the relations of which he was in search. He was fortunate enough, however, afterwards to obtain a living specimen of a new species of tortoise (Kinywys Cas-~ tanea), which appeared to possess those relations. The flepression, and great lateral expansion of the shell, evince an 7O CLASS REPTILIA. evident approximation to Emys, and the large openings for the feet indicate great facility and power of motion. Accord- ingly, the movements of this tortoise are far more lively than those of others of its family. The feet have the elevated form of the land tortoises, but with a clear approach to the flat- tened palmate form of Emys, and the claws have somewhat of the length and sharpness of those of the latter. These affinities are corroborated by the structure of the dorswm or carapace, which is divided into two portions, the hinder of which is moveable, and can come in contact with the hinder margin of the sternum, and thus completely secure the hind feet and tail, when they are drawn within the shell. Also, by a relaxation of the muscles which thus close the box, it may be opened, about one-half or three-fourths of an inch. This mobility is produced by the want of any bony union between the fifth and sixth ribs, which are connected only by an elastic ligament. In older specimens Mr. Bell has observed, that part of the inferior margin of the upper shell, which is opposed to the edge of the sternum, to be eroded by the force of its continual action. The situation of the hinge, and the part which closes the shell, are indeed different in the two groups (Kinywys and Emys) ; still the fact of a structure for this specific end, proves relationship, and added to other affinities, establishes the link required. Two specimens of another species, in the British Museum, presented by Sir Everard Home, exhibit the same peculiarity of structure. To this genus, Mr. Bell has given the name Kinyxys, from xvfo, moveo; and sévs, lwmbus. The other genus presents an affinity, or possibly, says Mr. Bell, only an analogical relation to the box tortoises, though it strictly belongs to the terrestrial. A perfect specimen, in which the sternum was uninjured, exhibited a perfect land ORB Tue CRY WAP LD ¥ SeOTRUM Ki PAYSQ Qf “UOPUO T VAULT VAT S&T NISM ‘SRXINIM 8, UTae 5 OT SelM MT sagas ‘ oO - ANAT AN se ‘| “ (wo LAAN BY daa VLA pt ORDER CHELONIA. val tortoise, with the anterior lobe of the sternum moveable, and capable of closing the shell as completely as in any species of the fresh-water box tortoises. This unexpected peculiarity appeared sufficiently important to Mr. Bell to merit the distinct generic appellation of Pyxts. Emys is the scientific designation of those tortoises which live habitually in the fresh-water. Their feet are mobile and palmated, their jaws horny, and beak trenchant. The tail is generally short, and the carapace scaly and solid, as is also the sternum, which is broad. The body is naked, or covered with papillz and scales; the head scaly, or naked, is concealed under the carapace, or on its sides. The jaws are most usually entire, and the upper covers the lower like a box. The neck is usually naked and rounded ; the carapace is generally convex, and the claws are pointed. Most part of the reptiles of this genus live in marshes, and especially inhabit hot climates, where they live on plants and mollusca. The word Emys is derived from the Greek éy’s, which sig- nifies tortoise. The species of this genus are numerous—they are properly divided into two sections. The first has the sternum or plastron immoveable and angular. The first species is the Speckled Tortoise of Shaw, which might more properly be designated the Hwropean fresh- water tortoise. Emys Europea, Testudo orbicularis, Lin- neus. T'estudo lutaria, Hermann, Marsigli, Brunnich. Testudo flava, Bonnat. Daudin, &e. This tortoise is rather of a small size, the shell being about four or five inches in length, though sometimes it is eight long and four broad. The carapace is oval, very little con- vex, rather smooth, blackish, and marked with yellowish points disposed in rays. The plastron, or under plate, is as ie CLASS REPTILIA. long as the carapace, rather Jess broad, oval, oblong, rounded in front, and truncated, and almost without indenture behind. The head is flatted at top and sides; the tail is small and scaly; the skin of the neck thick, loose, wrinkled, and smooth, not scaly, as Schoepff has nevertheless stated it to be. In adults the carapace is smooth; while in the young, there are scales marked with furrows parallel to their edges, especially at the hinder part of the back and on the sides. Marsigli says, that these furrows are more apparent in the males than in the females. The disk of the carapace is occupied by thirteen large plates, five of which are vertebral, and eight on two lateral ranks. The first vertebral plate is pentagonal; the three following are hectagonal; the last is irregularly pentagonal, and sometimes marked in its centre with a salient ridge. The first lateral plate is large, square, and irregular; the two following are large, pentagonal, and elongated ; the last is quadrilateral, with curved sides. The edge of the carapace is composed of twenty-five plates, all squared. The plastron, or breastplate, is composed of twelve plates. The nostrils are small, round, and separated by a slender partition. The feet are covered with scales, and semi- palmate. This species is by far the most extended of the genus Emys. It is to be seen in all the south and east of Europe, even as far as Prussia. It has also been observed in Poland, in Italy, in Sardinia, and in Hungary. It is rare in France. Count de Lacépede informs us that it is also found in America and Ascension Island. It lives in muddy waters and marshes, and feeds on insects, mollusca, small fish, and plants. Its flesh is used as food, and forms an article of sale in many of the German markets. ORDER CHELONIA. 73 It is reared in ponds and gardens, with bread, lettuce, legu- minous plants, &c. J.C. Wulff informs us that the Prus- sian peasants keep these animals in troughs for two years sometimes, for the purpose of fattening them. The eggs of this European Emys are about the size of those of a pigeon, but more oblong. The female deposits them in the sand, exposed to the sun, and, according to Marsigli, they take a year before the young are excluded. There are several varieties of this Chelonian, one of which, it would appear, inhabits the marshes of Spain. The painted Tortoise (Emys picta) is easily distin- guished from the others by the colours which decorate it. It is five inches and a half in length, near four inches in breadth, and an inch and a half in thickness. The carapace is oblong, convex, and smooth, without any appearance of furrow or points. Its plates, thirteen in num- ber, are almost all quadrangular, except the three anterior, and two of the vertebral range, the angles of which are obtuse, and the sutures furrowed. The edge of the carapace is trenchant, except upon the flanks, and it is composed of twenty-five plates. The breast- plate (plastron) is as long as the carapace : its form is oblong. The two plates of the neck are rounded, and the two caudal ones truncated. All the plates, to the number of twelve, are marked with a stria, so that one might believe that these plates were eighteen. The feet and tail, which is short, are covered with scales: the former are slightly palmated. The general colour of this tortoise is brownish, deeper on the head and limbs. All the plates of the carapace are bor- dered with yellowish; so that the animal appears marked above with broad bands, which cross each other. The mar- ginal plates are yellowish, with irregular and blackish con- centric circles. The plastron is of a yellowish grey. On the 74 CLASS REPTILIA. sides of the head and jaws some yellow traits are visible, and. the tail is marked with four longitudinal lines of clear yellow. This tortoise is found in North America. It appears to delight much in deep and tranquil streams and solitary places. When the sky is serene, and the atmosphere sufficiently warm, they proceed in little troops out of the water, and go to rest on the trunks of trees and neighbouring rocks. Then, at the least noise, or on the approach of man, they replunge into the water with the greatest rapidity. The painted tortoise swims with swiftness, and walks slowly. It can live a long time under water ; but it cannot exist on dry land more than a few days. This tortoise, whose form is so elegant, and colour so agreeable, is considered as extremely voracious. It is even pretended that it will seize the young ducks which swim above it, by the feet, and drag them to the bottom of the water to devour them. Its flesh is considered by many Americans as a wholesome and delicate food. Schepff, in his history of tortoises, has given a complete description of this species. He has moreover applied himself to the disentanglement of the synonimy. He remarks that Seba has described it under the name of the tortoise of New Spain. This last author says that the Portuguese name it radago d'agno. He has given a tolerably correct figure. The painted tortoise of Hermann and Gmelin is certainly the same species ; but they have evidently described a young individual, for they state its size to be only that of a common apple. All the other characters resemble the preceding, with the exception of a double spot of blackish blue, which they have observed on each side of the carapace. Scheepff received frem Pennsylvania a young individual, whose carapace was four inches long, two inches nine lines in breadth, and one inch two lines in thickness. Its clear x p “rh Late hai: 4 *% veer Ainp nny map 24 49 mR mre Ma PENSAR RUT PQMMAPADOLD SAIN “OE SLOUWMOm Alea ay a YUL SM ORDER CHELONIA. 75 colours were of a lively yellow. The breast-plate was white, the head marked with yellow points, and the feet adorned with reddish striee. Schcepff was assured that this tortoise was aquatic; that during summer it inhabits banks of earth, and that it conceals itself from the month of October in marshy places to pass the winter. M. Daudin gives two varieties of the painted tortoise. The cinereous tortoise is only a young picta. Among the more rare specimens of emys in the British Museum, are the following: The Lake Erie tortoise; Emys geographica of Say and Leseur. It is olive-brown, with numerous narrow dark- edged open lines on the back and margin ; beneath it is yellow, with a narrow black line on the sutures of the sternal plates. The shell is ovate, smooth, and convex, with the back bluntly carinated ; the sternal-plate, sterno-costal suture, and the mar- gin, have irregular lines of different breadths ; the head and limbs have numerous narrow lines, and there is a subtrian- gular patch on each temple. Its name sufficiently indicates its locality. The Emys occipitatis, so named by Mr. Gray, appears to be hitherto unnoticed. That gentleman thus describes it :-— Shell, ovate oblong, smooth, rather convex, and very ob- scurely and bluntly keeled, doubly indented behind ; dark brown, varied with broad and narrow pale lines; those of the vertebral plates somewhat ringed, diverging on the costal ala; the margin has a series of square, pale-ringed black spots, placed on the suture, and each spot occupying half a plate. The first vertebral plate squarish ; the others broad, hexangular; palish yellow, with a large black ring on each plate, with a blackish eye-like spot on each suture of the marginal plate, and a long ring-formed spot at each end of the sterno-costal suture. In Mr. Bell’s collection, and, we believe, also in that of the a6 CLASS REPTILIA. Zoological Society, is a very beautiful little emys, named, by that gentleman or by Mr. Gray, E. ornata, which is ex- tremely small, though evidently young. The shell is oblong and rugose; the costal and marginal shields have each a central dot, surrounded by a dark-edged pale ring ; the ver- tebral plates have rings less regular than the others—the first is urceolate, and the second and third long and hexagonal. The marginal plates have also eye-like spots and rings; the shield is fine green, with the spots and rings yellow ; the head is yellowish, lined with orange streaks: beneath it is yellow, with dark lines. We have engraved a figure from Mr. Bell’s valuable collec- tion of another emys, which is named in his MSS. &. decus- sata. It may, however, be allied to the K. serrata of Dau- din. The shell is oblong and bluntly carinated. The first vertebral plate is nearly square, but rounded at the sides, and the rest are subquadrangular. The shell is uniformly pale brown ; the shield irregularly and concentrically groved beneath ; yellow, convex, with a spot on each end of the sterno-costal suture, and a round spot on the suture of the marginal plates. The animal is greenish, with the cheeks and chin palely streaked. Mr. Gray has seen several specimens of this species. The Mud Tortoise of Shaw, Emys lutaria, is remarkable for exhibiting so great difference during its non-age from the adult state. In the former, its shell has three distinct ridges or keels passing from front to rear, and is otherwise irregular in the surface ; whereas in the latter it is smooth, with a single, very blunt keel. The colour is olive, varied with .dark edged orange spots. Mr. Bell, as we have seen in the text, distinguishes a group of tortoises, principally by length of neck, under the head Hydraspis. The long-necked tortoise (Him. lon- gicollis) of Shaw, is among these. It is a native of New “Sy : ga S L ] a) L, Bell. Ac SSW A ID Ig CW Yas ALT ‘] Bi) Hiv LL C2 Ave Marta Lane- Londor. July. 1680. Taltaker y Published by | AY hth Hie H i} thi i He re 4 Him i: ee | HY i th it A A it ih tH MW HH hy Atty mMmoOD TORTOIS iE. EMMYS LUTARIA. vA Nearly Adult. » t- Us. Brn as LOUPLG. London. Publshed by Whillaker kk C? Ave Maria 1 ane,1830. Sea htt abe pA ab sates i aue™ 5 yn OEeT Qyeun'T mdopy eApe 3 7 Oy capoyrey jf Ky gorysyyn g uopuoy WS“ SUTTODIINOT ILS ill “HSIOLWMOL CiwoOgTNa ONOT PL SU ORDER CHELONIA. a Holland; of a dark olive-brown colour, and of a texture resembling leather. ‘The shell is oblong and flattish, and the first vertebral shield is very large. Nothing is known of its habits; but the head, in common with the species of this group, cannot be drawn back under the shield. On the second division of emys, the Box-TORTOISES, we shail again gladly avail ourselves of the excellent observa- tions of Mr. Bell, in his monograph on this genus, in the second volume of the Zoological Journal, p. 299, &c. This gentleman very properly observes, that when a num- ber of species are found in any group of animals, different in some important and essentially anatomical character, they should be separated into a subordinate group, and receive a distinctive appellation. The box-tortoises _were included in the emydes of Brongniart, with which they, doubtless, have much affinity. But. Merrem, observing the character of their sternum, separated into two or three moveable divisions, formed them into a distinct genus, under the name of Terrapene. Mr. Say, the American zoologist, without appearing to have known of this separation of Mer- rem, has also divided them into a distinct group, which he has called Cistewda. Spix has applied the generic term A7- nosternon to two Brazilian species. Like the emydes which we have already noticed, they are fresh-water tortoises. 'They agree with them in the general form of the shell, the subpalmation of the toes, and in aquatic habits. In the species confounded under the name Terrapene clausa and its synonyms, there would seem, at first view, to be an exception to this; but though they are called in America land-tortoises, and have something similar in appearance and habits to ¢estedo proper, yet their affinities with emys are sufficiently numerous and important. We are told by Schcepff that 7’. clawsa, though sometimes found in 78 CLASS REPTILIA. dry places, and not well formed for swimming, are fond of marshes. Mr. Bell, as we have already observed, before his discovery of the two genera, Kinixys and Pyxis, imagined that the natural transition from emys to testudo, was to be found here by means of his Terrapene Europea. But the true connecting link between the two families he has since, as we have seen, much more satisfactorily established. The important character of the group of which we now speak, is the mobile structure of the sternum. This sternum, in all of them, may be considered as consisting of three por- tions: the posterior is that part which is covered by the two posterior pairs of plates—the middle one, by the next pair— and the anterior by the remaining anterior plates, which dif- fer in number according as the foremost pair are either united into one single plate, or have a small supernumerary one interposed between them. There are three different modifications which take place in this part. ‘¢ In the first (the genus Kinosternon, Spix), the middle portion or lobe is quite fixed to the sides, the anterior and posterior lobes moving upon it. In the second form (the genus Sternotherus, Bell), the middle portion is fixed, as in the other, and the posterior one also connected with it by continuous bony union, the anterior lobe only being moveable, In the third (constituting the genus Terrapene, Merrem), the middle and posterior lobes are also immoveably con- nected together, but forming a single moveable valve, with- out any bony union with the upper shell, the anterior lobe being also moveable on the same axis. The only connexion between these two valves and the upper shell, is by means of a strong ligament, becoming cartilaginous at the axis. ‘¢ The hinge or connection between the valves is formed by a sort of articular cartilage, allowing, by its elasticity, of sufficient motion to enable the animal to open the shell, so ORDER CHELONIA. 719 as to move its limbs without inconvenience, or, on the other hand, to bring it into close contact with the upper shell, and thus to enclose itself, particularly in the genus T'errapene, within a complete box. At the angles of these valves are small processes of bone, or at least distinct muscular impres- sions, to which the adductor muscles are fixed; and these in the anterior valve, of Sternotherus Leachianus, form long spinous processes. It is obvious, that in the genus Sterno- therus, the hinder part of the shell cannot be closed, as that part of the sternum is immoveable. “* Upon the whole, then,” adds Mr. Bell, ‘‘ notwithstand- ing the affinities by which these animals are connected with the Emydes of Merrem, are such as forbid me to consider them as a distinct family, yet the structure which I have been describing is so striking, and appears to me of so much consequence, especially as requiring a considerable addition to, or modification of, the muscular system, that I could not look upon it as forming a less important group than a sub- family, particularly as it includes several subordinate divi- sions with distinct generic characters.” The following is Mr. Bell’s arrangement :— Fam. Emypip2. Subfam. SternotH#rIna.—Characters are: Toes dis- tinct, with sharp claws. Beak horny; scales of the disk thirteen. Breastplate consisting of one or two valves, united by a ligament, moving as if on a hinge, and thus capable of partially or totally closing the shell. Genus I. Krnosternon, Spix. Breastplate consisting of three distinct lobes, the middle one fixed, to which the ante- rior and posterior, which are moveable, are articulated by a ligament. The species are, 1. Shavianwm, called by Mr. Bell after Dr. Shaw. 2. Longicaudatum. 3. Brevicaudatum. 4 Pennsylvuanicum. 5. Amboinense. 6. Nigricans. 50 CLASS REPTILIA. Genus II. Srernoruexrus, Bell. Breastplate having but one moveable valve, formed of the anterior lobe. The mid- dle and posterior lobes immoveably connected and fixed. The species are, 1. T'rifasciatus. 2. Leachianus. 3. Odoratus. 4. Boscii. Genus III. Terrarenr, Merrem. Cisrupa, Say. Ster- num bivalve; the two valves moving on the same anxis; the posterior valve consisting of the two posterior portions or lobes of the sternum. The species are, 1. Huropea. 2. Carolina. 3. Maculata. 4. Nebulosa. The Emydes, whose long tail and voluminous limbs can- not be concealed within the carapace, have given rise to the establishment of a new genus, by M. Schweigger, called Che- lydra. They are separated by our author from the pre- ceding, without any given denomination. The first and best known of these is Emys Serpentina, mentioned in the text. The carapace is depressed, oval, and almost subquadrangular, truncated, and a little more narrow in front. The dorsal plates are thirteen, and the marginal five and twenty. All the plates of the carapace are slender, rather transparent, and of a brown colour more or less deep. The plastron is small, and has but nine or ten plates, which are smooth and slender. The beak is not unlike that of a buzzard, and is terminated by two wattles. The upper jaw is wider than the lower. The neck is at least as long as the body, and very retractile. The upper part of the tail is armed with a denticulated crest. It is as long as the body. This arrangement has occasioned this animal to be named, in Carolina, the alligator tortoise. This Emys is found in the fresh waters of North America. It is rare, and much in estimation for the excellence of its flesh. It attains the length of about four feet, and often ORDER CHELONIA. 81 weighs more than twenty pounds. It is a mischievous and voracious animal, tearing young ducks and fishes, and often attacking its own species. It occasionally removes to some distance from the water. It seizes its prey, rising on its hind feet, and elongating its neck with great rapidity of motion. It is said to utter a hissing cry, and when irritated, to bite with so much violence, that there is much difficulty in forcing it to let go its hold. Schcepff reared several individuals of this species ina chamber. They always looked out for the most gloomy corners, and concealed themselves in the ashes of the chimney. We now come to the CHELONIANS proper, or sea tortoises, vulgarly termed turtles in this country. M. Brongniart devoted the name Chelonia to them, and it is highly proper, as preserving an analogous signification to the original word among the ancient Greeks. It is unnecessary to add any thing here to the generic characters given in the text. The marine tortoises are all inhabitants of the seas of warm climates, under the torrid zone, and as far as the fifteenth degree of latitude. One single species, that of Japan, lives in the fresh water. The Green turtle—Shaw—Testudo mydas, has its scales neither imbricated nor carinated. The lower jaw is strongly denticulated. The head is comparatively smaller than that of other marine tortoises. The carapace is oval, heart-formed, and but little convex. All the scales are very transparent and agreeably shaded: they are also very slender. When the animal is in the water the colour of the carapace is a deep green, though Dr. Shaw informs us, that it is from the tinge of the fat that this reptile has been named the green turtle. According to Dr. Cloquet, this tortoise exceeds all others of its genus in size and weight, being six or seven feet long, and weight seven or eight hundred pounds. But Dr. Shaw VOL. IX. G 82 CLASS REPTILIA. gives the palm of magnitude to another species, the logger- head, or caretta. In his voyage to the Canary Islands, Lemaine assures us, that near Cape Blanco, the tortoises are of such a bulk, that their carapace is not less than fifteen feet in circumference, and that the flesh of one of them would be a sufficient banquet for thirty men. The green turtles are very common on the low arid sandy shores of both continents, principally under the torrid zone. They are never taken towards the north, or beyond the fiftieth degree of latitude, but when driven there by tempests. But they have been caught even towards the mouth of the Loire. One mentioned by Count Lacépéde was taken near Dieppe, in 1762, of nine or ten pounds’ weight. Dr. Shaw indeed thinks it probable that this was not a mydas, but a caretta. However, M. Cloquet has seen within these fifteen years two or three small ones which came from the same part. They seek the neighbourhood of islands and deserted coasts, coming to land as seldom as possible, and remaining there but a very short time. After remaining thus on shore, they find great difficulty in sinking again in the water, either because they are then filled with a considerable volume of air, or, according to the opinion of M. de Lacépéde, they become so dry as to lose asixth of their weight. At certain periods, the green turtles are observed to quit the bottom of the sea, and repair in crowds towards the mouths of great rivers. They are very timid, and never seek to defend themselves except when in the act of coition. On such occasions, they resist with fury, and brave every danger. It is in the month of April that the females deposit their eggs in a dry place on the shore. They first of all, without ° being ever accompanied by the males, seek out a convenient situation, quitting the water with many precautions after the ORDER CHELONIA. 83 setting of the sun, but return immediately to the sea on the slightest disturbance. If this is not the case, they proceed above the line of the highest tide, excavate the sand with their fins, and, after having made a hole of about two feet deep and two wide, formed like a reversed cone, they deposit their eggs there, sometimes to the number of one hundred in a single night. During this labour, nothing can disturb them or dis- tract their attention. At such times, they are taken with great facility. In this manner, they lay three successive sets of eggs—an interval of fourteen days or three weeks elapsing between each set. They return to the sea, after having covered their eggs with sand. We are told by Pére Labat, that on the coast of Africa a single one of these tortoises will produce two hundred and fifty eggs, and even more. The young are excluded generally in about three weeks, though some little variation will take place according to lati- tude, and the temperature of the atmosphere. The accounts of authors, however, on this subject cannot be implicitly relied on, as they abound in contradictions, though the above may be considered the average time. The eggs are round, two or three inches in diameter, and enveloped in a soft membrane, not unlike moistened parch- ment. Their albuminous part does not coagulate in the fire, but the yolk hardens very well. These eggs are excellent eating, and in great estimation. With the very young turtles, the carapace is covered with a white and transparent skin, which grows brown by degrees, forms transverse wrinkles, then thickens, and finally is divided into scaly plates. * Dampier has remarked, that towards the season of laying, the greater number of these turtles remove for two or three months from the latitudes where they habitually reside. «2 84 CLASS REPTILIA. They proceed to deposit their eggs at some distance from their usual domicile, and then abandon them. In this voyage the male follows the female, and does not quit her until their return. It is believed that during the whole time of their absence they eat nothing ; it is certain that they are extremely lean when they do return, especially the male. The same traveller adds, that they are accompanied in their route by sharks, and an infinite number of other fishes. The places most remarkable for the deposition of eggs by the testudo mydas, are the Alligator Islands, in the sea of the Antilles, and that of Ascension, in the middle of the Kquinoxial Atlantic Ocean. They arrive at the former from the end of April to the month of September, and none of them can have travelled less than forty or a hundred leagues, for such is the distance from their nearest points of departure, which are the little isles southward of Cuba. Those which proceed to Ascension Island cannot have travelled less than three hundred leagues, whether they come from Africa or America. An innumerable quantity of these turtles are found in the channels between the Gallapago islands and the Equinoxial Ocean. They proceed to the coasts of America to deposit their eggs—a distance, at the least, of one hundred and forty leagues. ; In consequence of all this we may believe, that the same instinct which leads the young turtles to enter the sea the moment they are born, a fact noticed in our general obser- vations on the order, also conducts them to the latitudes inhabited by their mothers, where they find an abundant supply of food. Another consequence of the fact which we have described, is the circumstance of these tortoises having been met by travellers in the high seas at seven or eight hundred leagues of distance from any land whatsoever. This animal may be considered as one of the most useful ORDER CHELONIA. 85 productions of equatorial climates. On distant shores it furnishes to navigators an aliment equally agreeable, abun- dant, and salutiferous, and an assured remedy against the ravages of scurvy. The flesh and broth of turtle are recommended in a num- ber of morbid affections, as in consumption of the lungs, inveterate syphilis, and a variety of cutaneous affections. The fat is often of a deep green, but it is very finely flavoured. Leguat informs us, that, in the Island Rodriguez, the fat of the tortoises there is so highly coloured, that peo- ple at first were afraid to eat it, and that it communicates to the urine the tint of emerald. The turtles of Batavia are not in much estimation. In Cook’s Voyages we learn, that those of the river Endeavour, in New Holland, are very good. There is more or less a musky flavour about the green turtles, according to the season in which they are caught. It would appear that, under certain circumstances, and in certain latitudes, these animals possess pernicious qualities. At the time of the voyage of Commodore Anson, in 1740, the Spaniards and Americans of the western coasts of Mexico, near Panama, regarded their flesh as poisonous. Quere, whether the species of which we are now writing was the one which they thus stigmatized ? Be this as it may, it is certain that in the European colo- nies, in the Antilles, and at the Isle of France, they are in the highest estimation. In Jamaica they are even preserved in parks; and their flesh is sold in the shops at_a less price than that of beef and mutton. From this last island in particular is our turtle-eating metropolis supplied with immense quantities of this luxurious food. It would be quite superfluous to descant on the enthu- siastic veneration in which turtle-soup is held by our wealthy and discerning fellow citizens. 86 CLASS REPTILIA. Every year many vessels proceed to the Cape Verd Islands to take in their cargo of these animals, and salt them, to transport them into America. Those consumed in the Isle of France come from the Sechelles Islands. From the fat of the turtle oil may be derived for burning. A large one will furnish thirty pints or more. When these tortoises are on land, they are taken by turn- ing them on their backs, either with the hands, or, if they are too heavy and bulky, with stakes or levers. They are left in this position for a greater or less length of time. Accord- ing to Pére Labat, they may be kept alive in this way for fifteen or twenty days provided care be taken to wet them with. sea-water four or five times every day. They grow very thin, however, under this kind of discipline. In the midst of the ocean these tortoises are caught by the harpoon. Lord Anson reports that, in some parts of the South Sea, hardy divers will get under them when they are asleep, seize them by the lower part of the carapace, and support them long enough on the water to be enabled to hoist them into a boat. M. Laborde, a physician of Cayenne, mentions that they are caught in nets. But the most extra- ordinary mode of catching them is by means of a fish of the genus Echeneis. In 1809, when Mr. H. Salt was at Mozambique, having received a present of one of these fish, all the inhabitants assured him that they were wont to employ it, by fastening it with a cord to a boat, and that it fixed itself by the head to the breast-plate of the first tortoise it met, with so much force, that the latter could not escape. Commerson has likewise reported something of the same kind. The shell of this turtle is too thin to be applicable to the same purposes as that of the imbricated turtle, of which we shall presently speak. It appears that the nature of the sea tortoises was very little understood by the Europeans until after the middle of ORDER CHELONIA. 87 the last century. The discrepant accounts of navigators respecting the flavour and wholesomeness of the turtle’s flesh as food, must be entirely attributed to their ignorance con- cerning the distinction of species. In fact, the introduction of the green turtle as an article of luxury into this country dates at no very distant period. In the part called the His- torical Chronicle of the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1753, is recorded :—“ Friday, Aug. 31, a turtle, weighing 350 pounds, was eat at the King’s Arms Tavern, Pall-Mall; the mouth of an oven was taken down to admit the part to be baked.” Again, in the same work: for the same year is noticed :— “ Saturday, Sept. 29, the Turtler, Capt. Crayton, lately arrived from the Island of Ascension, has brought in several turtles of above 300 pounds weight, which have been sold at a very high price. It may be noted, that which is common in the West Indies is a luxury here.” And, once more, in the same publication, for 1754, we read, “Saturday, July 13, the Right Hon. the Lord Anson, made a present to the gentlemen of White’s chocolate house, of a turtle, which weighed 300 pounds weight, and which laid five eggs since in their possession. Its shell was four feet three inches long, and about three feet wide. When its head was cut off, at least five gallons of blood issued from it, and so full was it of life, that the mouth opened and shut for an hour after it was cut off.” All these paragraphs show how recent an article of luxury the turtle must have been at the period in which they were written. We shall conclude this sketch of the history of the testudo mydas, with an extract concerning it from Catesby. ‘< Of the sea-turtles, the most in request is the green turtle, which is esteemed a most wholesome and delicious food. It receives its name from the fat, which is of a green colour. Sir Hans Sloane informs us, in his History of Jamaica, that 88 CLASS REPTILIA. forty sloops are employed by the inhabitants of Port Royal, in Jamaica, for the catching them. The markets are there supplied with turtle as ours are with butchers meat. The Bahamians carry many of them to Carolina, where they turn to good account, not because that plentiful country wants provisions, but they are esteemed there as a rarity, and for the delicacy of their flesh. They feed on a kind of grass growing at the bottom of the sea, commonly called turtle- grass. The inhabitants of the Bahama Islands, by often practice, are very expert at catching turtles, particularly the green turtles. In April, they go in little boats to Cuba, and other neighbouring islands, where, in the evening, and espe- cially in moonlight nights, they watch the going and return- ing of the turtle to and from their nests, at which time they turn them on their backs, where they leave them, and pro- ceed on, turning all they meet: for they cannot get on their feet again when once turned. Some are so large that it requires three men to turn one of them. The way by which the turtle are most commonly taken at the Bahama Islands is by striking them with a small iron peg of two inches long, put in a socket at the end of a staff twelve feet long. ‘Two men usually set out for this work in a little light boat or canoe, one to row and gently steer the boat, while the other stands at the head of it with his striker. The turtle are sometimes discovered by their swimming with their head and back out of the water, but they are oftenest discovered lying at the bottom, a fathom or more deep. If a turtle perceives he is discovered, he starts up to make his escape, the men in the boat pursuing him endeavour to keep sight of him, which they often lose and recover again, by the turtle putting his nose out of the water to breathe: thus they pursue him, one paddling and rowing, while the other stands ready with his striker. It is sometimes half an hour before he is tired, then he sinks at once to the bottom, which gives them an oppor- ORDER CHELONIA. 89 tunity of striking him, which is by piercing him with an iron peg, which slips out of the socket, but is fastened with a string to the pole. If he is spent and tired by being long pursued, he tamely submits, when struck, to be taken into the boat or hauled ashore. There are men, who, by diving, will get on their backs, and by pressing down their hind parts, and raising the fore part of them by force, bring them to the top of the water, while another slips a noose about their necks.” It is probable that many varieties of testwdo mydas exist, but they are far from being determined. The Imbricated turtle (T. Imbricata) is so named from the peculiar arrangement of the plates of the disk, as is men- tioned in the text. The head is smaller in proportion than in other turtles. The neck is longer ; and the narrow, sharp, and curved form of the beak, has given rise to the name of hawk’s-bill turtle, which is the vulgar appellation of this reptile. Its fore legs are longer than those of others of the tribe; and it is said to be able, when laid on its back, to recover its former position, which no other turtle can do. Its volume is less considerable than that of testudo mydas, and its weight is said seldom to exceed two hundred pounds. Its usual length seems to be about three feet ; but it has been known to measure five, and weigh five or six hundred pounds. Specimens of very great magnitude are reported to have been taken in the Indian Ocean. This turtle is a native of the American and also of the Asiatic seas, and has been occasionally found even in the Mediterranean. It is common enough near the islands and coasts of America, under the torrid zone, in the Atlantic. It especially prefers the Alligator Islands, and those of the Bay of Honduras, the coasts of Vera-Cruz, in the Gulf of Mexico, the north of Jamaica, the coasts of Guinea, and the Indian Ocean. The imbricated turtle feeds on the turtle-grass, the moss 90 ‘CLASS REPTILIA. on rocks which grows under water, &c. ; and Catesby informs us, that it eats a fungus, which the Americans denominate Jew’s ear. The flesh is disagreeable and unwholesome. According to Dampier, it purges those violently who eat of it. Labat tells us, that, in Martinico, it produces fever, and causes boils to break out over the entire body. Notwithstanding this, its eggs are excellent eating. But if the imbricated turtle presents us no advantages on the score of food, it is highly deserving attention for the value of its shell, which, from the remotest ages, has served for the purposes of decorating the furniture and palaces of the great. The plates, which are stronger, thicker, and more transparent than those of any other kind of tortoise, consti- tute, in fact, the sole value of the animal, by affording the substance which is particularly known by the name of tor- toise-shell. ‘They are half transparent, and beautifully varied with whitish, yellowish, reddish, and dark brown clouds and waves ; they take a fine polish, and constitute, for all orna- mental purposes, a most elegant article. The dorsal pieces are thirteen, and the marginal twenty- five, smaller than the others. These are raised and separated from the bony part, which they cover, by putting fire under the shell. The heat causes the plates to start, which are then easily detached from the bone. Almost eight pounds of tor- toise-shell may be thus gained from a large turtle, sometimes as much as fifteen or twenty ; and the shell is not considered as of much value, unless the animal weigh at least one hundred and fifty pounds. The next process is steeping the tortoise-shell in boiling water, for the purpose of softening it, and it is then put into a strong metallic mould of the figure required. When pieces are to be joined, the edges must be first scraped, and, while heated, laid over each other, and put into a strong press, ORDER CHELONIA. O91 whereby they are completely united. These are the modes by which gold and silver ornaments, &c. are affixed to tor- toise-shell. This substance is not capable of being united, as has been erroneously imagined. The ancients appear to have been exceedingly fond of the use of this beautiful substance, in the decoration of their houses, apartments, &c.: their doors, pillars, tables, and beds were embellished with it. This luxury was carried to an excessive degree amongst the Romans in the time of _ Augustus. Mr. Bruce has remarked on this subject, that— ‘The Egyptians dealt very largely with the Romans in this elegant article of commerce. Pliny tells us the cutting them for fineering, or inlaying, was first practised by Car- vilius Pollio from which we should presume that the Romans were ignorant of the art of separating the lamina by fire placed in the inside of the shell, when the meat is taken out; for these scales, though they appear perfectly distinct and separate, do yet adhere, and oftener break than split, where the mark of separation may be seen distinctly. Mar- tial says that beds were inlaid with it. Juvenal and Apu- leius, in his tenth book, mentions that the Indian bed was all over shining with tortoise-shell on the outside, and swelling with stuffing of down within. The immense use made of it in Rome may be guessed by what we learn from Velleius Paterculus, who says that when Alexandria was taken by Julius Cesar, the magazines or warehouses were so full of this article, that he proposed to have made it the principal article of his triumph, as he did ivory afterwards, when triumphing for having happily finished the African war. This, too, in more modern times, was a great article in the trade to China; and I have been always exceedingly surprised, since the whole of the Arabian Gulf is comprehended in the charter of the East India Company, that they do not make an expe- riment of fishing both pearls and tortoises—the former of g2 CLASS REPTILIA. which, so long abandoned, must now be in great plenty and excellence ; and a few fishers put on board each ship trading to Jeddo, might surely find very lucrative employment with a long-boat or pinnace, at the time their vessels were selling their cargo in the port, and, while busied in this gainful occupation, the coasts of the red sea might be fully ex- plored.” The species figured and described by Bruce, does not appear, however, to be the one we have been now describing. The scales are not imbricated. The Loggerhead turtle ( Testudo caretta ) is considered to be one of the largest, if not the very largest of its genus. A skull, supposed to belong to it, which was in the Leverian Museum, is said to have been taken from a turtle weighing more than sixteen hundred pounds, and measured more than a foot in length. In general appearance, this turtle most nearly resembles the mydas ; but the head is considerably larger, the breadth of the shell greater in proportion, and the colours deeper and more varied. It has also fifteen dersal segments, or scutella of the shell, and there are but thirteen in mydas. This number is observed to be pretty constant, and may therefore form a specific character of some certainty. These scutella, or dorsal segments in the middle range, are very protuberant, and form a row of tubercles on the middle of the back of the shield. The fore-feet are very large and long ; the hinder shorter, but broad. The habitat of this turtle is the same as that of mydas ; but it is also found in remoter latitudes, and even in the Mediterranean, especially about the coasts of Italy and Sicily. It is of little or no value in a commercial point of view—the flesh being coarse and rank, and the shell of no utility in the arts. It affords oil, however, which may be used for lamps, &c. The loggerhead-turtle is a powerful, fierce, and vora- ORDER CHELONIA. 93 cious reptile, and is even dangerous from its courage and ferocity. It will defend itself vigorously with its fore-legs, and is capable of breaking the strongest shells and other hard substances, with its mouth. Aldrovandus tells us of one which bit a thick walking-stick in two in a moment. Catesby says, “‘ The loggerhead-turtles are the boldest and most voracious of all other turtles. Their flesh is rank, and therefore little sought for, which occasions them to be more numerous than any other kind. They range the ocean over—an instance of which, among many others that I have known, happened the 20th of April, 1725, in lat. 30° north; when our boat was hoisted out, and a loggerhead-turtle struck, as it was sleeping on the surface of the water. This, by our reckoning, appeared to be midway between the Azores and the Bahama Islands; either of which places being the nearest land it could come from, or that they are known to frequent, there being none on the north continent of America farther north than Florida. It being amphibious, and yet at so great a distance from land in the breeding time, makes it the more remarkable. They feed mostly on shell-fish, the great strength of their beaks enabling them to break very large shells.” According to Schcepff, many parasite shells may be seen attached to the carapace of the testudo caretta. The Coriaceous turtle (T’. coriacea ) is a very large reptile of this tribe. Individuals are reported to have been seen eight feet in length, and weighing athousand pounds. With- out reposing, however, implicit faith in such accounts, in consequence of the decided proneness of man to exaggera- tion, we may believe that this turtle attains the length of five feet or more. Its body is longer in proportion than those of others of its tribe, and it is particularly distinguished by its external covering, which, instead of being horny, is of a strong substance, resembling leather. This circumstance, OA CLASS REPTILIA. along with the absence of a plastron or breast-plate, furnishes very sufficient reasons for a generic distinction of this ani- mal. The head is large, and the upper mandible notched at the top. The legs are large and long, and covered with a similar substance to that on the back. The tail is short and sharp. This remarkable species is a native of the Mediterranean Sea, and has at different periods been taken on the coasts both of France and England. In 1779, one was taken at Cette, measuring five feet five inches. In 1729, one, said to have been seven feet one inch, was caught near the mouth of the Loire. M. de Lafont, who has described it, says that it uttered dreadful howlings when it was killed. But this fact is so far from being well authenticated, that it does not seem at all probable. In July, 1756, says Borlase, in his History of Cornwall, one was taken which ‘‘ measured six feet nine inches from the tip of the nose to the end of the shell; ten feet four inches from the extremity of the fore-fins extended ; and was adjudged to weigh eight hundred pounds weight.” This species belongs not only to the European seas, but is also found in the South American; it occasionally appears about the African coasts, and is said to lay its eggs in the sand on those of Barbary. The ancient Greeks were well acquainted with this animal. According to traditions preserved among them, the first lyre is said to have been fabricated of its shell. Accordingly, they consecrated this animal to Mercury, the inventor of that instrument. Notwithstanding this, Pausanius informs us, that the tortoises employed for this purpose were those of the woodsof Arcadia. It may also be observed, that Rondeletius is the first modern who has attributed this employment to the carapace of the species now in question. In this supposition, he has been followed by most of his successors, ut mos est. The French call this animal Juth, from this circumstance ; B_Al COIRILA C I C aya Li 1630. aw Lave. 0. Ave Alaru Q t Whittaker 2: y oh ify pete ORDER CHELONIA. Q5 or, perhaps, from some fancied resemblance in the ribs or prominences on the back of the shell to the strings of a harp. Pennant reports the coriaceous tortoise to be extremely fat, but the flesh coarse and bad. The Carthusian friars, how- ever, will eat of no other species. The small sea-tortoise described by Pennant seems to be the young of this animal. The testudo fimbriata is a fresh-water tortoise apparently, and is said to have been once common in the rivers of the isle of Cayenne. It has grown rare, however, from having been much sought after, in consequence of the estimation in which its flesh was held. It lives on aquatic herbage, and is said to remove by night from its watery habitat in quest of pasture. M. Bruguiere had a specimen in his possession which lived for some time on herbs, bread, &c. It layed five or six eggs, one of which produced a young tortoise in the box in which it was kept. In the Trtonyx, called also soft tortoises, the ribs do not reach the edges of the carapace. The bones analogous to the sternal ribs are replaced by a simple cartilage. The sternal pieces of the breast-plate, too, do not fill the entire lower face of the body. They are easily distinguished from all the other tortoises. The T'rionyx A2gyptiacus, Groof., Test. triunguis, Gm., has the carapace oval, almost orbicular, carinated along the back, without scaly plates or emargination, coriaceous, stri- ated, rough to the touch, convex, more flattened and rugous in front, widened and smoother behind. The breast-plate is flat, smooth, whitish, without scales or emarginations, and in a great measure cartilaginous. The head is smooth, de- pressed, and small. The feet short, and palmate. This tortoise sometimes grows to three feet in length; and is green, spotted with white. It inhabits the Nile, and devours the little crocodiles at the moment in which they 96 CLASS REPTILIA. proceed from the egg. It also appears to have been described as frequenting the waters of the Euphrates. The Tierce tortoise, Test. fera, is distinguished as belong- ing to this tribe, by the nature of its shield, hard or osseous on the middle part only, while the edges are flexible and coriaceous. The head is small and somewhat trigonal, with the snout much lengthened. The neck, when drawn back, appears very thick, and surrounded by many folds of skin ; but when stretched out, its length is equal to that of the whole shell. The legs are short and thick, and covered with a wreathed skin. The feet are strongly webbed. The tail is short, pointed, and curved inwardly. The shell beneath is marked very elegantly with branches of vessels disposed upon it. This species inhabits the rivers of Carolina, Georgia, Flo- rida, and Guiana. Contrary to the character of the great majority of tortoises, it possesses a very considerable portion of vigour and activity, and will defend itself when disturbed or attacked with remarkable fierceness and alacrity. It will raise itself upon its legs, dart upon its assailant, and bite with uncommon violence. It was first described by Dr. Gordon, and afterwards by M. Pennant, in the Philosophical Tran- sactions. One specimen seen by the former gentleman weighed five and twenty pounds; but it is said sometimes to grow so large as to weigh seventy pounds. Its eggs are exactly spherical, and more than an inch in diameter. [Its flesh is also reported to be extremely delicate, and equal, if not supe- rior, to that of testwdo mydas. Mr. Bartram, in his travels, has described a tortoise which he calls the great soft-billed turtle, and which appears to be the same as this. ORDER SAURIA. 97 THE SECOND ORDER OF REPTILES, OR THe Sauria, Have the heart composed, like that of the Chelo- nia, of two auricles, and of a ventricle sometimes divided by imperfect partitions. Their ribs are mobile, partly attached to the ster- num, and have the capacity of being raised or depressed for the purposes of respiration. The lungs extend, more or less, to the hinder part of the body. ‘They frequently penetrate consider- ably into the abdomen ; and the transverse muscles of the abdomen are insinuated under the ribs, as far as towards the neck, to embrace them. ‘Those Sau- rians which have this organ much expanded, possess the singular faculty of changing the colours of the skin, according as they experience the emotions of any want or passion. Their eggs have an envelope more or less hard, and the little ones issue from them with the form which they are always to preserve. Their mouth is always armed with teeth, and, with few exceptions, their toes with claws. Their skin is clothed with scales more or less crowded, or at least with small scaly grains. ‘The male organ VOL. IX. uH 98 CLASS REPTILIA. of generation is sometimes double, sometimes single, according to the genera. All have a tail more or less long, and almost always very thick at its base. ‘The greater number have four legs: some of them, however, have but two. : They form but two genera in the system of Lin- neus—the Dracons and the Lizarps; but the last should have been divided into many, which differ in the number of the feet and of the genital organs, in the forms of the tongue, tail, and scales, to such a degree, that we are obliged to divide them into many families. The first, or that of Tue CROcopDILIANS, comprehends but a single genus ; namely, Tue Crocopites. Crocodilus. Br. They are of a great size; have the tail compressed laterally ; five toes before, and four behind, of which the three internal alone are armed with claws on each foot, but all are more or less united by mem- branes. ‘There isa single rank of pointed teeth in each jaw. ‘The fleshy tongue is flat, and attached to the floor of the mouth as far as within a very little of its edges, which led the ancients to believe that it was altogether wanting. The penis is single; the aperture of the anus, longitudinal ; the back and tail covered with large square scales, very strong, and ORDER SAURIA. 99 raised into a ridge or crest on their middle. There is a crest with strong indentations in the tail, double at its base. The scales of the belly are square, slen- der, and smooth; the nostrils open at the end of the muzzle by two small crescented clefts, closed by val- vules, and proceed by a long narrow canal, pierced in the palatines and the sphenoid, into the bottom of the hinder part of the mouth. The lower jaw being prolonged behind the cra- nium, gives an appearance of mobility to the upper ; and the ancients believed that this was the case; but it moves only with the entire head. Their external ear may be closed at will by two fleshy lips. Their eye has three lids. Under the throat are two small holes, orifices of glands, in which a musky sort of pommade is secreted. The vertebree of the neck rest one upon the other by little false ribs, which render lateral motion diffi- cult. Accordingly, we find that these animals have some trouble in changing their direction, and are easily escaped from by turning: they are the only saurians which are destitute of clavicular bones; but the coracoid bones are attached to the sternum, as in all the rest of the order. Besides the true and false ribs, there are some which protect the abdomen without ascending as far as the spine, and which appear to be produced by the ossification of the tendinous inscriptions of the straight muscles. Their lungs do not sink into the abdomen, like H 2 100 CLASS REPTILIA. those of other reptiles; and some fleshy fibres adhe- rent to that part of the peritoneum which covers the liver, give them some appearance of a diaphragm. This, added to the fact of their heart being divided into three compartments, where the blood which comes from the lungs does not mix so completely with that of the body as in other reptiles, approxi- mates the crocodiles a little more to the warm- blooded quadrupeds. The os tympani and pterygoid process are fixed to the cranium, as in the tortoises. ‘Their eggs are hard, and as large as those of geese; and the cro- codiles are. animals whose two extremes of magni- tude—those at birth and full growth—are decidedly the most different. ‘The females watch their eggs, and when the young are excluded, they take care of them for a few months. The crocodiles are inhabitants of the fresh water, and are extremely carnivorous ; not being able to swallow their prey in the water, they drown it, and suffer it to remain in some subaqueous cavity until it putrifies, before they eat it. The crocodiles differ so much from the lizards in general, that some recent writers have made a sepa- rate order of them. ‘They are the Loricata of Merrem and Fitzinger, and the Emyposauria of De Blainville. ) The species, which are more numerous than was formerly imagined, are referred to three distinct sub-genera. ORDER SAURIA. 101 Tue GaviALs. Cuv. Have the muzzle narrow, and greatly elongated. The teeth are pretty nearly equal—the fourth below passing, when the mouth is closed, into notches, and not into holes of the upper jaw. ‘The hind feet are indented at the external edge, and palmated to the end of the toes. There are two large holes in the bone of the cranium behind the eyes, which may be perceived through the skin. ‘They have been as yet observed only on the ancient continent. The most known is,— The Gavial of the Ganges. Lac. Gangetica Gm. Faujas Hist. de la Mont St. Pierre, pl. xlvi. Wacep., 1. xv. A species which becomes very large, and which, independently of the length of its muzzle, is remark- able for a thick cartilaginous prominence surround. ing the nostrils, and thrown backwards.* * This prominence occasioned Elian to assert, that there exist in the Ganges some crocodiles which have a horn on the end of the muzzle— See the description and figures of it by M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, Mem. du Mus. XII. p. 97. Add the Little Gavial (Croc. Tenuirostris. Cuy.), Faujas loc. cit. pl. xlviii.—if, indeed, it be a distinct species. N. B. The calcareous schists of Bavaria have produced a little fossil gavial of a peculiar species, which has been described by M. Semmering, in the Memoirs of the Acad. of Munich for 1814. I have publsihed an account of the crania, and other parts of fossil cro- codiles, approximating to the gavial, found at Caen, Honfleur, and other 162 CLASS REPTILIA. Tue Crocopites (properly so called),* Have the muzzle oblong and depressed; the teeth uneven, the fourth below passing into notches, and not into holes, in the upper jaw, and all the other characters of the gavials. ‘There are species of this form in both Continents. The Common Crocodile, or that of the Nile. (Lac. Crocodilus. L.) Geoff. Des. de ?Eg. Rept. i. 1. Ann. Mus. X. iii. 1. Cuv. ibid. X. pl. 1. £. 5. and ii. f.'7; and Oss. Foss. V., part 2, same plate and fig. So celebrated among the ancients, has six ranges of square plates, pretty nearly equal, along the back.t places ; and I have marked the points in which the osteology of their cra- nium differs from that of the existing gavial—See my ‘ Récherches sur les Oss, Foss.” V. 2d part. Analogous observations have also been made in England by Mr. Conybeare. From these differences, which principally attach to the hinder part of the palate, M. Geoffroy has thought proper to make two genera of these last animals, which he names THELEosAURUS and SrENEosauRus ; and nevertheless he seems to think that the present gavials may descend from them, and that the differences may result from the change of atmospheric circumstances.— Mem. du Mus, XII. * Keoxodaros, that which fears the shore—a name given by the Greeks to a lizard common among themselves. They afterwards applied it, on the score of resemblance, to the crocodile of Egypt, when they travelled into this latter country.—Herodot. lib. ii, M.Merrem has changed the name of this sub-genus into Cuampsrs, which, according to Herodotus, was the Egyptian name of this animal. + There are found, from Senegal as far as the Ganges and beyond it, some crocodiles very similar to the common, some of which have the ORDER SAURIA. 105 The double-crested Crocodile. (Cr. Biporcatus. Cuv.) Ann. Mus. X. i. 4. and ii. 8. et Ossemen’s Foss. V., 2d part, same pl. and fig. With eight ranges of oval plates along the back, and two projecting crests on the upper part of the muz- muzzle a little longer, and more narrow, and others some varieties in the plates or scales, which furnish the upper part of their neck; but it is very difficult to distribute them into distinct species, in consequence of the intermediate shades. The small isolated scales which form a transverse range immediately behind the cranium, vary in number, from two to four or six. The approximating plates which form the buckler of the nape are generally six in number ; but there is sometimes a smaller one, at a little distance from each anterior angle of this buckler, and sometimes conti- guous to the buckler. M. Geoffroy gives the name of Cr. Suchus to those which have the muzzle more narrow and elongated; C. Marginatus to those in which are reckoned six scales in the range behind the cranium, some of which have six plates in the buckler, and some eight; Cr. Lacu- nosus is his name of an individual which has but two scales behind the cranium, and six plates in the buckler; and, finally, by Cr. Complanatus, whose characters attach to certain proportions of the head. These different crocodiles also exhibit some variations of detail in the muzzle, and in the lateral scales of the back. But as to this last point, and still more as to the muzzle, the varieties must be much more numerous ; and M. Geoffroy acknowledges that nothing is more fugitive than the forms of crocodiles. So much is this the case, that I cannot venture to elevate to a specific rank some crocodiles sent from Bengal by M. Duvaugel, although their head is more convex than that of the rest of this genus. There is another point of discussion between the philosophic naturalist just cited and myself. He supposes that the species or variety with the more narrow muzzle continues smaller, that it is gentle and inoffensive, and that its littleness causes it to be cast ashore during the period of the inundations, of which it is thus a precursor; and, according to these notions, he thinks that it was particularly to it that the Egyptians rendered religious homage, and that the name of suchus or suchis appertained to it as a species. I believe, on the contrary, that I have proved from Cicero 104 CLASS REPTILIA. zle ; it is found in many islands of the Indian seas, and probably also in the two peninsulas. It has been principally received from the Sechelles Islands. The slender-muzzled Crocodile. ( Croc. Acutus. Cuv.) Geofir. Ann. Mus. II. xxxvii. With a longer muzzle, gibbous at the base, and the back-plates arranged in four lines: the external ones are disposed irregularly, and have more projecting ridges. This species is of St. Domingo and the other great Antilles. The female places her eggs in the and Aristotle that the crocodiles venerated in Egypt were not less fero- cious than others. It is also certain that the crocodile with narrow muzzle was not tended exclusively by the priests; for, according to the very accurate researches of M. Geoffroy himsel’*, it is ascertained that the three embalmed crocodiles now in Paris are, none of them, the suchus, but the marginatus, lacunosus, and complanatus. Finally, every thing leads me to suppose, that Souc, or Souchis, which, according to M. Champollion, was the Egyptian name of Saturn, was also the proper name of the crocodile which was kept at Arsinoe—as Apis was the name of the sacred ox at Memphis, and Mnevis that of the ox of Hermopolis. On this point of antiquity, the different writiags of M. Geoffroy may be consulted, and hs recapitulation of them all in his great work on Egypt, as well as my “ Resea:chcs on the Fossil Bones,” tom. v., 2d part, p- 45. This last article having been written previously to M. Geoffroy’s recapitulation of his own papers in the work on Egypt, I could not then employ the argument derived from the embalmed crocodiles with which M. Geoftiroy himself has furnished me, and which I deem a singular corro- boration of my views of the subject.— Cuvier. *,* We do not deem ourselves at liberty to omit any of our author’s valuable notes on the text; but much in them relating to fossils, and to the comparison with jiving species, will be found in our own compilation on the same snbject.—Ed. ORDER SAURIA. 105 earth, and uncovers them at the precise moment of exclusion.* Tue Caymans. ALLIGATOR. Cuv. Have the muzzle broad and obtuse; the teeth un- even, and the fourth below enter into holes, and not notches, in the upper-jaw. Their feet are only semi- palmate, and without indentation. ‘They have as yet been known only in America. The name of Cayman, or Caiman, is given to the crocodile. ‘The French colonists employ it to desig- nate the most common species of crocodile around their habitations. ‘The English and Dutch use in the same sense the word Alligator, corrupted from the Portuguese Lagarto, itself a corruption of La- certa. The Spectacled Cayman. Croc. Sclerops. Schn. men. Lo civ. 10.. Cuy.. Amn. Muss seit i7 ane LO wandidie3: Thus named from a transverse ridge which unites in front the projecting edges of its orbits. It is the * The slender muzzled crocodile has been particularly observed by M. Descourtils. — Add, The lozenged crocodile, Cr. Rhombifer, Cuv, Ann. Mus. XII. pl. i. 1.;—TZhe helmeted crocodile, Cr. Galeatus, Perrault, Mem. pour Servir 4 |’Hist. des An. pl. lxiv.—if indeed this species, known by this figure only, be well authenticated ;—The double-sh elded crocodile, Croc. biscutatus, Cuy. Ann, Mus. X. ii, 6., and Oss, Foss, t. V. part ii. pl. vi. —of which but one or two individuals have been seen — The crocodile with armed nape, Cr. Catophractus, Cuy. Oss. Foss. t. V. 2d part, pl, v. f. 1 and 2, 106 CLASS REPTILIA. most common species in Guiana and Brazil. ‘The nape is armed with four transverse bands, with very strong scales. ‘The female lays in the sand, covers the eggs with straw or leaves, and defends them with courage.* The Pike-muzzled Cayman. Croc. Lucius. Cuv. Ann. Mus. X.1. 8, et 15, and ii. 4. Thus named from the form of the muzzle; is also distinguished by four principal plates which it bears on the nape. It inhabits the southern parts of North America. It sinks into the mud, and falls * There are also Caymans of several kinds, which have this transverse crest in front of the orbits, and which perhaps, like the crocodiles that approximate to the common, form different species, but difficult to cha- racterize well. Some have the muzzle shorter and more rounded, and the transverse ridge concave in front, and prolonged on each side over the cheek. In them I reckon thirteen teeth on each side above. The cranium is not widened behind. The body is green, punctated, and spotted with black, with black bands on the tail. Others have the head and teeth of the same character; but their body is black, with narrow and yellowish bands, as in the Jacaré Noir of Spix, pl. iv. Others, again, have the muzzle less wide, and the concave ridge less prolonged, I find in them fifteen teeth, and their neck is better armed. I would readily take them for the Cr. Fissipes of Spix, pl. iii. Finally, there are some with the muzzle still less wide, the cranium widened a little behind, the transverse ridge convex in front, and not pro- longed upon the cheek. The scales of the back have their ridges less pro- jecting, and the bands of the tail are less marked. Such are the Cr. Punc- tulatus of Spix. Unfortunately, M. Spix has not insisted on the charac- ters taken from the transverse crest. aes cbrosius. varl. 2.C€ .palp #.C vulgaris: 6.€.aculkus. ii = Sie Sa) — == i) =| Beoiloe == } c a = Cec a {eR CE ee este é Ses = SLZZE_ ES _7 ee an. Foot p Croadlles Published by Whittaker, & 0? Ave Mara LaneLondow. Judy.11830. AG ‘ SCleraps. Z BiG. pralpebrosus. varrd. 5.C. brsewlalis. Lae FD ey MUL oor é O76 S' Ze = Sa BS Ss Ce. WIG: byporcalis. DaG, SCLCTIESS 3.C .denarostts. 4.C .Gangelicus. Londen. Published by Whiltaler & C? Ave Marve L ane. 1630. seine <a ORDER SAURIA. 107 into a state of lethargy during severe cold. The female deposits her eggs in layers, with beds of earth.* The second family, or that of Tue LacerTiAns, Is distinguished by the slender extensible tongue, terminated by two threads like that of the adders and vipers. ‘Their body is elongated. Their walk rapid. All their feet have five toes, separated and unequal, especially those of the hinder feet. The scales are disposed under the belly and around the tail, by transverse and parallel bands. Their tym- panum is on a level with the head, and but slightly sunk in, and membraneous. A production of the skin, cleft longitudinally, which closes by a spincter, protects their eye. Under the anterior angle is a vestige of a third lid. Their false ribs do not make an entire circle. ‘The males have a double penis. The anus is a transverse cleft. The species being very numerous and varied, we subdivide them into two great genera,— * See on this species the Mem. of Dr. Harlan, Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. iv. 242,—Add, The Cayman with osseous eyelids, Cr. Palpebrosus, Cuy. Ann. Mus. X. pl. i. 6 & 7, et ii. 2; and the Cr. Trigonatus, Schn. Seb. I. cv. 3, or the Jacaratinga Moschifer, Spix, pl.i. This species has the lid occu- pied entirely in its thickness by three osseous laminz, of which the other crocodiles have scarcely a vestige. 108 CLASS REPTILIA. The Monirors, recently called, by a singular mis- take, ‘TUPINAMBIS,* Are that genus in which there are species of the largest size. They have teeth in both jaws, but want them in the palate. The greater number of them may be recognized by their tail, laterally com- pressed, which renders them aquatic. As in the neighbourhood of waters they are sometimes near the crocodiles and caymans, it is reported that they advertise, by a hissing noise, the approach of those dangerous reptiles. ‘This assertion, in all proba- bility, has given rise to the names of safe-guard and monitor in some of the species. But this assertion is any thing but certain. They are divided into two very distinct groups. The first, or that of Tur Monirors, properly so called, May be known by small and numerous scales upon the head and limbs, under the belly, and around the tail, which last has a keel underneath, formed by a double range of projecting scales. ‘Their thighs are destitute of the range of pores which we find in many other Saurians. ‘They all belong to the an- * Marcgrave, speaking of the safeguard of America, says that it is named Teyu-guacu, and, among the Topinambos, Zemapara (Temapara Tupi- nambis). Seba has taken this last word for the name of the animal, and all other naturalists have copied him. ORDER SAURIA. 109 cient continent, though Seba, and Daudin, who fol- lows him, gives some true monitors as Americans ; but this is a mistake. There are two species, inhabitants of Egypt, which may be considered as the types of this sub- division. The Monitor of the Nile. Ouaran of the Arabs. Lacerta Nilotica. L. Mus. Worm. 313. Geoff. St. Hil. Gr. Ouv. sur PEgypte. Reptiles, pl. 1. ME With strong and conical teeth, the hinder of which become round with age; brown, with paler and deeper points, forming divers compartments, among which are remarked transverse ranges of large ocel- lated spots, which on the tail become rings. ‘The tail, round at the base, is surmounted by a keel on almost its entire length. ‘This reptile attains the length of five or six feet. In Egypt, the vulgar pretend that it is a young crocodile, excluded in a dry soil. The ancient Egyptians had it engraven on their ornaments, perhaps, because it devours the crocodile’s eggs.* * To this species are approximated by the form of the teeth, and even the arrangement of spots—which, by the way, are very similar in all the monitors—M. Ornatus, Daud. An. Mus. II. xlviii.;—Zac Capensis, Spar- mann ;—M, Albogularis, Daud. Rept. III. pl. xxxii. It is of this subdivision that M. Fitzinger makes his genus Varanvs. Under this name Merrem comprehended all my monitors properly so called. Nw l(G) CLASS REPTILIA. The Land Monitor of Egypt, Ouaran el hard of the Arabs. Lacerta Scincus. Merr. Geoff. Egypt. Rept. iii. 2. With compressed, trenchant, and pointed teeth; tail almost without keel, and remaining round for a greater length. Its habits are more terrestrial ; and it is common in the deserts which border upon Egypt. The jugglers of Cairo employ them in the performance of tricks, after they have plucked out their teeth. This is the terrestrial crocodile of Hero- dotus, and, according to Prosper Alpin, the true scincus of the ancients.* Africa and the East Indies produce a great num- ber of monitors with trenchant teeth like the foregoing, but the tail of which is still more com- pressed than that of the Nile. The most common in the Indian Archipelago is The Double-banded Monitor. Lacerta Bivittata, Kuhl. White underneath, black above ; with five transverse ranges of white spots, or white rings. A white band along the neck; and an angle formed by the white of the breast, which rises obliquely over the shoulder. ‘There are some three feet long.t * M. Fitzinger makes of this species his genus PsamMosauRus. + To this species attach, from the distribution of the colours, the 7. Bi- garré, Daud. Lac. Varia, Shaw. Nat. Misc. 83, J. White, 253, of New ORDER SAURIA. 111 The other group of monitors is distinguished by angular plates upon the head, and large rectangular scales under the belly and around the tail. The skin of their neck clothed with small scales, makes two transverse folds. ‘They have a range of pores under the thighs.* We may establish m them some subdivisions. The first, or that of Tue Dracons, Has, for its distinctive character, scales raised with ridges as in the crocodiles, forming crests on the tail, which is compressed.t Holland ;—an approximating species of manilla, 12. Marmoratus ;—the T. Elegant, and T. Etoile, Daud. III. xxxi., and Seb. I. xciv. 1,2, 3; Xevill., xcix. 2; II. xxx. 2; xc, cv. 1, &c., which form but a single species, originally of Africa. We must add, the 7. Cepedien, Daud. III. xxiv., or Lac, Exanthematica, Bosc. Act. Soc. Nat. Par. pl. v. f. 5, oscillated throughout ;—M. Bengalensis, Daud.; M. Indicus, id. ;—a species uni- formly blackish, from Java, M. Nigricans, Cuv. &c. After every comparison, I have reason to believe now that the figure of Seba, I. pl. ci. f.1, of which Linnzeus has.made his Lacerta Dracena, but which is very different from the Dragonne of Lacepéde, is the M. Ben- galensis. The original of Seba’s is in our Museum. M. Fitzinger reserves to these species with compressed tail, the generic name of TurinaMbis. Merrem has made of this second group his genus Trtvs. + M. Spix has made of this subdivision his genus CrocopiLurus, which name Mr, Gray has changed into Apa. 112 - CLASS REPTILIA. Tue Great Dracon. Mon. crocodilinus, Merr. Lacep. Quadr. Ovip. pl. ix. Has also scales elevated with ridges scattered over the back. The teeth in the bottom of the mouth grow round with age. It attains from four to six feet in length, and inhabits Guiana, in burrows, near marshes. Its flesh is eaten. The Lizardet, Daud. Lac. Bicarirnata, L. Croco- dilurus Amozonicus, Spix, pl. xxi. Is smaller, and has no raised scales on the back. It is found in many parts of South America. The second, or Tue Sare-Guarps, Has all the scales of the back and tail without keels. The teeth are notched; but with age, those of the hinder mouth grow round also.* Some, more especially, called Sarz-cuarps, have the tail more or less compressed. ‘The scales of the belly are more long than broad. ‘They live on the banks of waters. 3 Such, most particularly, is * To these M. Fitzinger reserves the name Monitor. ORDER SAURIA. 1135 The great American Safe-guard. Teyu-guazu, Te- mapara, &c. (Lacerta Tegwxin. Lin. and Shaw. Dev wie xcvir I, 2 or eval excuse, i. With yellow points and spots, disposed in transverse bands, on a ground which is black above, yellowish underneath. There are yellow and black bands on the tail. In Brazil and Guiana, it attains to six feet in length. It goes at a rapid rate on land, and takes refuge in the water when pursued. It dives there, but does not swim. It feeds on insects of all kinds, smaller reptiles, and eggs, &c. It inhabits holes, which it digs in the sand. Its flesh and eggs are exten:™ Others, called Ametva, do not differ from the pre- ceding, but in having a round tail, and nowise com- pressed, furnished, as well as the belly, with trans- verse ranges of square scales. Those of the belly are more broad than long. There are American lizards, similar to ours in exterior, and which repre- sent them in that country. But, independently of the want of molar teeth, most of them have no collar, and all the scales of the throat are small. The head * The individuals which are dried or preserved in spirits, take a bluish or greenish tint in their clear parts; and it is thus that they are repre- sented by Seba. But when living, as we have seen them, the clear parts are more or less yellow. Prince Maximilian de Nieud has well represented this animal in his eleventh book. Add, the T'wupin a taches vertes of Daudin, if it be not a simple variety of the Safe-guard. Spix names it Z'up-monitor, pl. xix. It is his 7. nigro- punctatus which is the true Safe-guard. VOL. IX. I 114 CLASS REPTILIA. is also more pyramidal than in our lizards, and they have not, like them, an osseous plate over the orbit.* Under the name of lacerta Ameiva, many species have been confounded, some of which are still rather difficult to distinguish. The most extended (Teyus Amewa, Spix, xxii. Pr. Max. de Wied. v. lib.) is a foot and more in length, and has the back more or less picked out and spotted with black and vertical ranges of white ocelle, bordered with black on the flanks. There is another (Zeyus cyaneus, Merr. Lacep. I. xxxi. Seb. II. c. v. 2), pretty nearly of the same size, bluish, with round white spots, scattered over the flanks, and sometimes on the body. The young individuals of these ameiva and of some others, have blackish stripes on the sides of the back: we must be careful not to multiply the species.T * The name Ameiva, according to Marcgrave, designates a lizard with forked tail, which can only be an accidental circumstance. Edwards having had an individual of the above division, in which this accident was observable, applied the name of it to the entire species. Marcgrave com- pares this individual to his Zaraguira, which, according to his description, would rather appear to be a Polychrus. + Such appears to me to be the Teyus Ocellifer, Spix, xxv. Add. Am. Litterata, Daud. Lib, I. lxxxiiii—Am. Ceruleocephala, id. Seb. xcl. 5:—Am. Lateristriga, Cuv. Seb. L. xc. 7.;—Am. Lemniscata, (Lac. Lemnisc. Gm.) Seb. I. xcii 4.—Teius Triteniatus, Spix, xxi. 2.—T. Cya- nomelas, Pr. Max. 5th book. I know not by what confusion of synonimy, Daudin has placed the Am. Litterata in Germany. it belongs to America, like all the rest. The Am. Graphique of Daud. Seb. L. Ixxxv. 2, 4, 1s the MZ. Bengalennis: his Am. Cargus, Lib. L. 1xxxv. 5, is the Cepedian Monitor: his Goitreux, Seb. ORDER SAURIA. 115 We may separate from the ameiva, certain species which have all the scales of the belly, legs, and tail, raised by a keel ;* and others, in which the scales of the back are themselves carinated, so that the flanks alone have small grains.t These species ap- proximate still to the lizards by having a collar under the neck.t Tue Lizarps, proper, Form the second genus of the lacertians. They have the bottom of the palate armed with two ranges of teeth, and are otherwise distinguished from the ameiva and safeguards, because they have a collar II. cili. 3, 4, does not differ from the Litterata ; finally, his Téte Rouge, Seb. I. xci. 1, 2, isa common green lizard. He has probably been led into error by the illuminated plates of Seba. The Jac. 5-lineata appears to me to be a L. Ceruleocephala, a part of the tail of which being broken, was reproduced with small scales, a case of constant occurrence after such accidents. The oscis of this new portion of tail is always a cartilaginous stem without vertebra. On such accidents species cannot be found, as Merrem has done in his Teyus Monitor and Cyaneus. * One of them has, in one sex, two small spines on each side of the anus, which has given rise to the genus Centroryx of Spix, xxii. 2. } The striped hzard of Surinam, Daud. III. p. 347, Fitzinger makes of it his genus Psrupo-Amrtva. f It even appears to me that the Centropyx has teeth in the palate, otherwise both these kinds of lizard have the head of the Ameiva; no bone on the orbit, &c. N.B. Fitzinger makes a genus (Tryus) of the dacerta teyou of Daudin, which would seem to have but four toes on the hind feet; but this rests only on an incomplete description of d’Azara, and does not appear to me sufficiently authentic. Tey 116 CLASS REPTILIA. under the neck, formed by a transverse range of broad scales, separated from those of the belly by a space, in which there are only some small ones, as under the throat, and because a part of the bones of the cranium advances over the temples and orbits, so that the entire upper part of the head is furnished with an osseous buckler. They are very numerous, and our country pro- duces several species confounded by Linnaeus under the name of Lacerta Agilis. ‘The handsomest is the great green lizard, (Lac. Ocellata, Daud.) Lacep. L. xx. Daudin IIL, xxxiii. of the South of France, Spain, and Italy, more than a foot long, of a fine green, with lines of black points forming rings or eyes, and a kind of embroidery, the young of which, ac- cording to Mr. Milne Edwards, is the Lazard Gentil of Daudin III. xxxi. ;—the Lac. Viridis of Daudin III., xxxiv. whose B. Bileniata is only a variety, ac- cording to the same observer.—The Lac. Lepuim, id. ib. 2, whose Lac. Arenicola is but a variety ;—the Lac. Agilis, id. xxxviil. 1, is found in all our neighbour- hood. The South of France produces the Velox Pallas, to which Daudin’s Bosqwen and some new species must be referred.* * Tadd, with hesitation, the Lac. Sericea, Laur. II. 5; Argus, id. 53 Terrestris, id. Il. 5. The Tiliguerta of Daudin is a mixture of an American ameiva with the green lizard of Sardinia, badly described by Cetti. The Cawruleocephala, Lemniscata, and Quinque-Lineata, are ameiva. The Sex Lineata, Catesby, Is a seps. ORDER SAURIA. 117 ALGyra, Cuv. Have the tongue, teeth, and pores in the thighs of the lizards; but their dorsal and caudal scales are carinated, and those of the belly smooth and imbri- cated; and they have no collar.* TacHypromus. Daud. Have square and carinated scales on the back, under the belly, and on the tail. They want the neck- collar, and also the pores in the thigh ; but on each side of the anus is a small vesicle open with a pore. Their tongue is the same as in the lizards; their body and tail are very much elongated. Tue IGUANIANS Are a third great family of the Saurians, which have the general form, the long tail, and the free and inequal toes of the lacertians. The eye, ear, pores, and anus are similar; but their tongue is fleshy, thick, not extensible, and emarginated only at the end. They may be divided into two sections. The first, that of the aca:mians, have no teeth in the palate.t * Lacerta Alegyra. Linn. + Iguana is a name originally of St. Domingo, according to Hernandez, Scaliger, &c. The inhabitants must have pronounced it hinana, or igoana. 118 CLASS REPTILIA. We place, in this first section, the following genera :— STELLIO. Cuv. Which have, with the general characters of the family of the iguanas, the tail surrounded-by rings composed of large and often spinous scales. Their sub-genera are as follow :— CorpyLus. Gronov.* Have not only the tail, but also the belly and back furnished with large scales, on transverse ranges. Their head, like that of the common lizards, is pro- vided with a continuous osseous buckler, and covered with plates. In many species, the points of the According to Bontius, it is originally of Java, where the natives pro- nounce it Jeguan. If this be the case, the Spanish and Portuguese must have transported it into America, and transformed it into iguana. They apply it to the safe-guard, as well as to the true iguana. This name ha also been sometimes given, as well as that of guano, to some monitors of the Old Continent. Attention should be paid to this in reading the ac- counts of travellers. I am even of opinion, that the /eguan of Bontius is nothing else but a monitor. * According to Aristotle, “the Cordylus is the only animal which has both feet and gills. It swims with its feet and tail, which resemble that of the Silurus, as far as we may compare small things with great. This tail is soft and broad. It has no fins: it is an animal of the marshes, like the frog. It is a quadruped, and comes out of the water. Sometimes it gets dry, and dies.” It is evident that these characters can only apply to the larva of the aquatic salamander, as M. Schneider has well observed. Belon has de- scribed this salamander under the name of Cordylus, but his printer added, by mistake, the figure of the safe-guard of the Nile. Rondelet has applied this name to the great Stellio of Egypt, or Caudiverbera of Belon, because, ORDER SAURIA. - ALO caudal scales form spinous circles. There are also some small spines to those of the sides of the back, of the shoulders, and of the external part of the thighs : the latter have a single line of very large pores. The Cape of Good Hope produces many of these, confounded for a long time under the name of Lacerta Cordylus, L. 'These well-armed Saurians, a little larger than our common green lizard, feed on insects.* Tue Common STELLIONEST Have the spines of the back moderate, the head swelled behind by the muscles of the jaws, the back and thighs bristling here and there, with scales larger than the rest, and sometimes spinous. Small groups of spines surround the ear; the thighs are des- in the figure, he mistook the ear for the cleft or opening of the gill. Between Rondelet and Linnzeus, the Cordylus has thus passed as synony- mous with the Caudiverbera. Its special application to the genus above mentioned is wholly arbitrary. Merrem has changed it into Zonurus. * Daudin has referred to the Cordylus many synonimes of the Stellio, as he has referred to the Stellio many synonimes of the Gecko. Wehave four species—Cord. Griseus, Cuv. Seb. L. 1xxxiv. 4;—C'. Niger, which has the ridges of the scales softer, Seb. II. Ixii. 5;—C. Dorsalis ;—C. Micro- lepidotus. ae me cist 1 & + The Stellio of the Latins was a spotted lizard, living in the holes of walls. It was considered as venomous, hostile to man, and cunning. It was probably the Yarentole, or Tuberculous Gecko, of the south of Europe, Geckotte of Lacep., as various authors have conjectured, and lastly, M. Schneider. Nothing justifies the application made to the actual species. Belon, I believe, was the first who was culpable of this misnomer. 120 CLASS REPTILIA. titute of pores; the tail is long, and finishes in a point. We know but of one species,— The Stelio of the Levant. (Lac. Stellio, L.) Seb. I. cvi. f. 1; and better, Tournefort, Voy. au Lev. I, 120, and Geoffr. Disc. de ’Egypte, Rept. ii. 3. —Koscordylos of the modern Greeks ; Hardem of — the Arabs. A foot long, of rather an olive colour, shaded with black. Very common in the Levant, and more especially so in Egypt. According to Belon, it is its excrements which are gathered for pharmaceu- tical purposes, under the names of Cordylea, Croco- dilea, or Stercus Lacerti, and which were formerly in request as a cosmetic. But it appears that the ancients rather applied this name and this virtue to those of the monitor. The Mahometans de- stroy this animal, because they say that it mocks them by bowing the head as they do when at prayers. , DoryrHorus. Cuv. Are destitute of pores, like the stellines, but have not the trunk bristling with small groups of _ thorns.* * Stelho Brevicaudatus, Seb. II. \xii. 6. Daudin IV. pl. 47. Sz. Azureus, Daud. id. 46, ORDER SAURIA. 121 Uromastix. Cuv. Stellions Batards. Daud. Are only stelliones which have not the head swelled out, and all the scales of whose body are small, smooth, and uniform; and those of the tail still larger and more spinous than in the common stellio: but there are none underneath. There is a series of pores under the thigh.* The Uromastix of Egypt. Stellio Spinipes. Daud. Geoffr. Rept. d’Egypt. pl. ii. f. 2. Two or three feet long; body swelled out; altoge- ther of a fine meadow green. There are small spines on the thighs. The tail is spinous only on the upper part. It is found in the deserts which surround Egypt. It was described of old by Belon, who has asserted, but without proof, that it was the land crocodile of the ancients.t * The name of Caudiverbera, and that of cguéor, are not ancient. They were forged by Ambrosius for the great Egyptian species of which Belon had said, “ Caudé atrocissimé diverberare creditur.” Linné has applied the first to a Gecko, and other writers to Saurians, altogether different. Add, Urom. Griseus, from New Holland ;— Ur. Reticulatus of Bengal ;— Ur. Acantinurus, Bell., Zool. Journ. I, 457. if, indeed, it be a distinct species. N.B. The Stellio, with flat tail, of New Holland, is a phyllurus. + It is an uromastix which has been described by M. de Lacépéde, Rept. II., 497, under the name of Quetzpalco ; but which is that of a different Saurian, of which we shall speak lower down. Add, Ur, Ornatus, Ruppel. 122 CLASS REPTILIA. Acama. Daud. Have a great resemblance to the common stelliones, especially in their inflated head; but they are dis- tinguished by the imbricated, and not verticillated scales of the tail. ‘Their maxillary teeth are nearly the same as those of the others, and they have no palatine teeth.* Tue Common AGAMA. Some scales raised into a point or tubercles, bristle in various parts of the body, and especially in the neighbourhood of the ears; with spines, sometimes grouped, sometimes isolated. A range of them is occasionally seen upon the nape; but they do not form the spangled crest which characterizes the calotes. ‘The skin of the throat is flabby, folded crosswise, and susceptible of inflation. There are some species in which the thighs have a series of pores. The Ocellated Agama of New Holland. Ag. Barbata, Is very remarkable from its magnitude and extra- ordinary figure. A series of large spiny scales pre- + Agama, from cy0s (unmarried). It is not easy to conjecture why Linnzeus should have given this name to one of those lizards. Daudin has extended it to the entire subgenus into which this species should enter, and believes that Agama is the national name. ORDER SAURIA. 123 dominates in transverse bands along its back and tail, and approximates it to the stelliones. Its throat, susceptible of being much inflated, is furnished with scales elongated into points, which form a kind of beard. Similar scales bristle on the flanks, and form two oblique crests behind the ear. Under the belly are yellowish spots, bordered blackish. From this must be distinguished the Muricated Agama, of the same country. Lac. Mu- ricata. Sh. Gen. Zool. vol. iii. part i. pl. Ixv. f. 11. White, p. 244. In which the raised scales are disposed in longitu- dinal bands, and between them are two series of spots, paler than the ground, which is a-blackish brown. The size of this reptile is also considerable. Other species have no pores in the thighs. Ag. Colonorum. Daud. peb, Lo evils 3. Brownish, with long tail, having a small range of small spines on the nape. It comes from Africa, and not from Guiana, as has been asserted.* * Nothing can equal the confusion of synonimes cited by authors under the different species of lizards, but especially those of the Agame, Calotes, and Stelliones, For instance, in the case of the Agama, Daudin, after Gmelin, quotes Seb, I. cyii, 1 and 2, which are Stfelliones, Sloane, Jam. II. 124, CLASS REPTILIA. There is at the Cape a smaller agama, with mode- rate tail, varied with brown and yellowish, and hav- ing all the upper part bristling with raised and pointed scales. (dg. Aculeatea, Merrem. Seb. I. vii. 6, Ixxxiii. 1 & 2, cix. 6). Its belly sometimes has an inflated form.* AcaM#& OrpicuLtari£. Daud. in part. Which are only agamz ; those with the inflated belly have the tail short and slender. Such is id The TZayapaxin of Mexico. Hern. 327. Lae. orbicularis. LL. With spiny back and belly sown with blackish points.t eclxxiii. 2, which is an anolis, Edw. cexly. 2, which is also an anolis, and this same figure is again cited by him and Gmelin under the Polychrus. Shaw even copies it to represent the Polychrus, with which it has nothing in common. Seb. I. cvii. 5, which is the true Ag. Colonorum of Daud., is quoted by Merrem under Ag. Superciliosa ; and Seb. I. cix. 6, which is his Aculeata, is cited under Orbicularis, Sc. * The Agame a Pierreries, Daud. IV. 410. Seb. I. viii. 6, is but the young of this spinous agama, more varied in colours than the adult. Add, Ag. Atra, Daud. IIT, 549, rough, blackish, with a yellowish line along the back ;—Ag. Umbra, Daud., which is not the Lac. Umbra of Linnzus, but is distinguished by five lines of very small spines predominating on the back. tT Ido not think that this subgenus can be preserved. The species just named does not appear to me to differ from the Agama Cornuta of Harlan. Annat. sc. Phil. IV. pl. xlv. except, perhaps, in sex. Daudin has reprinted it in its place, III. pl. xly. f. 1. The adult is our Trapelus of Egypt. or ORDER SAURIA. 12 Trapetus. Cuv. Have the form and teeth of the agame, but their scales are small and without spines. They have no pores in the thighs. The Zrapelus of Egypt. Trap. Agyptius. Geoff. Rept. d. Eg. pl. v. f. 3, 4. The adult, Daud. III. xlv. 1, under the name orbiculaire. Is a small animal which sometimes has the body swelled, and is remarkable for changes of colour, more rapid than those of the cameleon. The young is entirely smooth. ‘The adult has some scales a little larger, scattered over the body among the others.* LEIOLEPIS. Have the teeth of the agama, the head less swelled, and are entirely covered with very small, smooth and crowded scales. They have pores in the thighs. t Tropipo-Leris. Cuv. Are similar to the agamee in teeth and form, but uniformly covered with imbricated and carinated * This subgenus is also rather difficult to separate with precision from certain agamz of a clumsy form, and but slightly furnished with spines. + We have one species of Cochin-China with a long tail, blue, with white stripes and spots. (Leiol, Guttatus. Cuv.) 126 CLASS REPTILIA. scales. Their series of pores is very much marked.* Lerosoma. Spix. Trorrposaurus. Boie. Do not differ from tropidolepis, but by the want of “pores.t Cauotses. Cuv. Differ from the agame, only because they are regu- larly covered with scales disposed like tiles, often carinated, and terminated in a point, as well over the body, as on the limbs and tail, which is very long. Those on the back are more or less raised and com- pressed into spines, and form a crest of variable extent. They have no pores visible on the thighs, which, in addition to their teeth, distinguishes them from the iguanas. * Ag Undulata, Daud. A species of all America, remarkable for the white cross which it has under the throat on a ground of black blue. The Ag. Nigricollaris, Spix, xvi. 2,and Cyclurus, xvii. f. 1, are at least greatly approximating to it. + Spix has expressed himself with little exactness in saying that the scales of his Uposama are verticillated, which has deceived M. Fitzinger. The genus Tropidosaurus has been made by Boié, after a small species of Cochin-China, in the Royal Cabinet. t Pliny tells us that the stellio of the Latins was named by the Greeks Galeotes Colotes, and Askalabotes. It was, as we have observed, the Gecko of the walls (Tarentola, or Lac. Facetanus. Aldrov.) The application made of it by Linnzeus to his Lac. Calotes is arbitrary ; it was suggested to him by Seba. Spix comprehends our calotes in his genus Lophyrus, which is not the same as that of Dumeril. ORDER SAURIA. 127 The species most common (Lac Calotes, L. Seb. I. Ioxocixe Oexcill, 2. xcvao, and 4: Dates DI exdin ; Agama Ophiomachus, Merr.) is of a beautiful clear blue, with white transverse marks on the sides, and two ranges of spines behind the ears. It comes to us from the East Indies. It is called cameleon at the Moluccas, though it changes its colours but little. Its eggs are spindle shaped.* Lopyyrus. Dumeril. Have the scales of the body like the agame, and a crest of spangled scales still higher than that of the calotes. Their tail is compressed, and they have no pores in the thighs. * Add, Ag. Gutturosa, Merr., or Cristatilla, Kuhl, blue without bands, and small scales on the back, Seb. I. Ixxxix. ;—Ag. Cristata, Merr. Seb. I. xciii. 4, and II. Ixxvi, 5, reddish brown, with scattered, blackish brown spots, of which the Agame Arlequimé, Daud. III, xliv., is the young ;—Ag. Vultuoso, Har). nat. sc. Philad. IV. xix. All these species come from the East Indies. The Lophyrus Ochrocollaris, et Margaritaceus, Spix, xii. are calotes of America. The first is the same as the Agama Picta of Pr. Max. The Loph. Panthera, Spix, pl. xxiii. f.1, is the young. Add to these American calotes Loph. Rhombifer, Spix, xi. whose Lophyrus Albomazilla- ris, id. xxill. f. 2, is the young ;—Loph. Auronttens, sp. pl. xiii. We may separate from the other calotes a species of Cochin-China, with smooth back without apparent scales, with belly, limbs, and tail covered with carinated scales. (Cal. Lepidogaster, Nob.); the Ag. Catenata, Pr. Max, fifth book, may belong to this group. N.B. We must remark that the artist of Seba has given to most of his iguanas, agama, and calotes, extensible and forked tongues, altogether from his own imagination. 128 CLASS REPTILIA. A remarkable species is, The Lophyrus, with Forked Casque. Agama Gigan- fea. Kuhl. ‘Seb. - 1. c./2: Which has its dorsal crest very high on the nape, and formed of several ranks of vertical scales. Two osseous ridges proceed from the muzzle, and finish each in a point over the eye on its side joining the temple. This singular Saurian appears to come from the Indies.* | Tue GonocepHaALaA. Kaup. Approximate pretty closely to these lophyri. Their cranium also forms a kind of disk, by means of a ridge, which terminates above each eye by an inden- tation. ‘They have a crest upon the nape. Their tympanum is visible.t Tue LyrrocEPpHALA. Merrem. Unite to the characters of the lophyri that of a tympanum, concealed under the skin and under the muscles, as in the cameleons. ‘They have also a dorsal crest, and a carinated tail. In the species which is known (Lyriocephalus Margaritaceus, Merr.; Lacerta Sentata, L.), Seb. cix. 8, the osseus crest of the eyebrows is still more * It is not easy to say why Kuhl has given to this Saurian the epithet of gigantic. Its size does not exceed that of the Agama and Calotes, which are the nearest to it. + Isis, 1825, I. p. 590, pl. ili. ORDER SAURIA. 129 marked than in the lophyrus, with forked casque, and terminates on each side behind with a sharp point. Larger scales are scattered among the smaller ones over the body and limbs. On the tail are imbricated and carinated scales. A soft, though scaly swelling, is on the end of the muzzle. This truly singular species is found in Bengal, and other parts of the East Indies. It lives on grains.* BracHy.topuus. Cuv. Have small scales, a tail somewhat compressed, a crest on the nape and back a little projecting, a small fanon, a series of pores on each thigh, and, in a word, much of the appearance of the iguanas ; but they are destitute of palatal teeth. Those of the jaws are denticulated. Such is, The Banded Iguana. Brogn. Essai et Mem. des Sav. cfr plex te o Of the Indies, deep blue, and with clear blue bands. * M. Fitzinger forms of this Lyriocephalus of the Preustrs of Merrem, and of the ParynocrrHatus of Kaup, a family which he names Pnevstot- DEA, and approximates to that of the cameleons. The Pnxvustes rests only on an incomplete and vague description of Azara, II. 401, on which, also, Daudin has established his Agame a quene prenante, III. 440. D’ Azara says that the ear is not visible, probably on account of its smallness. The PurynocirHAtus includes the /acerta guttata, and the lacerta uralensis of VOL. IX. K 130 CLASS REPTILIA. PHyYSIGNATHUS Have, with the same teeth, the same scales and pores, a head very much swelled behind, without cuticular appendage ; and a crest of large pointed scales on the back and tail, which is much com- pressed. We are acquainted with one large species of Cochin-China (Physignathus cocininus, Nob.) ; blue, with strong scales, and some spines on the swelling of the sides of the head. It lives on fruits, &c. Istrurus, Cuv. Lopuura, Gray.* Have, as a distinctive character, an elevated and trenchant crest, which extends over a part of the tail, and which is sustained by high spinous apophy- ses of the vertebrae. This crest is scaly, like the rest of the body. The ventral and caudal scales are small, and approach somewhat to a square form. ‘The teeth are strong, compressed, and without denticulations : they have none in the palate. ‘Their thighs have a range of pores. ‘The skin of the neck is loose, but without forming a cuticular appendage or dewlap. Lepechin, Voy. I. p. 217, pl. xxii. f. 1 and 2, which make but one species, M. Kaup assures us, that it has no exterior tympanum. (Isis of 1825, I. 391.) Not having seen these animals, I hesitate to class them. * Thave changed this name of Lophura, which approaches too much to that of Lophyrus. ORDER SAURIA. TST The Crest-Bearer. Lacep. Lac. Amboinensis, Gm: Schlosser Monog. Copie Bonnet Erpet. pl. v. £2: Has no crest but on the origin of the tail, and has spines on the fore part of the back; lives in the water, or under the shrubs on its banks. Eats grains and worms: we have found in its stomach leaves and insects. Its size sometimes approaches four feet. Its flesh is eaten. Tue Icuanas, proper. Icuana, Cuv. Have the body and tail covered with small imbri- cated scales. All along the back is a range of spines, or rather of raised scales, compressed and pointed ; and under the neck, a compressed and pendant cuti- cular appendage, the edge of which is sustained by a cartilaginous production of the hyoid bone. ‘Their thighs have the same range of porous tubercles as those of the lizards proper, and their head is covered with plates. Each jaw is surrounded with a range of compressed triangular teeth, with indented edges. There are also two smaller ranges on the posterior edge of the palate. The Common American Iguana. (Lac. Iguana, L. Iguana Tuberculata, Laur.) Seb. I. xev. 1; Mevily o, xewl. 1. Yellowish green above, marbled with pure green ; the tail rmged with brown. In spirits it appears K 2 132 CLASS REPTILIA. blue, changing into green and violet, and pointed with black; more pale underneath. It has a crest of large dorsal scales in the form of spines, and a large round plate under the tympanum, at the angle of the jaws. The sides of the neck are furnished with pyramidal scales, scattered among the others. The anterior edge of its cuticular appendage is den- ticulated like the back. This reptile is from four to five feet in length, and common throughout all the _ warm parts of America, where its flesh is considered delicious, though unwholesome, especially for those afflicted with the venereal disease, the pains of which it renews. It lives principally upon trees, sometimes visits the water, and feeds on fruits, grains, and leaves. The female lays eggs in the sand as large as those of a pigeon, agreeable to the taste, and almost without white. The Mexicans name it Aquaquetzpallia (Hern.); and the Brazilians, Senembi (Margr.) The Slate-coloured Iguana. Daud. Seb. I. xcvi. 4. Of an uniformly rather violet blue, paler underneath. The dorsal spines are smaller. As to the rest, it resembles the preceding. In both, there is an ob- lique, whitish spot on the shoulder. ‘This one comes from the same country, and is probably only a variety of age or sex.* * T have even every reason to believe that this conclusion should be extended to the iguanas of Spix, pl. v. vi. vil. vill. & ix.; they appear to me to be only varieties of age in the common species. ORDER SAURIA. 133 The Iguana with naked Neck. (Ig. Nudicollis, Cuv.) Merr. Besler, tab. xiii. f. 3. Ig. Delicatissima, Laur. Resembles the common, especially in the dorsal crest, but has no large plate under the tympanum, nor tubercles scattered over the sides of the neck. The upper part of the cranium is furnished with convex plates, and the occiput is tuberculous. The cuticular appendage is moderate, and has but few denticulations, and only in front. Laurent says that its habitat is the East Indies, but this is a mistake. We have received it from Brazil and Guadaloupe.* The Horned Iguana of St. Domingo, Lacep. Ig. cornuta, Cuv. Bonaterre, Encyc. Method. Erpeto- log. Lezards. pl. iv. f. 4. Tolerably like the common iguana, and still more like the last; but it is distinguished by a conical osseous point between the eyes, and two raised scales on the nostrils. There is no large plate under the ear, nor tubercles in the neck; but the scales on the branches of the jaw are embossed. The Iguana, with armed tal, of Carolina. (Ig. cychlura, Cuv.) Is destitute, like the preceding two, of a large plate under the ear, and small spines on the neck; but * T suspect the Amblyrhyncus cristatus, Bell. Zool. Journ. I, Sup. pl. xiii, to be an individual, badly preserved, of my Ig. nudicollis. 134 CLASS REPTILIA. some scales larger than the rest, and a little cari- nated, form, from space to space, cinctures upon the tail.* OpuHryEssa. Boié. Have small imbricated scales, a dorsal crest, some- what projecting and prolonged over the tail, which is compressed; maxillary teeth denticulated, and teeth in the palate, all which circumstances approxi- mate them to the iguanas ; but they have no cuticu- lar appendage, nor pores in the thighs. Lac. Superciliosa. L. Seb. I. cix. 4. Lophyrus AXiphurus. Spix, X. Thus named in consequence of a membranous keel which forms its brow, is an American species, fawn- coloured, with a festooned brown band along each flank. The BasiuisKs. Basiuiscus. Daud. Are destitute of pores, and have palatal teeth, like the ophryesszee. Their body is covered with small scales. There is on their back and tail a continuous and elevated crest, supported by the spinous pro- cesses of the vertebra, like that of the tail of isti- urus. * It also appears to me that this iguana is the same that Dr. Harlan (An. of Se. Nat. de Philad. iv. pl. 4) calls cychlura carinata; but then, as in the amblyrhyncus, there must be some error relative to the palatine teeth. Tam satisfied that these teeth exist in all my iguanas. Q ORDER SAURIA. 1355 The species known (Lac. Basiliscus. Linn.) Seb. I. c. i. Daud. iii. xlii., is recognized by a membranous prominence of its occiput, in the form of a hood, supported by a cartilage. It is an animal of Guiana, grows to a considerable size, is blueish, with two white bands, one behind the eye, the other behind the jaws. They are both lost towards the shoulder. It feeds on grains.* PoLyCHRUS. Have, like the iguanas, teeth in the palate, and pores in the thighs, though not much marked ; but their body, covered with small scales, has no crest. ‘The head is covered with plates. The tail is long and slender. ‘The extensible throat can form a dewlap or cuticular appendage at the will of the animal. Like the cameleons, they possess the faculty of changing colour. Their lungs, accordingly, are voluminous, filling almost the entire body, and being divided into many branches, and their false ribs like those of the cameleon, surround the abdomen, and unite to form entire circles. The Polychrus of Guiana. (Lac. Marmorata. L.) Lacep. I. xxvi. Seb. II. Ixxvi.4. Spix, XIV. Reddish grey, marbled with transverse irregular bands of a brown red, and sometimes mingled * It has been hitherto erroneously believed, on the testimony of Seba, the basilisk of the East Indies. | 136 CLASS REPTILIA. with blue. The tail is very long. Common in Guiana.* Ecpuimotes, Fitzinger, Have the teeth and pores of polychrus, but small scales on the body only ; the tail, which is thick, has large ones pointed and carinated. ‘The head is covered with plates. They have the somewhat short and flatted form of certain agame, rather than the lank form of the polychri. The most common species (4gama Tuberculata, Spix, XVI. or Zropidurus Torquatus, Pr. Max,) is ash-coloured, sown with whitish drops, and has on each side of the neck a black semi-collar. It lives in Brazil.t The QuerzpaLco, Or.urus, Cuv. Have also, with the teeth of the polychrus, the forms of the agamee, but they want the pores on the thighs, and the scales of their tail pointed and cari- nated, give it some relation with that of the stelliones. Their dorsal scales are also pointed and carinated, but very small.t But one species is known, and belongs to Brazil. * Add, Polychrus Acutirostris. Spix, XIV. ' + The tropidurus of Prince Max de Wied, is not, as he thought, the quetzpalco of Seba, though that also has some black semi-collars. t This name, quetzpalco, given by Seba to this species, appears cor- rupted from the Mexican aqua quetz pallia, which appears to be a name of the iguana. The Quetzpalco of Lacep. Rept. in 4° II. 497, is an Uro- mastix: but it is the figure of Seba’s animal. that he cites. ORDER SAURIA. 137 Op.turus Torquatus, Cuv. With a black semi-collar on each side of the neck. Tue Anouis. AwNnoxius. Cuv. Have with all the forms of the iguanas, and espe- cially of the polychrus, a distinctive character, very peculiar. The skin of their toes is widened under the antepenultimate phalanx into an oval disk, stri- ated cross-wise underneath, which enables them to attach themselves to different surfaces, where they can also fasten very well, by means of very crooked claws. They have, moreover, the body and tail uniformly shagreened by small scales, and most of them have a dewlap or goitre under the throat, which swells and changes colour when they are under the influence of anger or sexual desire. Several of them are equal to the cameleon in the faculty of varying the colours of their skin. Their ribs unite in entire circles, as in the polychri and cameleons. ‘Their teeth are trenchant and denticu- lated, like those of the iguanas and polychri, and they even have some in the palate. ‘The skin of the tail has some slight folds or sinkings, each of which comprehends some circular ranges of scales. ‘This genus appears to be peculiar to America.* * Anoli, or Anoalli, the name of these saurians in the Antilles. Grono- vius has very gratuitously transferred it to the ameiva. Rochefort, from whom he has taken it, gives as a figure of it, a copy of the Teyuaguaca of Marcgrave, or the great safeguard of Guiana. Nicholson appears to announce that this name is applicable to many species, and that which he 138 ~ CLASS REPTILIA. There are some which have a crest upon the tail supported by the spinous processes of the verte- bree, as in the istiuri and basilisks.* The Great Crested Anolis. (An. Felifer, Cuv.) A foot long; acrest on one half of the tail sup- ported by a dozen or fifteen rays. ‘The gular appen- dage extends under the belly. The colour is a blackish ashen blue. | Its habitat is Jamaica and the other Antilles. We have found berries in its stomach. The small Crested Anolis. (Lac Bimaculata, Sparrm.) One half smaller than the preceding; some kind of crest, of a greenish colour, picked out with brown towards the muzzle and on the flanks—of North America and the different Antilles. An. Equestris. Merr. Fawn-colour, shaded with ashen lilac; a white band over the shoulder. ‘The tail is too fleshy to permit the apophyses of the crest to be distinguished. This reptile is a foot long. Others have the tail round or only a little com- describes appears to be the Anolis Roquet of Lacep. (Lac. Bullaris, Gm.) which in truth was sent from Martinique to our Museum under the name of Anolis. M.Moreau de Jonnes has even authenticated that at the present day this is the only name under which it is known. * They have been confounded one with another, and with some of the subsequent species under the name of Lac. Principalis and Limaculata. L. ORDER SAURIA. 139 pressed. ‘Their species are numerous, and have been in part confounded, under the name of Roquet Goi- treux, Rouge-gorge, and Anolis. (Lac. Strenuosa et Bullaris. Lin.) They inhabit the warm parts of Ame- rica and the Antilles, and change colour with a pro- digious facility, especially in warm weather. Their cuticular appendage swells when the animal is angry, and grows as red asacherry. These animals are not so large as our grey lizard, and live particularly on insects, which they pursue with agility. The individuals of this species cannot meet, it is said, without fighting with great fury. The species of the Antilles, or the Roquet of Lacep. I. pl. xxvii. (it is now particularly the La- certa Bullaris. Gm.) has the muzzle short, dotted with brown, and the eyelids projecting. Its ordi- nary colour is greenish. Except its round tail, it much resembles the little crested anolis. The Striped Anolis, Daud. IV. xlvii. 1, differs only by having series of black marks on the flanks. It appears the same as the Lacerta Strenuosa Lin. Seb. II. xx. 4. Its length is a little more conside- rable than the preceding. The Anolis of Carolina. (Iguane goitreux, Brong.) Catesby, II. xxvi. Is of a fine golden green, with a black band on the temple. Its muzzle is elongated and _flatted, . 140 CLASS REPTILIA. which gives it a peculiar physiognomy, and consti- tutes it a very distinct species.” It is to this family of the Icuanians with palatal teeth, that an enormous fossil animal belongs, known under the name of the animal of Maestricht, for which the name of Mosasaurus has been recently fabricated.t The fourth family of the saurians, or THe GEcKOTIANS, Is composed of nocturnal lizards, so much resem- bling each other that they might be left in one genus. Ture Gecxos, Daud. Srextzuio, Schn. AscaLa- BOTES, Cuv.t . Are saurians, which have not the lank form of those of which we have hitherto treated, but are, on the contrary, flatted, especially about the head, * Add the Anolis with white points, Daud. IV. xlviii. 2;—An. Viridis, Pr. Max, 6th book ;—An. gracilis, id. and many other species, of which, unfortunately, I have no figures to cite. + See upon this animal, the Fifth Volume, Second Part, of my Re- searches on the Fossil Bones. Among the fossils many reptiles have also been discovered, of large size, which appear to approximate to this family, but the characters of which are not known completely enough to enable us to class them with safety. Such are the Geosaurus discovered by M. Socmmering, the Mrcato- sauRus of M. Buckland ; the Ieuanopon of M. Mantell, &c. I treat of them at length in the Fifth Vol., Second Part, of my Researches, &c.—Cuv. See our Treatise on Fossil Remains, “ Fossil Reptiles,” 23d Part of the Animal Kingdom. t Gecko, a name given to a species from the East Indies, and imitated, from its cry, as another species has been named ¢ockaie, at Siam, and a third, geitje, at the Cape, dexcac6wrn, the Greek name of the Wall-Gecho. ORDER SAURIA. 141 and have the feet middling, and the toes nearly equal. ‘Their walk is heavy and creeping. Their eyes are very large, and the pupil contracts from the Influence of light like that of the cats. ‘This consti- tutes them nocturnal animals, and during daylight they remain in obscure places. Their eye-lids, re- markably short, are withdrawn between the eye and the orbit, which gives to their physiognomy a dif- | ferent aspect from that of the other saurians. ‘Their tongue is fleshy and not extensible, and their tym- panum a little sunk in. Their jaws are furnished all round with a range of very small crowded teeth. Their palate is destitute of teeth. Their skin shagreened above with very small grained scales, among which are often observed some thicker tubercles; has, underneath, some scales less small, flat, and imbricated. Some species have pores upon the thighs. The tail has circular folds, like that of the anolis ; but when it has been broken, it shoots again without folds, and even without tubercles, when it has them naturally, which has caused the species sometimes to be multiplied. This genus is numerous, and spread through the warm regions of both continents. ‘The gloomy and heavy aspect of the geckos, and a certain resemblance to the salamanders and toads, has caused them to be held in abhorrence, and accused of being poisonous, but without any real proof of the fact. The majority of them have the toes widened, over all or a part of their length, and furnished underneath 142 CLASS REPTILIA. with very regular folds of skin, which enables them to adhere so well to different bodies, that they are observed to walk on ceilings. Their claws are re- tractile in various manners, and preserve their edge and their point. This character, united to that of their eyes, might justify a comparison between the rank of the geckos among the saurians, and that of the feline in the carnassial mammifera. But their claws vary in number according to the species, and are entirely wanting in some. The first and most numerous division of the geckos, which I shall call PLATYDACTYLUS, Have the toes widened over their entire length, and furnished underneath with transverse scales. Among these platydactylous geckos some have no claws whatsoever, and their thumbs are very small. There are handsome species, all covered with tuber- cles, and painted with lively colours. Those which are known come from the Isle of France. Some are destitute of pores in the thighs.* There is one of them violet above, white under- neath, with a black line on the flanks. (G. Jnunguis, Cuv.) Another is grey, all covered with eye-like spots, brown and white in the middle. (G. Veillatus, @ Oppel.) ar * To this division Mr. Gray has reserved the name of Platydactylus. ORDER SAURIA. 143 Some others, on the contrary, have these pores very marked.* Such is The Cepedian Gecko, Peron. Of the Isle of France; rose-colour, marbled with blue, and a white line along each flank. I know not, however, if the pores in this first subgenus be not a mark of sex. Other platydactyla are destitute of claws on the thumbs, and on the second and fifth toes of all the feet. ‘They have no pores in the thighs.t Such is The VWall-Gecko, (Lacertus Facetanus,) Ald. 654. Tarente of the Provincals; YTuarentola, or rather Terrentola of the Italians; Stellio of the ancient Latins ; Geckotte, Lacep.; Gecko Fascicularis, Daud. Deep grey; the head rough; all the upper part of the body sown with tubercles, each of them formed of three or four smaller and approximating tubercles. The scales of the under part of the tail like those of the belly. An hideous animal, which conceals itself in the holes of walls and heaps of stones, and covers its body with dust and ordure. It appears that the same species inhabits all around * Mr. Gray has made of this division his genus Phelsuma ; the Lacerta Gietje of Sparrman should belong to it, It is thought very venomous at the Cape. + Of this division Mr. Gray has made his genus Tarentola. 14.4: CLASS REPTILIA. the Mediterranean, and as far as Provence and Lan- guedoc. There is in Egypt and Barbary an approximating species with simple and round tubercles, more pro- jecting on the flanks. (G. Hgyptiacus, Cuv.) Egypt. Rept. pl. v. f. '7.* The greater number of platydactylous Geckos want claws upon the four thumbs only. They have a range of pores in front of the anus.t Such are Gecko, Lacep. I. xxix. Stellio Gecko, Schneid. Seb. I. eviii. Rounded tubercles, not very projecting, are spread over the upper part of the body, the red colour of which is sown with round and white spots. The under part of the tail is furnished with square and imbricated scales. Seba says that it belongs to Ceylon, and pretends that it is to it in particular that the name of Gecko is given on account of its cry, but Bontius attributed it long before to a species from Java. Probably the name and cry are common to many. We are assured that this is found in the whole Indian Archipelago. The banded Gecko. Lazard of the Pandang, in Am- boyna. (Lacerta vittata,Gm.) Daud. Il. 1. Brown, a white band on the back, which is bifurcated * This figure, entitled Var du Gecko Annulaire, has too many claws. + This division is particularly named Gecko by Mr. Gray. ORDER SAURIA. 145 over the head, and on the root of the tail, around this last are white rings. This species belongs to the East Indies. In Amboyna it rests on the branches of the arbustum, called Pandang.* There are some of these platydactyles with four claws, whose body is bordered with an horizontal membrane, and feet palmated. One of the most remarkable is Lacerta homalocephala. Crevett. Soc. des Nat. de Berlin, 1809, pl. viii. Which has the sides of the head and body augmented with a white membrane, which is cut into festoons on the sides of the tail, its feet are palmated. It is found in Java and Bengal.t There is another species in the Indies, with the head and body bordered, and the feet palmated, but without festoons to the tail, and pores to the anus. (PrerorLeurA. orsfieldii, Gray, Zool. Journ. No. X. p. 222.) Finally some plactydactyles have claws on all the toes. We have one species of them quite smooth, with palmate feet. (4. Leachianus, nobis.) A second division of the Geckos which I shall call * N.B. Daudin erroneously gives claws to the thumbs of these two Geckos, + M. Fitzinger makes of this his genus Prycuozoon. Mr. Gray separates from it his PrerorLeurA, in consequence of the absence of the pores. VOL. Ix. L 146 CLASS REPTILIA. HEMIDACTYLUS, Have the base of their toes furnished with an oval disk, formed underneath by a double rank of-chevron shaped scales. From the middle of this disk rises the second phalanx, which is slender and supports the third, or the claw at its extremity. The known species have all five claws, and a range of pores on each side of the anus. ‘The scales of the under part of their tail are in the form of broad bands, like those of the belly of serpents. There is a species in the south of Europe (G. Verruculatus, Nob.) of a reddish grey, the back all sown with small conic tubercles, a little rounded. The tail has some circles of similar tubercles. It belongs to Italy, Sicily and Provence, as does the G. Fascicularis. A very similar species (G. Mabuia, Nob.) with tubercles still smaller, and those of the tail more pointed, of a greyish colour, clouded with brown, and brown rings on the tail, is extended through all the warm parts of America, and enters houses. It is known in our (the French) islands, under the name of Mabowia des murailles.* There are some in Pondicherry and Bengal so very similar, that one might be tempted to * As faras we can judge by the figure, the Tecadactylus Pallicaris, and the Gecko Aculeatus, Spix, XVIII. 2, and 5, may be only the same as this Mabina at different ages. M. Moreau de Jonnes has given a monograph of it, but confounds it with different species. ORDER SAURIA. 147 believe that they had been transported thither in ships.* There is also found in the Indies a hemidactylus, with edged body (G. Marginatus, Nob.) Its feet are not palmated, its tail is fatted horizontally, and the edges are trenchant and a little fringed. It was sent from Bengal, by M. Duvaucel. The third division of the Geckos, which I shall call THEC ADACTYLUS, Has the toes widened throughout their entire length, and furnished underneath with transverse scales, but there is also a deep longitudinal furrow, in which the claw may be entirely concealed. Those with which I am acquainted want claws on the thumbs only, they have no pores in the thighs, and their tail is furnished underneath and above with small scales. The Smooth Gecko (G. Levis D. Stelho Perfoliatus, Schn. Lac. Rapicauda, Gm.) Daud. IV. li. Known in our (the French) islands, by the name of Mabouia des Bananiers. Grey, marbled with brown, very small, grained, without tubercles above ; small scales underneath ; its tail naturally long, and sur- rounded with the usual folds, breaks very easily, and * To this division also belong the G. d@ Tubercules Tricdres, andthe G. a Queue Epineuse of Daud. The first is the same as Stell. Maurilanicus of Schn. The Stell, Platyurus of Schn. also closely approximates to it. LZ 148 CLASS REPTILIA. is renewed sometimes in a very swelled state, and in the form of a small radish. Such accidental mon- strosities have given rise to the appellation of G. rapicauda.* The fourth division of Geekos, which I shall call Pryo-Dactytius,t Has the ends of the toes only dilated into plates, the under part of which is striated like a fan. The middle of the plate is cleft, and the claw placed in the fissure. All the toes have claws very much crooked. Some have the toes free, and the tail round. The House Gecko. (Lac. Gecko, Hasselquist.) Gecko Lobatus, Geoffr. Rept. Egypt, HI. 5. Stellio Hasselquistii, Schneid. Smooth, reddish-grey, picked out with brown; the scales and tubercles are very small. ‘This species is common in the houses of the different countries which border on the Mediterranean, to the south and east. At Cairo it is named Abou Burs, (Father of the Leprosy,) because they pretend that it com- municates this malady by poisoning with its feet the provisions, especially those which are salted, of which it is very fond. When it walks on the skin, it pro- * The Gecko Squatydus Herm. should belong to this division, if it be not the same with the Levis. The Gecko of Surinam, Daud., is only a younger and better coloured individual of Levis. + From 7%, a fenn. ORDER SAURIA. 149 duces redness there, but probably only in conse- quence of the fineness of its claws. Its voice some- what resembles that of frogs. Others have the tail edged on each side with a membrane, and the feet semi-palmate. ‘They are probably aquatic. These are the Uroplates of Dumeril. The Fringed Gecko. (Stellio Fimbriatus, Schn. Téte-plate, Lac., or Famo-Cantrata of Madagas- car.) Brug. Lacep. I. xxx. Daud. IV. lii. Has not only a border to the sides of the tail, but extending along the flanks, where it is fringed and slashed. It is found at Madagascar, according to report, on trees, where it jumps from branch to branch. ‘The people of that country are in much dread of it, but without any foundation.* The Peruvian Gecko. (Lac. Caudiverbera,) Lin. Feuillée, I. 319. Has no fringe on the sides of the body, but only on those of the tail, on which it has also a membranous vertical crest. euillée discovered it in a spring on the Cordilleras. It is blackish, and more than a foot in length. We may make a fifth division, * According to the description of Bruguiere, the Sarroubé of Mada- gascar has all the characters of the famocantrata, except the fringe, and the thumb, which is wanting on the fore feet. M. Fitzinger makes of it his genus Sarrusa. 150 CLASS REPTILIA. THe SPHERIODACTYLUS, Of certain small geckos which have the ends of the toes terminated by a little pellet, without folds; but the claws are always retractile. When the pellet is double, or emarginated in front, they seem closely related to the ptyodactyli without edges. Those which we know come from the Cape, or the East Indies. Such is The G. Porphyré. Daud. Reddish-grey, marbled and picked out with brown. Daudin was mistaken in supposing this gecko to belong to America, and to be synonymous with the mabina. The pellet is more frequently simple and round. The species are of America. Such is The Spitting-banded Gecko. Lacep. Rept. I. pl. OVE AE ae A small species, prettily marked with transverse brown bands, contrasting with a red ground. It frequents houses in St. Domingo, where it also receives the name of Mabuia. In the same island is an approximating species, but of an uniform ash- colour, 2a. ib, {:2. Finally, there are saurians which with all the cha- racters of the geckos, have not the toes enlarged. ORDER SAURIA. 151 Their claws, however, five in number, are retrac- tile. Some have the tail round, the toes striated under- neath, and indented at the edges. These are Tue STENODACTYLI. There is one in Egypt, the Sten. Guttatuis, Egypt. Rept. pl. v. f. 2.* Smooth, grey, and sown with white spots. Others have the toes slender and naked. ‘Those which have the tail round are ~ The Gymnodactyli of Spix. There are some in America, with regular series of little tubercles. Gymnodactylus Geckoides, Spix, X. xlil. 1, appears to be one of them. Others have the tail flatted horizontally in the form of a leaf. I name them PHYLLURUS. But one species is known, which belongs to New Holland, (Stelho Phyllurus, Schn., Lacerta Platura, White, New South Wales, p. 246, f. 2, where it is referred without any sufficient reason to the Stel- liones of Daudin,) grey, marbled with brown above, all bristling with small and pointed tubercles. We are obliged to establish a fifth family of * Under the improper name ef Agame Ponetué. It is produced again Suppl. pl. i. f. 2, and an approximating species, f. 4. 152 CLASS REPTILIA. CAMELEONIANS. For the single genus of CAMELEONS. CHAM#LEO.* Which is very distinct from all the other saurians, and cannot even be easily allocated with just pro- priety in their series. | They have the entire skin shagreened, with small scaly grains; the body compressed, and the back as it were trenchant; the tail round and _ slender, five toes on all the feet, but divided into two parcels, one of two, the other of three. Each parcel is united by the skin as far as the claws; the tongue is fleshy, cylindrical, and capable of considerable elongation ; the teeth are trilobed; the eyes large, but almost covered by the skin, except a small hole opposite to the pupil, and each of them is moveable, independently of the other. There is no visible external ear, and the occiput is raised in a pyramidical form ; their first ribs are united with the sternum, the following ones are continued, each of them to its correspondent one, to enclose the abdomen in an entire circle; their lungs are so vast that when this organ is inflated their body appears transparent, which occasioned the ancients to assert that they lived on air. ‘They feed, however, on insects, which they catch with the viscous extremity of their tongue: this is the only * Xapouréwy (little lion) the name of this animal among the Greeks, and especially in Aristotle, who has described it perfectly well. Hist. An. Lib. ii. cap. xi. ORDER SAURIA. 153 part of their body which they move with any swift- ness, all their other movements are tardy in the ex- treme. The bulk of their respiratory organ is in all probability the cause of this peculiar faculty of changing colour, which is not influenced, as has been supposed, by the bodies on which they happen to be placed, but by their wants and passions. The lungs, in fact, render them more or less transparent, con- strain the blood more or less to flow towards the skin, and even colour this fluid with a greater or less degree of liveliness, according as they are full or empty of air. ‘They remain continually on trees. The Common Cameleon. Lacerta Africana. Gm. Lacep. I. xxii.. Seb. I. Ixxxii. 1, Ixxxiii. 4.* Of Egypt and Barbary, found also in the south of Spain, and again as far as the Indies; has its hood or capote pointed, and raised in a crest in front. The grains of the skin are equal and crowded, the upper crest denticulated as far as one half of the back, the lower as far as the anus. The capote of the female projects less, and the denticulations of the crests are smaller. Another species tolerably similar, and from the Sechelles Islands ( Cham Tigris, Cuv.), has the casque like the female of the common species; the grains of the body are fine and equal, and it is distinguished by a compressed and denticulated sort of wattle under * The Cam Trapes, Eg. Rept. iv. 3; Cham. Carinatus Merr. Cham, Sub- croceus, id, ? 154 CLASS REPTILIA. the end of its lower jaw. Its body is sown with black points. : Another related species from the isle of Bourbon (Cham Verrucosus, Cuv.) has some thicker grains scattered among the others, and a series of warts parallel to the back, at two-thirds of its elevation ; the capote is the same as that of the common female, the denticulations of the back are stronger, those of the belly less marked. The Dwarf Cameleon. (Lacerta Punila, Gm. ~ Chameleon Pinnilus, Daud. IV. 53. Cham. Margarituceus, Mer. Seb. 82, 4, 5.) Has the capote thrown backwards, warts scattered over the flanks, limbs and tail; under the neck are numerous shreds of skin, compressed and finely den- ticulated, which vary according to the individuals. It is found at the Cape, the Isle of France, and the Sechelles Islands.* The Cameleon of Senegal. (Lacerta Chameleon Gm.) Ch. Planiceps, Merr. Seba. I. Ixxxiii. 2. Has the capote flatted, and almost without a crest, of a form horizontally parabolic. It is also found in Barbary, and even in Georgia. -A species of the Isle of France (Cham. Pardalis, Cuv.) has the casque flat, like that of Senegal, but its muzzle has a small prominent edge in front of the * I believe that the Cham. Seichellensis of Kuhl, is only a female of pumilus. ORDER SAURIA. 155 mouth, thicker grains are scattered among the others, and its body is sown irregularly with round black spots, edged with white. Another species (Cham. Parsonii, Cuv.), Phil. Trans. LVIII., with a flat casque a little truncated be- hind, has the crest of the brow prolonged and raised on each side, over the end of the muzzle, in a lobe almost vertical. The grains are equal, and there is no denticulation either above or below.* Finally, The Cameleon of the Moluccas, with forked nose. (Cham. Bifurcus Brong.) Daud. IV. Has the casque flat and semi-circular, two large compressed and projecting prominences in front of the muzzle, which vary in length, probably according to the sexes; the grains are equal, the body is sown with crowded blue spots, and there is at the bottom of each flank a double series of white ones. The sixth and last family of the Saurians is that of the SCINCOIDIANS. To be recognised by its short feet, tongue not ex- tensible, and equal scales, which cover the body and the tail like tiles. Tue Sxinks (Scincus, Daud.) Have four feet, rather short; a body almost of a * I am not acquainted with the Cham. Dilepis, Leach, or Bilobus Kuhl. 156 CLASS REPTILIA. length with the tail, without any swelling at the occiput, and without crest or gular appendage, co- vered with uniform shining scales, arranged like tiles, or like those of the carps. Some of them have a spindle form, others almost cylindrical, and more or less elongated, resemble serpents, and especially some of the angues with which they have also many inter- nal relations, and which they connect with the family of the iguanas by an uninterrupted series of shades; as to the rest, their tongue is fleshy, triflingly exten- sible and emarginated, and their jaws are furnished all round with small and crowded teeth ; in the anus, penis, eye and ear, they resemble, more or less, the iguanas and lizards. ‘Their feet have all the toes free and unguiculated. Certain species have some teeth in the palate, and a denticulation on the anterior edge of the tympanum. We should distinguish in the number, in con- sequence of its trenchant and somewhat raised muzzle, * Lac. Scincus, Lin.; Scincus Officinalis, Shn. ; El. Adda of the Arabs, Lacep. I. xxiii.; Bruce. Abyss. pl. 39; Egypt. Rept. Supp. pl. 2, f. 8. Six or eight inches long; the tail shorter than the body. ‘The latter is of a silvery yellowish colour, with some transverse blackish bands. It lives in * It is of this species only that M. Fitzinger composes his genus Seincus. The others form his genus Masoina. ORDER SAURIA. 157 Nubia, Abyssinia, and Arabia, from whence it is brought to Alexandria, and thence into all Europe. It exhibits an extraordinary promptitude in sinking into the sand when pursued.* Among those which have the muzzle blunt, we may remark a species extended throughout all India, (Sc. Rufescens). Greenish ; a yellowish line along each flank, and each of the scales raised with three small crests. One of the south very much spread in the neigh- bourhood of the Cape (Sc. Trivittatus). Brown ; three paler lines along the back and tail ; black spots between the lines.t And especially a large species of the Levant, named (Sc. Cyprius, Cuv.) Lac. Cyprius Scin- coides, Aldrov. Quad. Dig. 666; Geoff. Desc. de PEgypt. Rept. Pl. III. f 3, under the name of Anolis Gigantesque. Greenish, with smooth scales, and tail longer than the body; a pale line along each flank. Other skinks, the Tiziqua, Gray, have no teeth in the palate. * The Greeks and Latins named the Land Crocodile, which is a monitor, Scincus, and to which they attributed many virtues. But since the middle ages, the species above-mentioned has been generally sold under this name, and for the same uses. The Orientals, in particular, regard it as a power- ful aphrodisiac. + Add: Scincus Erythrocephalus,Gilliams, Sc. Nat, Phil. I. xviii.; Se. Bico- lor, Harlan, ib. IV. xviii. 1; Sc. Multi Seriatus, Nob. Geoff. Eg. Reptil. IV. f. 4, under the name of Anolis Pavé. We arealso inclined to refer to this subdivision, though we have not had the means of procuring it, the large skink called Galley Wasp, in Jamaica, Sloane II. pl. 275, f. 9. (Lacerta Occidua, Sh.) 158 CLASS REPTILIA. There is one very much spread in the south of Europe, Sardinia, Sicily, and Egypt, Sc. Variegatus, Sc. Ocellatus, Cuv. Daud. IV. lvi.; Geoff. Egypt. Rept. pl. V. £1, under the name of Anolis Marbré, and better, Savig. 7b. Suppl. pl. II. f. 7, which has on the back, flanks, and tail, some small round black spots, each of them marked with a trait of white. A pale line for the most part predominates on each side of the back. There are many species in our Antilles, one of which is improperly named Anolis de Terre and Ma- bouia, Lacep. pl. xxiv. Smooth, greenish-brown ; some blackish points scattered over the back. A brown band, badly terminated, proceeding from the temple to the shoulder and beyond.* The Moluccas and New Holland have some spe- cies of this division, remarkable for their size.t Seps. (Daud. )t Differ from the skinks only by having their body * The figure of Lacepéde is exact, the tail excepted, which is too short, the individual having had it broken, as frequently happens to all the lizards. Add, the Sc. d Fleures Noirs, Quoy and Gaimard, Voy, de Freyc. pl. 42; Sc. Bistriatus, Spix, xxvi. 1. + Lac Scincoides, White, 242 ; Scincus Nigroluteus, Quoy and Gaimard, Frey. 41; Scinc. Crotaphomelas, Per. and Lacep., &c. N.B. Ihave been able to name but very few species of skinks, because they are so badly characterized in authors, that I find it almost impossible to indicate the synonimy with any certainty. It is the genus which stands most in need of a monograph. { Seps and Chalcis were among the ancients the names of an animal which some represented as a lizard, others as a serpent. It is very pro- bable that they designated the seps with three toes of Italy and Greece. Seps comes from onmey, to corrupt. ORDER SAURIA. 159 still more elongated, altogether similar to that of an anguis, and their feet still smaller, the two paws of which are more remote from each other. ‘Their lungs begin to exhibit some inequality. There is one species with five toes, the hinder of which are unequal. (S. Scincoides, Cuv.) One with five toes, pretty nearly equal and short. (Angus Quadrupes, Lin.; Lacerta Serpens, Gm.) Block. Soc. des Nat. de Berlin, tom. II. pl. 2, of the Kast Indies.* One with four toes, the hinder of which are un- equal. (Zhe Tetradactylus Decresiensis, Ber.) And one with three, otherwise very like the pre- ceding. (TZridactylus Decresiensis.) Both were from the island of Decrés, and are viviparous. One with three very short toes, and very short feet, named in Italy Cecella, or Cicigna, (Lacerta Chalcides, L.) Grey, with four longitudinal brown stripes, two. on each side of the back. It is also viviparous, and moves with rapidity without the assistance of its feet; lives in meadows, and feeds on spiders, small snails, &c.t Our southern provinces have one very similar, but * Mr, Gray has made of this his genus Lycosoma. Mr. Fitzinger leaves it in his Mazora, or skinks without palatal teeth. + It is to this species that Fitzinger reserves the generic name of Seps. He calls it Seps Peronii- { Merrem, on the contrary, had made his genus Sers of this species only. Fitzinger now calls it, after Oken, Zyanis, and joins with it the Trydactylus of Peron, of the Isle Decrés, which much more approaches the Tvtradactylus of the same island. 160 CLASS REPTILIA. with eight or nine brown rays equally distributed. (Zygnis Striata, Fitz.) We might separate from the others a species whose scales, all carinated and pointed, are pretty nearly disposed in verticilla. (Lac. Anguina, Lin. ; Lac. Monodactyla, Lacep. Ann. Mus. II. lix. 2, and Vosmaer; Monogr. 1774, f. 1, under the name of Serpent Lizard.) Its feet are small stilets, not divided. It inhabits the environs of the Cape of Good Hope.* The birepes. (Brpes, Lacep.) Are a small genus which do not differ from the seps, but because they entirely want the fore-feet, having only the omoplates and clavicles concealed under the skin, and the hind feet alone being visible. ‘There is but a step from them to the angues. Some have a range of pores in front of the anus. They form the genus Pycorus of Merrem. I have dissected one brought from New Holland by the late Peron, Bipede Lepidopode, Lacep. An. du Mus. tom. IV. pl. lv., which has the scales of the back 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 * It isthe genus Monopacryuus, Merr. or Coamasaura, Fitz. ORDER SAURIA. 161 phalanges. One of the lungs is one half less than the other. It lives in mud.* Others have not this range of pores. ‘There is a small species of the Cape described long since (dn- -guis Bipes, Lin. Lacerta Bipes, Gm. Seb. I. Ixxxvi. 3), whose feet terminate each in two unequal toes.t Brazil produces another. (Pygophus Cariococca.) Spix, Xxvui. 2, larger, with undivided feet, like those of the lepidopode, but more pointed, with scales all smooth. It is greenish, with four longitudinal blackish lines.t Cuatcipes, Daud. Are like the seps, very elongated lizards, and similar to serpents, but their scales, instead of being disposed like tiles, are rectangular, and form like those of the tail in the common lizards, transverse bands, which do not encroach one upon the other. Some have a furrow on each side of the trunk, and the tympanum very apparent. They are related to cordylus, as the seps are to the skinks, and con- * The figure of Lacépéde is taken from an individual whose tail had been broken and reproduced. In general, in all this class, an observer is very likely to be deceived, as to the proportional length of the tails. + This is the genus Brees, Merr., or Scrtores of Fitzinger. The Seps Gronovien, or Monodactyle of Daudin, of which Merrem has made his sub- genus Pycopactytus, is but a badly preserved individual of the other ; another genus ought to be suppressed, as Merrem himself suspected, The Seps Sewlineata, Harlan. Sc, Nat. Phil, IV. pl. xviii. f. 2, is only a variety. t The Pyg. Striatus, Spix, xxviii. 1, appears to me to be only the young. VOL. IX. M 162 CLASS REPTILIA. duct in many points of view to the ophisauri and pseudopodes. One species, with five toes, is known from the Kast Indies. (Lac. Seps. Lin.) One with four. (Lac. Tetradactyla, Lacep. Ann. du Mus. II. lix. 2.)* Others have the tympanum concealed, and lead directly to the bimanes, and through them to the amphisbenee. There is one species with five toes. One of Brazil with four before and five behind. (Heterodactylus Imbricatus. Spix, xxvii. 1.) One with four on all the feet.t — One whose toes, to the number of five before and three behind, are reduced to small tubercles, so little visible that the species has been regarded, some- times as having three toes, and sometimes but one. It belongs to Guiana.§ Cuirotes, Cuv. Resemble the chalcides in their verticillated scales, and the amphisbene still more in the obtuse form of * It is the genus TreTrapacrytus of Merrem, or Sauroprnis of Fitzinger. es + This forms the genus Cuatcipgs of Fitzinger. t This is the genus Bracuyeus of Fitzinger. § On the first supposition, namely, of the three toes, it is the Chalcide of Lacep. pl. xxxii.; the Chamesaura Cophias of Schn.; the genus Cuatcis of Merrem, and the genus Copuras of Fitzinger. Onthe other hypothesis, it is the Chalcide Monodactyle of Daudin, or the genus Cotosus of Merrem, but all these genera are reducible to a single species. ORDER SAURIA. 163 the head; but they are distinguished from the first because they want hind feet, and from the second, because they have fore feet. But one is known, from Mexico. Bipede Cannelé, Lacep. ; Chamesaura Propus, Schn. ; Lacerta Lumbricoides, Shaw, Lacep. I. xh. With two short feet with four toes each, and a ves- tige of a fifth, pretty completely organized in- ternally, and attached by omoplates, clavicles, and a small sternum; but the head, vertebra, and in a word, all the rest of the skeleton, resembles that of the amphisbene. It is about eight or ten inches long, and is as thick as one’s little finger; flesh-coloured, covered with about two hundred and twenty semi-rings on the back, and as many under the belly, which meet in turning on the side. It is found in Mexico, where it lives on insects. Its tongue but little ex- tensible, is terminated by two small corneous points. The eye is very small, the tympanum covered by the skin, and invisible without. In front of the anus are two lines of pores. I have found but one large lung, and a vestige of a small one, as in the majority of serpents.* * The genera which terminate this order of Saurians, interpose, in various manners, between the common Saurians and the genera placed at the head of the order of Ophidians; so much so, that many naturalists do not think that these two orders should be separated, or that one should be formed, including, on the one hand, the Saurians, with the exception of the crocodiles, and on the other, the Ophidans of the family of anguis, mM 2 164 CLASS REPTILIA. But among the fossils of ancient calcareous formations, there exist two genera, far more extraordinary, and which, with the head and trunk of a Saurian, have feet supported on short members, and formed of a multitude of small articulations, assembled in a kind of oar or fin, like the paddles or fore-feet of the cetacea. One of these genera, the _IcuTHyosaurus, had a large head, on a neck rather short, enormous eyes, a moderate tail, an elongated muzzle armed with conical teeth, adhering in a groove. Different species have been discovered in England, France, and Germany, some of which are very large. : The other, the PLestosaurus, had a small head, supported on a long, serpent-like neck, composed of more conical vertebre than in any known animal. Its tail was short. Debris of it have been also found on the continent. These two genera, the discovery of which is mainly owing to the researches of Sir Everard Home, Mr. Conybeare, Dr. Buckland, &c., inha- bited the sea. They should form a very distinct family ; but from what is known of their osteology, they approach more to the common Saurians than to the crocodiles, to which M. Fitzinger associates them in his family of Lortcata, which allocation is so much the more gratuitous, as we are neither acquainted with their scales, nor tongue, the two characteristic parts of the Loricata. PLATE 5. O1 | J 3 al i : gq 4 d ; / wee jg SG) ASSDRE VV eee RRA UN Yi E i YS gage : Bs 1 “ aS cr neBSBRe nh 1 A Bis ene ee ~ Ss Z | f a Ay é foo re HE EEEEEE ES SERS = GEE ESE OL Sor ene ) : ce é 2 £ es ect We > SSS BY Wh De eee ee we VVVRWN FN he, we IID ” Cr head l.Anolus velijér 2. Anis LJULSLT ES. AZ 11 { CERO couedien, of F CeCho sreetlalws Londiry, Published by Whs Later do | 5 . A eiefi oka ten iy She ORDER SAURIA. 165 SUPPLEMENT ON THE SAURLIA. Before we proceed to consider in succession the different genera of Saurians, we shall enlarge a little on the text, in our general remarks on the characteristics of this very numerous and important order of reptiles. It received its present name, first from M. Alexandre Brongniart, and comprehends the animals designated by Linnzeus under the collective appellation of amphibia reptilia. It is easy to distin- guish these animals, in the vertebrated class, by unequivocal characters common to them all, and derived from their conformation and habits. For the sake of making a distinct impression, we thus briefly recapitulate those characters ;— A Saurian is an animal with an elongated body, scaly, or shagreened, without carapace, sometimes almost apodal, but more frequently with four, and rarely with two feet, the toes of which are. furnished with crooked claws. The eyelids are moveable; there is a distinct tympanum, the branches of the jaws are soldered, and armed with enchased teeth. The orifice of the cloaca is a transverse cleft: the heart has two auricles, and there are ribs and a sternum. The reptiles of the order of Saurians, have been grouped by some zoologists into three distinct families, founded upon the conformation of the tail. The first have the tail flatted above, or on the sides. These are called Urnonecrrs. The second have the tail rounded, conical, and distinct, and are denominated Eumrropgs. The third, which receive the 166 CLASS REPTILIA. name of ErrospENAE, have the tail likewise rounded and conical, but this part is not distinct from the rest of the body. A superficial examination is sufficient for the purpose of dis- tinguishing a Saurian from every other reptile. Nevertheless, there are some of them, which exhibit relations to genera, of orders, and even classes from which they are otherwise greatly removed,—Thus for example, though the Saurians differ from the Ophidia by the presence of limbs, and the existence of moveable eyelids; from the Batracians, by not being subject to metamorphoses ; from the Chelonia, by the want of carapace, and the existence of teeth ; and from the fishes by not having gills; yet there are many points in which they approximate to all those animals. The anguis seems a link to connect them with the first, and the emys serpentina with the third—while the crocodiles and dragons, attach them to the second, and the fourth. The study therefore, of the interior organization of these animals is indispensably re- quisite for their proper classification. There is perhaps no other class of animals, which exhibit more marked and numerous varieties in the way of locomo- tion than the Saurians. This might naturally be expected, when we consider that there is no other in which the species differ so much in their modes of life and the nature of their habitations. The sojourn of some of them seems fixed to the waters, and these are organized for swimming.—Such for instance, are the crocodiles, the caymans and the gavials. Others, like the green lizard, seek out dry and elevated grounds, while some, as the basilisk, prefer the neighbour- hood of aquatic places. Some inhabit the hollows of rocks, and others live in the centre of woods—some, such as the iguanas, climb with swiftness to the extremity of the bran- ches of trees; and others, (the dragons) spring from one to the other, with a rapidity of motion resembling flight; ORDER SAURIA. 167 certain of them may be seen to run with the quickness of an arrow, launched by the hand of a vigorous archer ; others walk with difficulty, and appear as it were to trail them- selves along the ground. Whatever may be the nature of the movements which these animals are adapted to exercise, it is in those climates over which the sun exerts the most genial influence, that their various modes of locomotion are most completely and energetically developed. The greatest degree of atmospheric heat seems necessary to bring out, as it were, all their mo- tile forces. In such countries therefore, as Egypt, so nearly approaching to the tropics, on the burning coast of Africa, on the torrid banks of the Senegal, the Nile, and the Gam- bia, in the intertropical solitudes of the New World, and in the Archipelago of the Moluccas, and the Antilles, where the sun maintains an everlasting reign, we find the saurian races enjoying all the plenitude of their existence, and distinguished for the power, suppleness, and agility of their motions. We might also assert, that a humid atmosphere, an aquatic soil, a certain superabundance of water, are indispensable to the numerous production of these animals. Egypt, which we have just cited, and where the saurians appear to rise as it were from the earth in all parts, is not merely a hot climate. An immense river in its periodical inundations covers the whole face of the country with a humid slime. The marshes and savannahs of South America, the mighty tracts inundated by the Oronoco and the Amazons, the island shores of the Equatorial Atlantic, are all subject to similar conditions of temperature and humidity. They are all bathed by tepid waters, and the innumerable legions of lizards and other saurians which inhabit them, enjoy a degree of activity far superior to that which distinguishes 168 CLASS REPTILIA. the torpid beings of the same class in our more northern countries. It is not necessary here to enter into any details respecting the forms, the connections, and relations of the organs of locomotion in the saurians. This seems to have been done sufficiently already for a work of the nature of ours. But some further remarks on the variety of modes in which these organs are applied to their destined purposes, may not be devoid of interest. ; We may first observe, that the progressive movements of reptiles in general present more difficulties in ‘the explication than those of the two higher classes of vertebrated animals. These difficulties do not arise so much from the want of proper attention having been given to the subject, as from the enormous difference existing between the locomotive system in man and in these animals. The greatness of this difference renders it almost impossible to establish such an approximation or comparison as can tend to a proper eluci- dation of the subject. In the reptile class, the majority of the saurians are true quadrupeds, but oviparous quadrupeds, and in the mode of station very different from the viviparous quadrupeds of the mammiferous class. Their thighs are directed outwards, and the inflexions of the feet are made in a direction per- pendicular to the rachis, so that the weight of the body acts as a very long lever, and thus hinders the straightening of the knee, whose articulation remains constantly bent, which causes the belly to drag on the ground between the legs ; and this is equally the case with the thoracic and abdominal members. In the mammiferous quadrupeds, the case is quite differ- ent. The legs bend both in front, and behind in planes pretty nearly parallel with the spine, and but little remote ORDER SAURIA. 169 from the central plane of the body, where the weight is par- ticularly exerted. 5 When the saurians which are provided with only two limbs, or the mere rudiments of limbs, such as the chalcides, bipeds, &c., repose upon the ground, they form circles with their body above or around each other, and the head is raised above those circumvolutions. Certain saurians climb with a wonderful degree of facility. In this point of view the cameleon, among the reptiles, seems to be as well provided as the quadrumana among the mam- malia, in consequence of its hands, claws, and prehensile tail. The lizards, Anolis, the geckos, and tupinambis in general, walk and run with great agility; others swim by the as- sistance of their limbs and the central part of the tail, while others push forward-or backward by an impulsion of the body, or the alternate application of one or more of their lower parts against the ground, in a manner very analogous to that of the serpent tribes. The dragons, which belong to this order, are the only reptiles possessing the capacity of flight. For this purpose they are provided, on each side, with a membrane between the feet, which unfolds like a fan, and bends at the will of the animal, by the assistance of osseous radii articulated on the dorsal vertebrae, and which are substituted for the first six false ribs. All physiologists are agreed to consider, in animals in general, the actions of walking and running so intimately connected, that it would be difficult to establish any certain distinction between them. The saurian quadrupeds do not deviate in this respect from the common rule, and there exists no difference between their walking after a certain mode, and their running; the latter,as in the mammifera, being most commonly performed by the complicated mechanism of the walk and leap. 170 CLASS REPTILIA. When, by the assistance of an alternate motion of the feet, these animals desire to transport their body from one solid place to another, different phenomena take place, according as their feet are of similar length, or of unequal dimensions. But it never happens, in this kind of progressive motion, that the body is entirely suspended above the ground on which the limbs are placed. In all such cases the entire body of the animal may be compared to a spring with two branches, one of which leans against a resisting object. If these branches, after having been drawn together by any force, are restored to their pri- mitive liberty, the power of their elasticity will tend to sepa- rate them widely ; but the branch resting against the obstacle, not being able to overcome it, transmits the motion, which takes place entirely in the opposite direction, so that the centre of gravity of the spring is removed from the obstacle with a greater or less degree of velocity. In these animals, as in the mammifera, the flexor muscles constitutes the force which compresses the spring; the ex- tensors represent the elasticity which separates its branches, - and the resistance of the ground or water, is the obstacle. All the saurians whose feet are nearly equal in length, walk with great vivacity. The lizards, one species of which has received the epithet of velox, and another that of agilis, the ameivas, the monitors, the agamz, the anolis, and many others are in this predicament. In them, in the most natural mode of walking, the body is in equwilibrio on one of the fore-feet and on the opposite hind-foot, so that the centre of gravity does not move, following aright line, but advances between two parallels, in the intervals of which it describes oblique lines, which go from one to the other, forming zig- zags. The impulses communicated to the trunk counter- balance each other reciprocally, and the trunk itself moves ORDER SAURIA. 171 in the diagonal of a parallelogram, of which it may be con- sidered to form the sides. The rectitude of direction in the walk is continually changed in those lizards, in which the greater or less breadth of the feet must be taken into consideration, and the variable degree of separation in these parts, which permits them, in- cludes a basis of sustentation of greater or less extent, or ac- commodates itself more or less to the inequalities of the soil. If these animals, although their limbs be of equal dimen- sions, support with effort, on feet too small or too weak, a heavy, thick, or overlong body, they then walk with slow- ness, constraint, and embarrassment. Such is the case with the crocodiles and chalcides. Some saurians leap with great agility, as, for instance, the iguanas and tupinambis. Thus we find the movements of all the genera of saurians contribute to enliven the scene of the animated world, either amid the verdure of the earth, or on the bosom of the rapid river, or the tranquil lake. The lizard, which seenis almost to swallow the ground in the rapidity of its course ; the fly- ing dragon hovering from branch to branch, and shooting into the air ; the draczena, bathing in the limpid stream ; the anguis (for after all it may be said to belong to this order) gliding beneath the dry leaves and bushes; the gavial, cleaving the waves with the rapidity of an arrow, all present in their varied and lively evolutions, some of the most inter- esting spectacles in this sublunary world, where nothing remains unmoved, and where the power and the marvels of nature should excite our continual and unlimited admiration. We have already had occasion to hint that the organs of sensation vary considerably in the four grand orders of the reptile class. As for the saurians, they have as great a number of senses as the best.conformed animals among the 172 CLASS REPTILIA. vertebrata. Like the mammifera and birds, they have five senses; while in fish, that of smell seems more than doubt- ful; and as we descend among the inferior animals, we find sight, or hearing, or taste, reduced to a nullity, until at last we find the scope of sensibility limited to a simple faculty of touch. However, though the saurians have all their senses, yet, with the exception of that of sight, they are all feeble in comparison to those of mammalia and birds. Their percep- tion. of impressions must consequently be much more limited, their internal emotions less strong and less frequent, their want of communication with the external world less urgently renewed, and less completely satisfied ; their feelings colder, their apathy more remarkable, their instinct ill determined, and their volitions ill decided; and such, in fact, are the general characteristic of these numerous animals. It is to this union of causes, under the immediate depend- ance of a principal one, that we must connect a fact, which we have already noticed in our observations on the class; namely, that among the animals of which we are writing, the muscular irritability is energetic, out of all proportion with the small developement of sensibility, with the little delicacy of most of the senses, and with the relative smallness of volume in the brain. The weakness of the senses which characterizes these animals suffices, in all probability, to produce such changes in their internal organization, as may cause the decrease of swiftness, of sensibility, and of internal heat observable in the descent from one genus to another. If to such considerations we unite that of the small abun- dance of bleod in reptiles, the long time which it takes in circulation, without passing through the lungs, which, more- over, according to some anatomists, receive no other blood than what is necessary to their support, and may be opened, cut, and lacerated, without producing immediate death, we 4 ORDER SAURIA. 173 may easily conceive how, every year during a determined term, these animals fall into a state of torpor rendered in- evitable by circumstances of temperature to which birds and mammalia seem insensible. Internal and external causes, therefore, unite to diminish the interior activity of the saurians, and to deprive them, at certain seasons, of the brutal instinct, the physical propen- sions, by which they are habitually influenced, to remove all sexual desire, to silence the calls of appetite, and, in a word, to place them in that lethargic kind of sleep which is the most prolonged and perfect image of death, which beings in which the vital spark is not extinct, can exhibit. Being less sensible at all times, less animated by lively passions, less agitated within, and consequently less active without, pretty well sheltered against violent dangers, and having few accidents, comparatively, to dread, the saurians without loss of life, may be deprived of feet, tail, and other important parts, and even, after a time, reproduce them. So extraordinary a phenomenon suffices to prove how little the different parts of these beings are dependant on each other. Their nervous system constitutes a whole, the various pieces of which are far from being so closely connected as in birds and mammalia. We may also observe that, notwithstanding the burning climates which they usually inhabit, the saurians, being less influenced by internal heat, have much less occa- sion to drink than the animals of the two classes’ above them. The slowness of the circulation and low temperature of blood in these reptiles, while it explains the fact of their not dying immediately when deprived of their head, also agrees with their astonishing facility of supporting want of food. This is so great that crocodiles have been known to pass a whole year without taking any kind of nourishment. But though they have the power of resisting blows and 174: CLASS REPTILIA. accidents which only affect certain parts of their body, they speedily succumb under the influence of external causes which attack the entire of their economy with energy and perseverance; this is in consequence of the want of reaction in their internal faculties. Thus an atmosphere more cold than temperate, immediately renders them feeble and ill, and often kills them. Thus we find that the gigantic cro- codiles, the iguanas, the basilisks, and all the large sized races of the family of the saurians, frequent, in both worlds, only the rivers, the Savannahs, the hot and humid forests, or the burning sands of the torrid regions. To such haunts these larger species appear to be confined; and if any among them are found to frequent countries more or less remote from the equator, their dimensions grow progressively smaller, and their individuals become less and less numerous. The deficiency of the sensitive system among the saurians, prevents the individuals of the same species from forming any thing like a true society, though they may often be found united in troops more or less numerous. No kind of labour, no operations of building, of hunting, or of war, says Count Lacépéde, ever result from their congregatings. They never construct an habitation; and when they make choice of one on the banks of rivers, in rocks, or hollow trees, it is no com- modious dwelling for a number of them united, but a purely individual retreat, in which they make no change, and use it solely for the purposes of concealment. If they are ever found to hunt or fish together, it is only that they are simultaneously drawn by the same want, or attracted by the same bait. If they ever defend them- selves in common, it is only when they are attacked in common. Notwithstanding the almost untameable ferocity of some of these reptiles, and the discouraging stupidity of others, yet are many of them susceptible of being tamed, and ren- ORDER SAURIA. 175 dered familiar. The priests of Memphis, according to the ancient historians, reared crocodies in a kind of domestication, which they were wont to parade in public in certain religious ceremonies. It also appears, according to the report of Bruce, that on the western shores of Africa, the negroes bring up crocodiles, which become so gentle as to let the children play with them, and ride upon their backs. The encephalon, in the surians, occupies but a small por- tion of the cavity of the cranium ; so that the figure and extent of the latter are no exact indications of the form and volume of the former. As for the rest, it is terminated, above, and in front, as in the other reptiles and all vertebrated animals, by olfactory lobes, and cerebral hemispheres ; but like the ence- phalon of fishes, it has no decussations or general commissures, although it is placed much higher, by the predominance of the organ which represents the cerebrum. This predominance is so great, that the other parts of the encephalic mass appear to have no relations with each other but through its medium, and are fixed more closely to it than the various lobes are one with another. In general, its parts are all smooth, and without convolutions. It is not easy to establish in a general way its compara- tive weight in proportion to that of the body, because the weight of the first always remains pretty nearly the same, while that of the latter is subject to variations of very great extent, according to the condition of the animal. It may be affirmed, however, that absolutely speaking, its volume is wonderfully smaller than that of the encephalon of the warm- blooded animals, that is, of those belonging to the classes mammalia and aves. The dura mater, which is destitute of all falciform and other kinds of folds, is constantly adherent to the internal face of the cranium, and is separated from the encephalon by a mucous pulp more or less solid. The pia-mater, as in the 176 CLASS REPTILIA. other vertebrated animals, is formed by a vascular net-work, very complicated and delicate. The cerebral hemispheres are placed in front of the optic beds, and do not cover them. Their existence is evident, and they cannot be confounded with any other portion of the encephalic mass, which is by no means the case with all the fishes. Their most usual form is nearly that of a triangle with the base turned behind. As they are more perfect than those of fishes, so are they less variable in their forms through the different species. In the cameleon they form an oval, and are fixed by their base to the cerebral pedicles. Their interior is, as usual, hollowed by a ventricle in which is an hemispheric tubercle, one portion of which represents the corpus striatum. As to the organs of sensation which are special in the saurians, we may remark that they all have two eyes placed. to the right and left of the head, and tolerably large and pro- jecting in proportion to the volume of the body. These eyes are mobile and lodged in orbits. They are always furnished with lids which vary in number, in figure, and in the degree of mobility. In the crocodiles, for instance, we find three eyelids, two horizontal, and one vertical. The first two close exactly, and have a swelling at their edge, but no eye-lash. The third, semi-transparent, moves from front to back, and is capable of covering the entire eye. It has but a single muscle, which represents the pyramidal muscle in birds, and which fixed in the same manner to the posterior part of the orbit towards the bottom, turns round the optic nerve, re- passes under the eye, and sends its tendon into this lid. The common lizards have instead of eylids, a kind of circular veil, extended in front of the orbit, and pierced with an horizontal cleft closed by a sphincter, and dilated by a levator and a depressor muscle. The lower part of this veil has a carti- laginous disk, smooth, and round, like that of birds. There ORDER SAURIA. 177 is found, moreover, in these reptiles, the rudiment of a third eyelid, but without any peculiar muscle. The third eyelid is totally wanting in the cameleon, and the aperture in the veil is so small, that the pupil can scarcely be seen through it. The gecko has no mobile lid, and the eye is protracted only by a slight fold of the skin. The same appears to be the case with the skink. Nothing positive is known concerning the lachrymal ap- paratus of the saurians. In the lizards and the cameleon, the sclerotica contains osseous laminee, analogous to those in birds. But these lamina do not form an anterior disk, and only surround the lateral portion of the sclerotic. In the crocodile, the ciliary processes are very fine, and well marked, each of them ending nearly in a right angle. These processes are not found in the lizards. The iris of the saurians has some analogy with that of fishes in the metallic tints with which it shines. That of the crocodile exhibits a most beautiful vascular net-work. In this reptile, the pupil resembles that of the cat, while it is rounded in the cameleon and the lizards, and rhomboidal in the gecko. In general, in all the animals of this order, the pupil is susceptible of dilatation and contraction, so as to receive the necessary quantity of light. Accordingly they can distin- guish objects equally well in the obscurity of the darkest and in the most brilliant light of sunshine. There is nothing remarkable in the vitrea of these animals, nor yet in the crystalline aqueous humours. | In the crocodile the globe of the eye is preserved in its orbit by means of six ordinary muscles arranged as in the fish, and moreover, by four smaller muscles which nearly embrace the optic nerve, and spread over the sclerotic. The organ of vision is remarkably active in the saurian tribes. Inhabiting for the most part the sea-shores, and VOL. IX. N 178 ; CLASS REPTILIA. banks of rivers in the torrid zone, where the sun is scarcely ever veiled by clouds, and where the luminous rays are incessantly and intensely reflected by the waves and the sands, a strength of this organ was peculiarly indispensable to these animals, to prevent their eyes from being injured and speedily destroyed by the excessive action of light to which they are perpetually subjected. Like other reptiles the saurians have an auditory organ composed of a vestibulary sac, a vestige of cochlea, and three semi-circular. But the crocodile alone has any ap- pearance of an external meatus auditorius, because the skin forms a kind of thick cover above the tympanum. This serves to explain a passage in Herodotus, who tells us that the Egyptians were in the habit of suspending jewels in the ears of the crocodile. The osseous labyrinth presses closely on the membranaceous, investing it throughout with a thin and hard lamina. The auditory apparatus of these animals is altogether very imperfect, and we may conclude that their powers of hearing are equally so. This conjecture is strengthened by the fact that they are either dumb, or only emit hoarse, confused, and disagreeable sounds. Their olfactory organs are still more imperfect, and the sense of taste is in all probability less developed than even that of smell. The tongue, in fact, of the greater number of sau- rians, though singularly extensible and mobile, is terminated by two long points which are semi-cartilaginous and cor- neous, and though it is soft and humid, its surface is smooth. In the crocodiles it is so fixed by the edges and point that it seems to be wanting, and was always thought to be so by the ancients. Nor can the sense of touch be supposed to give rise to any great number of distinct impressions in these animals, covered as they are with hard scales, or a corneous epider- mis. This skin falls at least once every year in the spring- ORDER SAURIA. 179 time, either in an entire piece, like a sheath, or in dry, horny and colourless scales. Many of them, besides, have their toes joined so that they cannot be applied but with difficulty to the surface of bodies; and though some others have them 28) long, and separated from each other, yet the under part is furnished with such thick scales, that a very small degree of sensibility must be left in it. The corpus mucosum, under the epidermis of the saurians, is very livelily and variously coloured. ‘There is great tenacity in the dermis, which is closely adherent to the mus- cles, and variable in thickness. In many species may be observed, under each thigh, a very regular range of small pores, from which a viscous humour exudes. This peculiarity belongs to all the genuine lizards. The saurian reptiles live generally on small quadrupeds, birds, mollusca, worms, and insects. They never drink. Their digestion is remarkably slow, and they eat but seldom, especially during the cold season. If some among them, such as the crocodiles, make a considerable consumption of food, it must be attributed to the immense bulk which they have to support. One repast, however, will suffice them for many days. From a necessary consequence of defective mastication in these animals, the salivary glands should constitute a less important apparatus in their organization than in that of the mammifera. In some of them the tongue is composed in a great measure of a thick glandulous mass, formed by a number of small tubes united by their base, and separated towards the surface of the organ. These constitute so many papillae, which render the surface somewhat bristly when they are fine. The sides of the mass are pierced with a multitude of small holes, which give passage to a humour secreted by the gland itself. This disposition is particularly n 2 180 CLASS REPTILIA. observable in the flat-headed geckos, in some skinks, and in the iguana. In the tupinambis this gland appears to be replaced by two others, which are elongated, granular, and situated under the skin along the external face of the branches of the lower jaw, and the humour of which is poured to the external side of the teeth in the same jaw. On that side they are immediately covered by the palatine membrane. In the saurians, in general, the tongue is capable of con- siderable elongation, and the mechanism which produces this movement intimately allied to the act of deglutition, is itself inseparable from that of the different pieces which compose the hyoid apparatus. In the majority of the saurians the epiglottis is wanting, as is likewise the veil or covering of the palate. Their pharynx is but little wider than the cesophagus, and is furnished with no muscle for the purpose of moving it, or causing it to change form. The mucous membrane which covers it exhibits numerous longitudinal folds. In the cesophagus there is nothing very remarkable, but that its diameter is very great, in comparison to the stomach, and that it appears very dilatable. ‘The stomach is generally of an oval and very elongated form, and its parietes are usually slender and transparent, like those of the intestinal canal. Its muscular membrane seems to have but little sensibility, at least in a portion of its extent. Proportionally to the body, the intestinal canal of the saurians is very short. This is evidently connected with the carnivorous regimen of these reptiles. Its form and dimen- sions, however, vary considerably according to the species. The growth of the saurians is rather slow, because these animals live a long time, and the lethargy to which they are subject during the winter seems to suspend their exist- ence. Certain species, such as the iguanas, and above all, ORDER SAURIA. 181 the crocodiles, attain to a remarkable size. The advanced age to which they arrive is not surprising in cold-blooded animals, which transpire with difficulty, easily dispense with food, and possess the faculty of repairing such external losses as they happen to sustain. In man and the more complicated animals of the verte- brated division, circulation is a function of the first import- ance. The blood, proceeding from the left ventricle of the heart, spreads itself by the arteries through the whole body, takes the capillary system in its way, passes into the veins, returns to the heart, enters into the right auricle of that organ, then into the corresponding ventricle, which, in its turn, sends it into the pulmonary artery to be distributed into the lungs, from which it issues by the pulmonary veins, to repair to the left auricle and ventricle, and proceed from thence in its round anew. In this course the blood evidently describes a double circle, one in the lungs, the other in the entire body. This is not at all the case with the reptiles in general, and with the saurians in particular. The heart, as we have already observed, in all these animals is so disposed, that at each contraction it sends into the lungs but a portion of the blood which it has received from all the other parts of the body. Therefore the pulmonary circulation of the saurians is but a fraction of the great circulation. _ This fraction is more or less considerable, according to the genera, and pro- ductive of effects more or less marked. But as we have already enlarged on this topic sufficiently, and shown the consequences of this sluggish circulation on the habits, pas- sions, intellectual and physical constitution, we shall content ourselves by remarking here, that the quantity of blood in the saurians is very inconsiderable in comparison with that of mammifera and birds. Hasselquist, who dissected a cro- codile at Grand Cairo in 1751, reports, that the quantity 182 CLASS REPTILIA. of this fluid which flowed from the grand artery was very small indeed. We shall conclude these general observations on the sau- rians, which have already, perhaps, been too far extended, by noticing a singular fact not before mentioned, and which serves to explain some peculiar phenomena in these reptiles, which had hitherto remained incompletely developed by our modern physiologists. ‘The phenomena in question we have mentioned before, namely, the capacity of these animals to continue so long without sustenance, and the yearly lethargy into which they fall, and which is infinitely more profound than the hybernal sleep of some mammifera. Even yet our curiosity is not completely satisfied on these two points; but until the researches of M. L. Jacobson, of the academy of Copenhagen, our acquaintance with their nature was very slender indeed. Nothing was demonstrated concerning the nature of that arrangement of organization on which they might be supposed to depend. After some particular researches the learned Danish anato- mist, whom we have just cited, recognized in the reptiles a special arrangement of certain vessels, which constitutes a peculiar venous system. Nature has established this system in all reptiles in a manner more or less marked. The rudiments of it are to be found in the tortoises and crocodiles—but it is only in the other saurians, the ophidians, and batracians, that it is completely developed. It is composed of the veins of the abdominal members, the pelvian or caudal veins, the hinder veins of the kidneys, the veins of the oviductus, a great portion of the veins of the skin, of those of the muscles of the abdomen, and of those of certain organs peculiar to the reptiles. These veins combine, and form one or many trunks, which proceed either into the vena porta, or