of which there are no less than six hundred and fifty-seven varieties.
Reptiles are vertebrated animals belonging to Cuvier's first great
section, but distinguished from mammalia and birds, by their cold
blood, their oviparous generation, and the absence of either feathers
or hair from their bodies. They take precedence of fish in the animal
kingdom, having lungs for aerial respiration, and "a higher
circulatory organisation than the exclusive inhabitants of the water."
In the museum, Cuvier's classification has been followed, with slight
variations; that is to say, the reptiles have been re-divided into
four classes:--the Sauria, or Lizards (in which class some modern
naturalists, as Merrem and others, include serpents); the Ophidia, or
Serpents; the Testudinata, or Tortoises; and the Batrachia, or Frogs.
The lizards occupy the first ten wall cases in this room.
The first case contains those lizards of India and Africa which have
long held the regard of eastern nations, upon the slender report that
they hiss upon the approach of a crocodile, and so warn the incautious
traveller to retreat in time. The truth is, these sauria prey upon the
crocodile's eggs, no doubt to the particular annoyance of the
crocodile, who are, therefore, it is more than probable, no friends of
the monitors. The Egyptian would love the monitor for feeding upon the
crocodile germ, as much as for his timely warning of the approach of
the uncouth enemy. The curious heloderms, from Mexico, with their
ophidian teeth, lie at the bottom of the fifth case: they are
supposed, but as yet on insufficient grounds, to be poisonous. In the
next case (6) are the lizards of tropical America, called safeguards.
Their reputed peculiarity is that, of beating beehives till they
compel the bees to retire, and then feasting upon the sweet booty: in
the same case with these, is the lizard with the double-keeled tail,
known as the crocodilurus. The visitor next faces a case (7) of
Serpent Lizards, which do not deserve their reputation for poisonous
properties, being quite harmless: here, also, are the Skinks and other
varieties, including the blind worms with their hidden legs. Having
dismissed the serpent lizards, the visitor will notice the Night
Lizards and Guanas. The former are inhabitants of warm climates, and
from the ease with which they can adapt themselves to any positions,
they may be troublesome visitors; they can run with ease about the
walls and ceilings of rooms, like flies; and their propensity is to
roam abroad in the darkness of the night. Their broad, ugly heads, and
repulsive general appearance, have won for them the character of
poisonous reptiles, but the truth is they are harmless. The Crested
Lizards which the visitor will notice hereabouts, are the American
fruit-eating species, celebrated for violent quarrelling among
themselves, and for their power of changing colour with great
rapidity. They do not crawl upon the earth, but live on trees, the
fruits of which sustain them. Here, too, are the Anoles, with their
distended toes, that enable them to imitate the crawling feats of the
night lizards. The tenth case devoted to the lizard tribe, is the most
interesting of the series. It contains the family of lizards known as
the Agama. This family boasts many famous scions. First, here are the
Indian dragons; their resemblance to the fabled monster slain by St.
George, consists of a loose skin over the ribs, which they can open or
fold at pleasure. These bat-like wings will not support them in the
air, but serve to steady their bodies when leaping from branch to
branch of a tree. From these lilliputian representatives of the
monster of fable, the visitor's attention will most probably be called
by an important-looking lizard, of which Mr. Allan Cunningham brought
the first specimens to this country, from Port Nelson, Australia. We
allude to the lizard with a frill round its neck, which has been
universally likened to that worn by Queen Elizabeth: it is called the
frilled agama. It is supposed that this harmless sauroid extends this
frill to frighten away its enemies; as old ladies, who can preserve
their presence of mind in the neighbourhood of a bull, open their
umbrella to frighten it into an opposite direction. Under these
interesting sub-families are grouped the varieties of a species of
agama that has won for itself an imperishable reputation--having
furnished imaginative minds with matter for the most extravagant
speculations--and yielded to the political writer abundant sarcastic
images. No politician who has thought proper in the course of a long
career, to change his old principles for new ones (as housewives
exchange worn-out apparel for new gilded pottery); no philosopher who
has by turns embraced conflicting principles of human action; no man
of science who has published two opposite theories of the formation of
our universe, can pause without emotion before this case of classed
Chameleons; for the politician, the philosopher, and the man of
science have inevitably figured in hostile reviews under the head of
colour-changing sauroids. The popular notion respecting the
colour-changing powers of these lizards is, that at will the chameleon
can habit itself in any colour of the rainbow; that by turns it is a
red chameleon, a blue chameleon, a green chameleon, and a yellow
chameleon. The fact of the case is very far-from this notion.
Chameleons are found chiefly in Africa and India, but also in some of
the tropical islands. In their habits they are sluggards, lounging
generally about trees, and distending their long tongues covered with
a glutinous secretion, to secure passing insects, upon which they
subsist. They have eyes of wonderful power, and can look backwards and
forwards at the same moment; but as regards their colour, it is well
to assure the visitor, that their usual tint when resting in the shade
is a blue-grey, which sometimes pales to a lighter grey, turns green,
assumes a brown-grey tint, or darkens to a decided brown. These are
the sober observations of observant naturalists on the subject.
The class of reptiles to which the visitor should next direct his
attention are those classed by Cuvier and others under the head of
Ophidia, or