REPTILES. INTRODUCTION. THE great section of the animal kingdom, termed VERTEBRATA, or vertebrate animals, that is, animals having a true skeleton, with a vertebral, or spinal column, for the protection of the spinal chord, includes the following classes: MAMMALIA, or Quadrupeds, as they are popularly called; AVES, or Birds; REPTILIA, including the Amphibia, (by some regarded as two distinct classes,) namely, Reptiles and Amphibious Reptiles; and, lastly, PISCES, or Fishes. Some physiologists adopt the term Spini-cerebrata, in preference to the term Vertebrata. The term Spinicerebrata, means possessing a spinal chord and brain, and is expressive of the great characteristics of this section. Works on two classes of the Vertebrata, namely, Quadrupeds and Birds, have already been published by the Religious Tract Society; and following up the series, we devote the present volume to the REPTILES. Reptiles form one of the most remarkable of the vertebrate classes of the animal kingdom; and a general survey of these creatures will show the wonderful variety of form and structure, which adapts them for different localities. B |