British reptiles and batrachians . no single class of animals are less compare one with another and the various orders—some withfour legs, some with two legs, or no legs, with a tail and without,some covered with a hard, solid case, others with strong plates,some with scales, and some with only a soft, smooth, and ex-ceedingly sensitive skin, some with a spine reduced to a fewjoints, while in others it is extended to three or four hundredvertebras ; some with eyelids and others without, we should scarcelypronounce them all of a class, and yet their internal organism isalike in all. Th
British reptiles and batrachians . no single class of animals are less compare one with another and the various orders—some withfour legs, some with two legs, or no legs, with a tail and without,some covered with a hard, solid case, others with strong plates,some with scales, and some with only a soft, smooth, and ex-ceedingly sensitive skin, some with a spine reduced to a fewjoints, while in others it is extended to three or four hundredvertebras ; some with eyelids and others without, we should scarcelypronounce them all of a class, and yet their internal organism isalike in all. Their movements are as varied as their them some fly, others creep, crawl, or glide. A froghops, leaps really, and with wonderful skill and precision,and swims in the true scientific manner ; a tortoise creeps, andto save its life it can only creep, therefore never attempting escapein peril, it retires within its fortress, and is there safe. There arefrogs and lizards that live in trees and can fly, but not with Fig. 3.—Flying Frog. The frog (fig. 3) has exceedingly long fingers and toes, with a strongmembrane between each, so that when outspread they are likefour fans, each covering some considerable space, and enabling itto take leaps from branch to branch, or to let itself down to theground and up again supported by these four fans, like parachutes,to break its fall. The little flying lizard, Draco volans (fig. 4), issimilarly sustained in its leaps, but by five or six of its middle ribs, REPTILES GENERALLY. 19 which are extremely elongated,and covered with the extendedskin of its sides. The most active among rep-tiles, and possessing the mostvaried movements, are lizardsand snakes, which latter, strangeto say, though without legs, wings,fins, or any other appendages toassist locomotion, can do all andmuch more than all the rest cando. They can even let themselvesdown from a tree, or spring frombranch to branch as easily as theflying frogs and lizards, s
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