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REPTILES (Lat. Reptilia, creeping thi...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 137 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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REPTILES (See also:Lat. Reptilia, creeping things, from reptilis; ref ere, to creep; Gr. Ep7rety, whence the See also:term " herpetology," for the See also:science dealing with them) . In the days before See also:Linnaeus, writers comprised the animals which popularly are known as tortoises and turtles, crocodiles, lizards and See also:snakes, frogs and toads, newts and salamanders, under the name of oviparous quadrupeds or four-limbed animals which See also:lay eggs. Linnaeus, desirous of giving expression to the extraordinary fact that many of these animals pass See also:part of their See also:life in the See also:water and part on See also:land,' substituted the name of See also:Amphibia for the See also:ancient term. Subsequent See also:French naturalists (Lyonnet2 and Brisson3) considered that the creeping mode of locomotion was a more See also:general characteristic of the class than their amphibious habits, and consequently proposed the scarcely more appropriate name of Reptiles. As naturalists gradually comprehended the wide See also:gap existing between frogs, toads, &c., on the one See also:hand, and the other oviparous quadrupeds on the other, they either adopted the name of See also:Batrachia for the former and that of Amphibia for the latter, or they restricted the term Amphibia to Batrachians, calling the See also:remainder of these creatures reptiles. Thus the term Amphibia, as used by various authors, may apply (I) to all the various animals mentioned, or (2) to Batrachians only (see BATRACIIIA). The term Reptiles. (Reptilia) is used (I) by some for all the animals mentioned above, and (2) by others, as in the See also:present See also:article, for the same assemblage of animals after the exclusion of Batrachians. Equally varying are the limits of the term Saurians, which occurs so frequently in every scientific See also:treatise on this subject. At first it comprised living crocodiles and lizards only, with which a number of fossil forms were gradually associated.

As the characters and See also:

affinities of the latter became better known, some of them were withdrawn from the Saurians, and at present it is best to abandon the term altogether. I. See also:HISTORY OF HERPETOLOGY Certain kinds of reptiles are mentioned in the earliest written records or have found a See also:place among the fragments of the See also:oldest See also:relics of human See also:art. Such evidences, however, See also:form no part of a succinct See also:review of the literature of the subject such as it is proposed to give here. We distinguish in it six periods: (1) the Aristotelian; (2) the Linnaean (formation of a class Amphibia, in which reptiles and Batrachians are mixed); (3) the See also:period of the elimination of Batrachians as one of the reptilian orders (See also:Brongniart); (4) that of the separation of reptiles and Batrachians as distinct subclasses; (5) that of the recognition of a class Reptilia as part of the See also:Sauropsida (See also:Huxley); (6) that of the See also:discovery of fossil skeletons sufficiently well preserved to reveal, in its general outlines, the past history of the class. 1. The Aristotelian Period.—See also:Aristotle was the first to See also:deal with the reptiles known to him as members of a distinct portion Aristotle. of the See also:animal See also:kingdom, and to point out the See also:character- istics by which they resemble each other and differ from other vertebrate and invertebrate animals. The See also:plan of his ' " Polymorpha in his amphibiis natura duplicem vitam plerisque concessit." 2 Theologie See also:des insectes de Lesser (See also:Paris, 1745), i. 91, See also:note 5. a Regne animal divise en neuf classes (Paris, 1756).See also:work, however, was rather that of a See also:comparative treatise of the anatomical and physiological characters of animals than their systematic arrangement and See also:definition, and his ideas about the various See also:groups of reptiles are not distinctly expressed, but must be gleaned from the terms which he employs. Moreover, he paid less See also:attention to the study of reptiles than to that of other classes. This is probably due to the limited number of kinds he could be acquainted with, to which only very few extra-See also:European forms, like the See also:crocodile, were added from other See also:sources. But while we find in some respects a most remarkable accuracy of knowledge, there is sufficient See also:evidence that he neglected everyday opportunities of See also:information.

Thus, he has not a single word about the 'metamorphoses of Batrachians, which he treats of in connexion with reptiles. Aristotle makes a clear distinction between the scute or See also:

scale of a reptile, which he describes as 4otis, and that of a See also:fish, which he designates as Xesris. He mentions reptiles (I) as oviparous quadrupeds with scutes, viz. Saurians and Chelonians; (2) as oviparous apodals, viz. Snakes; (3) as oviparous quadrupeds without scutes, viz. Batrachians. He considered the first and second of these three groups as much more nearly related to each other than to the third. Accurate statements and descriptions are sadly mixed with errors and stories of, to our eyes, the most absurd and fabulous See also:kind. The most See also:complete accounts are those of the crocodile (chiefly borrowed from See also:Herodotus) and of the See also:chameleon, which Aristotle evidently knew from See also:personal observation, and had dissected himself. The other lizards mentioned by him are the See also:common lizards (oabpa), the common seps (XaXKis or "iyvis) and the See also:gecko (& rKa\af3iarr7s or KopSGAos). Of snakes (of which he generally speaks as 6cbcs) he knew the vipers (ix s or EXLSva), the common snake (iibpos), and the blindworm (rv4 XIv77s &ins), which he regards as a snake; he further mentions the See also:Egyptian See also:cobra and dragons (Sp&Kwv) —See also:North-See also:African serpents of fabulous See also:size. Of Chelonians he describes in a perfectly recognizable manner land tortoises (XeXc,vn), See also:freshwater turtles (Eµbs) and marine turtles (Xe) c.'vn 7) &A an-La).

Passing over eighteen centuries, we find the knowledge of reptiles to have remained as stationary as other branches of natural history, perhaps even more so. The reptile See also:

fauna of See also:Europe was not extensive enough to attract the See also:energy of a See also:Belon or Rondelet; popular See also:prejudice and the difficulty of preserving these animals deterred from their study; nor was See also:man sufficiently educated not to give implicit See also:credence to the fabulous tales of reptiles in the 15th and 16th centuries. The art of healing, however, was developing into a science based upon rational principles, and consequently not only those reptiles which formed part of the materia See also:media; but also the venomous snakes became See also:objects of study to the physician, though the See also:majority of the writers were ignorant of the structure of the venom-apparatus, and of the distinction between non-venomous and venomous snakes. Nothing can show more clearly the small advance made by herpetology in this See also:long See also:post-Aristotelian period than a glance at the celebrated work, De Diferentiis Animalium See also:wotton. Libri decem (Paris, 1552), by See also:Edward Wotton (1492 1555)• Wotton treats of the reptiles which he designates as Quadrupedes oviparae et Serpentes in the See also:sixth See also:book of his work. They form the second See also:division of the Quadrupedes quae sanguinem habent, and are subdivided in the following " genera ": Crocodilus et scincus (cap. cv.) ; Testudinum genera (cvi.) ; Ran-arum genera (cvii.); Lacertae (cviii.); Salamandra et seps quadrupes (cix.); Stellio (cx.); Chamaeleo (cxi.); Serpentes (cxii.), a general See also:account, the following being different kinds of serpents: Hydrus et alii quidam serpentes aquatiles (cxiii.); Serpentes terrestres et primo aspidum genera (cxiv.) ; Vipera, dipsas, cerastes, et hammodytes (cxv.) ; Haemorrhus, sepedon, seps, cenchris, et cenchrites (cxvi.) ; Basiliscus et alii quidam serpentes See also:quorum venenum remedio caret (exvii.) ; See also:Draco, See also:amphisbaena, et alii quidam serpentes quorum morsus minus afert periculi (cxviii.). Wotton's work might with propriety be termed " Aristoteles redivivus." The plan is the same, and the observations of the See also:Greek naturalist are faithfully, sometimes literally, reproduced. It is surprising that even the reptiles of his native See also:country were most imperfectly known .to the author. With the enlargement of See also:geographical knowledge that of reptiles was also advanced, as is sufficiently apparent from the See also:Johnston. large encyclopaedic See also:works of See also:Gesner, See also:Aldrovandi and Johnston. The last-named author especially, who published the various portions of his Natural History in the See also:middle of the 17th See also:century, was able to embody in his compilations notices of numerous reptiles observed by Francisco Hernandez in See also:Mexico and by Marcgrave and See also:Piso in See also:Brazil. As the author had no definite See also:idea of the See also:Ray-Linnaean term " See also:species," it is not possible to give the exact number of reptiles mentioned in his work. But it may be estimated at about fifty, not including some marine fishes and fabulous creatures.

He figures (or rather reproduces the figures of) about See also:

forty—some species being represented by several figures. 2. Linnaean Period: Formation of a Class Amphibia.— Within the century which succeeded these compilatory works Precur- (1650—175o) fall the labours which prepared the way sors of for and exerted the greatest See also:influence on Ray and Linnaeus. Linnaeus. Although See also:original researches in the See also:field of herpetology were limited in extent and in number, the authors had freed themselves from the purely See also:literary or scholastic tendency. Men were no longer satisfied with reproducing and commenting on the writings of their predecessors; the See also:pen was superseded by the See also:eye, the See also:microscope and the See also:knife, and statements were tested by experiment. This spirit of the See also:age manifested itself, so far as the reptiles are concerned, in Chara's and Redi's admirable observations on the See also:viper, in See also:Major's and Vallisnieri's detailed accounts of the See also:anatomy of the chameleon, in the researches of Jacobaeus into the metamorphoses of the Batrachians and the structure of lizards, in Dufay's history of the development of the See also:salamander (for Batrachians are invariably associated with reptiles proper); in Tyson's description of the anatomy of the rattle-snake, &c. The natural history collections formed by institutions and wealthy individuals now contained not merely skins of crocodiles or serpents stuffed and transformed into a shape to correspond with the fabulous descriptions of the ancient dragons, but, with the discovery of See also:alcohol as a means of preserving animals, reptiles entire or dissected were exhibited for study; and no opportunity was lost of obtaining them from travellers or residents in See also:foreign countries. Fossils also were now acknowledged to be remains of animals which had lived before the See also:Flood, and some of them were recognized as those of reptiles. The contributions to a See also:positive knowledge of the animal kingdom became so numerous as to render the need of a methodical arrangement of the abundance of new facts more and more pressing. Of the two See also:principal systematic attempts made in this period the first ranks as one of the most remarkable steps of the progress of natural history, whilst the second can only be designated as a See also:signal failure, which ought to have been a warning to .all those who in after years classified animals in what is called an, " artificial See also:system." As the latter See also:attempt, originating with See also:Klein (1685-1759), did not exercise any further influence on herpetology, it will be sufficient to have merely Ray. mentioned it. See also:John Ray (1628-1705) had recognized the See also:necessity of introducing exact See also:definitions for the several categories into which the animals had to be divided, and he maintained that these categories ought to be characterized by the structure of animals, and that all zoological knowledge had to start from the " species " as its basis.

His definition of reptiles as " animalia sanguinea pulmone respirantia See also:

cor unico tantum ventriculo instructum habentia ovipara " fixed the class in a manner which was adopted by the naturalists of the succeeding See also:hundred and fifty years. Nevertheless, Ray was not a herpetologist; his knowledge of reptiles is chiefly derived from the researches of others, from whose accounts, however, everything not based upon reliable demonstration is critically excluded. He begins with a See also:chapter treating of frogs (Rana, with two species), toads (Bufo, with one species) and 23tortoises' (Tesludo, with fourteen species). The second See also:group comprises the Lacertae, twenty-five in number, and includes the salamander and newts; and the third the Serpentes, nine species, among which the limbless lizards are enumerated. Except in so far as he made known and briefly characterized a number of reptiles, our knowledge of this class was not advanced by Linnaeus. That he associated in the Linnaeus. 12th edition cartilaginous and other fishes with the reptiles under the name of Amphibia See also:Nantes was the result of some misunderstanding of an observation by See also:Garden, and is not to be taken as a premonitory token of the See also:recent discoveries of the relation between Batrachians and fishes.

End of Article: REPTILES (Lat. Reptilia, creeping things, from reptilis; ref ere, to creep; Gr. Ep7rety, whence the term " herpetology," for the science dealing with them)

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