REPTILES are arranged by naturalists as the closs Reptilia of the animal kingdom, and they are numerous in the south and east of Asia. The chameleons, the gecko, and others of them ar interesting to all who would investigate tht wonders of creation. The crocodile, the alligator, and the poisonous snakes cause great loss of human life ; the marine turtles and their eggs, some of the frogs, some of the snakes, are used as food by several races ; several of them, as the skinks, the iguanas, are used medicinally. The Greeks regarded snakes as good demons, and worshipped them ; the emblem of their deified physician, Escula pins, is that of two snakes in congress ; and from the earliest origin of Hinduism, its followers have worshipped the cobra, representing it in pictures and in sculptures with many heads as a protect ing divinity overshadowing kings and deities and lingam idol. With Muhammadans, frogs, croco diles, snakes, turtlea, as also, indeed, crabs, ue not lawful food. Tho arrangement by natnralists of the reptiles of the South and East of Asia is as under :— The reptiles of Southern and Eastern Asia have been described by Dr. Gunther in a volume pub lished by the Ray Society, from information obtained front the museums in London, and from drawings and descriptions by Sir W. Elliot, Mr. B. H. Hodgaon, Sir A. Smith, Sir J. E. Tennent, Captain Beddome, and Mr. L. S. Dillwyn ; and the labours of Mr. Myth, Drs. Jerdon, Kelaart, Cantor, Mason, Hooker, Shortt, Ewart, and Sir Joseph Fayrer have also been great. Notices will be given here of the more important species.
Reptiles are oviparous or ovo-viviparous verte brate animals, with red, cold blood, with three cavities of the heart, breathing by lunga either during the whole period, or at least in the later stages of their growth. They are naked ; but frequently the skin shov,,s scale-like folds, or is tubercular, or forms osseous scutes.
The first sub-class, or Reptilia proper, have only one ventricle of the heart, incompletely divided ; two atria ; never possessing branchim at any period of life. One occipital condyle. Skin with scale-like folds, or tubercular, or forming osseous scutes. This sub-class comprises the order of
tortoises (Chelonia), that of the lizards (Sauria), and that of the snakes (Ophidia).
The order of tortoises, or Chelonia, are reptiles with the bones of the thorax united into a carapace. The family Testudinidm are the land tortoises, but only one species, Testudo elegans, the starred tortoise, occurs in India.
Emys, the Pond Tortoises, Terrapens, a genus of the Emydidoe, or fresh-water tortoises. The species of this genus inhabit all the temperate and tropical regions, except Australia. Formerly (between the latest geological and the historical periods) the genus bad even a still greater geo graphical range than now, a species in a semi fossil state being found in England and in other European countries, where it is extinct at present. 'The species undergo great changes in external appearance with age. The Terrapens abound in still waters and tanks in the southern parts of India ; perfectly motionless, they rest on the water, with the shell and the snout raised above its surface, suddenly disappearing at the approach of danger, and darting away with the swiftness of a fish. Their pointed claws enable them to crawl easily over slippery and steep places, and to dig little holes for a small number of elongate ovate, hard-shelled eggs, which in some species require as long a period as from 18 to 20 months before they are hatched. They aro chiefly carnivorous, and the flatter the shell, the broader the inter digital web, the more denticulated the jaws, the inore aquatic and carnivorous are the habits of the pond tortoises. The food of the carnivorous species consists of water insects, frog,s, small fishes, small aquatic birds, and mammals ; whilst, on the other hand, they are persecuted by croco diles and large fishes, and the young and eggs are eaten by numerous other animals. They are not used as food by man, the flesh of. most species having a very disagreeable smell, which is also perceptible when first taken out of the water in a net or by a hook baited with meat. Pegu, Sitang; Schwe Gyn, Tenasserim. 7f inches long.