Between the years 1800 and 1803, the celebrated ana tomist and naturalist Cuvier, and his disciple and assistant Dumeril, published his Lecons Anatomic Comparee, in 5 vols. 8vo. with 52 plates at the end of the fifth volume. Cuvier had, in 1798, published an elementary work on na tural history, under the title of Tableau Elementaire de Histoire Naturelle des Animaux, in which he gave a gene ral description of reptiles.
Attached to the first volume of his Lectures, Cuvier has given a systematic arrangement of the various classes and orders of animals ; and in the classification of reptiles, he has adopted an arrangement radically the same with that of Brongniart. In the first place, he divides reptiles into two sections ; 1st, Those which have two auricles to the heart ; 2d, Those that have but one. Each of these sec tions is subdivided into two orders. The first order con sists of those reptiles that have a shell or carapace, and their jaws defended by horn. These are the cheloniens, or tortoises. The second order consists of those that have the body covered with scales, and are furnished with teeth, like the sauriens, or lizards, the genera of which are, with the addition of seps, the same with those of Brongniart. The first order of the second section contains the serpents. The second order comprehends those reptiles that have a naked skin, feet, and gills, at an early stage of their exist ence. Of this order (the Batraciens) there are three fami lies ; Rana, or frog, including the three subgenera of Rana, Hyla. and Bufo ; Salamandra, including the sub-genera of Salamandra and Triton ; and Siren.
These excellent Lectures contain a very full account of the anatomical structure and physiology of reptiles, and to them we are almost entirely indebted for our chapters on that subject. The first two volumes of this work were translated into English under the inspection of Mr Ma cartney, lecturer on comparative anatomy in London, and published there in 1801.
In 1800, Dr George Shaw began his General Zoology, which was intended to include all the genera and species of animals at present known. The third volume contains the reptiles and serpents. In giving our opinion of this extensive work, we are somewhat at a loss. As a sys tematic arrangement of animals, it is very defective, and the references to other authors are extremely few. As a popular descriptive work, it is scarcely deserving our at tention ; for, though almost all the species are described, as well as figured, there is scarcely any thing like a his tory of the species. The arrangement is that of Linnxus,
and the characters are in general derived from Gmelin's edition of the System: Xaturir, The work, however, abounds in c ccllent plates, the. figures of which arc in general well delineated, and beautifully engraved.
We need scarcely mention the Xiituralist's Miscellany of the same author, as but few reptiles are there linred.
Perhaps the roost complete account of reptil( s, up to the present day, has been given by M. Daudin, who has long devoted most of his attention to this part of zoology, and has published several treatises on the subject. Besides his Histoire Naturelle des Reptiles, published separately, and the sequel of the same work, entitled Histoire Natu rale des Rainettes des Grenouilles, et des Crapauds, he has contributed eight volumes octavo, with numerous plates, to the voluminous and expensive collection of natural his tory published by Sonnini. These volumes were published at different times, from 1802 to 1805. The first volume contains some historical notices of several writers on Her petology, and a copious introductory treatise on the struc. tune and physiology of reptiles, illustrated by fifteen plates. The second volume contains the natural history of the CHELONIAN order, in which are described fifty-seven species of tortoise ; and the same volume commences the history of the SAURIAN order, and describes seven species of crocodile. In the third and fourth volumes, the history of the Saurian order is completed, by a description of one species of Dracena, fourteen of Tupinambis, thirty-two of Lacerta, two of Takydromus, three of Iguana, three of Draco, two of Basiliscus, twenty-five of Agama, nine of Stellio, eight of Anolis, fifteen of Gecko, four of Chanzeleo, twenty-one of Scincus, six of Seps, and four of Chalcides. The fifth, sixth, and seventh volumes are occupied with the OPHIDIAN order, or serpents, and the eighth completes the work with the history of the BATRAC TAN order, contaiDing a description of twenty-seven species of Hyla, sixteen species of Rana, thirty-two of Bufo, fourteen of Salaman dra, one of Proteus, and one of Siren. The specific cha racters in the body of the work are in Latin ; but, at the end of the eighth volume, the whole genera and species are arranged together, with their charactets in French, under the title of Tableau Methodique des Reptiles.