HER'PETOL'OGY (from Gk. Fpirer6v, prton, reptile, from tpretv, lirrprin, to creep + -logia, a eeount . from X4E(P, legrin. to say). That branch of natural history which treats of reptiles and formerly included the amphibia. Now, however. the term is restricted to the Reptilia 'proper. which includes lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, alligators. and various extinct aquatic and terrestrial reptiles. The first attempt at a systematic arrangement iif reptiles Wits by Ray ( 1 li93 , but lie did not clearly comprehend their relatinships, nor slid he gi%c the group a name. Linn:ens (1735-us) elassed tortoise.s, lizard-.. and serpents as aniphibia, and recognized sill) group-, ( I) those frith and (2) those it hunt feet. Ile included in this 1:10.:5:3 those 1111111S Which to-day 4:811 ailiphibia, and later he added branehlostegon. !•in,. (If such an arbitrary classification. ithout any mor phological foundation, \Sas replaced Linn:v[1-, rc cognIZed specie, and 111 genera. ier ( 29) practically adopted.
the cl•ssilieation of Bronguia•t. I 1799), in millet' lour orders were recognized: (1) •helonia; (2) Sauria (lizards and crocodiles) ; (3) “phidia (serpents and provisionally the eaTilians) ; and (-It Batra•hia, the latter corresponding to our present .11111)161)M minus the The to out kit ledge of their anatomi cal structure. made by such !lien as Johannes \liillcr in ()wen and Huxley in Eng land, and Cope in America, and an increased knowledge 01 the embryological development of some puzzling forms. has greatly added to the accuracy of our of the 1Zeplilia and the Amphibia. The light which has been shed oil the relationship of the groups by palconto logival researches of the past particularly has also been of inestimable value in the estab lishment of our present classilicat Mil, for which see ItEMr11.E.