REPTILES. Tortoises and Lizards. 'REPTILES form the third class of animals having a back-bone. They are generally looked upon with terror or disgust: yet few have power to hurt, and many have very brilliant colours. The structure and disposition of the heart and lungs in reptiles are such, that a portion only of the impure blood received by the heart from the different parts of the body is sent to the lungs to be purified by the air; and the portion thus sent is not so fully exposed to the influence of the air, as in the suck-givers and birds. The consequence of this is, that their blood is cold, their motions in general slow, and their sensations obtuse. They can live a long time without air or food, and in cold countries they become 'dormant in winter. They suffer less from wounds and other injuries than warm-blooded animals, and have the remarkable power of re-producing a member, as a limb or an eye, when it is taken off. They produce their young by means of eggs, but take no pains themselves to hatch them. They grow slowly, but live to a great age. This class is divided into four orders, viz. 'tortoises, lizards, 3 serpents, and frogs. Tortoises, the type of the first order, (including turtles) are nearly enveloped in a hard horny shell, composed of two plates, one on the back, formed by a peculiar expansion of the spine and ribs; the other underneath, formed by a similar enlargement of the breast-bone. Tortoises have no teeth, but their jaws are armed with a tough, horny substance, which supplies their place Some live entirely on land, and have the back very 1. Vide Root. 2. Another order, Enaliosaura, from Enalios, belonging to the sea, and saura, a lizard, is sometimes placed between the first and second orders, to embrace some of the fossil species, as the plesiosaurus and ichthyosaurus, some specimens of which may be seen in the British Museum. much arched and strong, and the toes united nearly to their ends. These feed on roots, fruits, insects, worms, and snails. Others inhabit fresh water, and have a flatter shell than the land tortoise, the toes more separated, and the claws longer. A third tribe inhabit the seas of warm climates, have their feet better adapted for swimming, and live on sea-weeds, and the small animals found among them. This last tribe are the turtles. LIZARD-LIKE animals form the second order of reptiles. They have a long round body, a tail very thick at its origin, and gradually tapering to a point, and generally four limbs' terminating in long toes or claws. They are covered with horny scales, varying much in their size, shape, and arrangement. Their jaws are armed with numerous teeth, which are always pointed, and therefore adapted for seizing, but not for masticating their food. They cannot breathe water, yet most of them live much in that element, and hence have been called amphibious animals. Like other air-breathing animals, they suspend the breath while in the water, and when it is necessary, rise to the surface to breathe. This order is divided into six families. Crocodiles, the largest of the order, have a small fleshy tongue, adhering by its edges to the lower jaw, valves to close the nostrils, three eyelids, a neck that admits of but little motion sideways, and five toes on the fore, and four on the hind feet. True lizards, harmless and active, have a forked and free tongue, and five toes on all the feet. Iguanas have a bag or pouch under the lower jaw, and a ridge of toothlike scales on the back. Geckos, like the house-fly, can walk on a smooth and horizontal surface with the back downwards. Chameleons change their colour as the quantity of blood in the skin varies. The Skinks, when alarmed, bury themselves in the sand with great rapidity. Orders of the Third Class. 1. Chelonia, chelys, a tortoise. 2. Sauria, saura, a lizard. 3. Ophidia, ophis, a serpent. SPAIN. THE kingdom of Spain is divided from France by the range of mountains called the Pyrenees. It has Portugal on the west; its other boundaries are the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterranean Sea. The whole country forms a large peninsula. Little is known about the history of Spain till the Phoenicians made voyages thither. They came from Phoenicia, and built two columns at the Straits of Gibraltar. These columns were called the pillars of Hercules. The ancients did not dare to sail beyond them, into the broad Atlantic Ocean. The Greeks founded several cities in Spain. Afterwards, the Carthaginians acquired possession of the country; but it was taken by the Romans in 134, B. C., who kept it till the year 406 after the Christian era. Spain was then invaded by barbarians from the north. 3 The Goths finally founded a kingdom there. was After the Goths had been in Spain about two hundred years, a king mounted the throne, whose name Roderick. This king grievously injured count Julian, who was one of the most powerful of the Spanish or Gothic nobles. In order to avenge himself, Julian took steps which resulted in the ruin of his country. In Mauritania on the northern coast of Africa, and not far from Spain, there was a nation of Saracens. They were called 'Moors. Count Julian invited them to invade Spain. The Moors were completely 'victorious. The fate of 1. Vide Root. 2. Not possessing the mariner's compass, which was not known till the year 1302. 3. Of whom the andals were the principal. The Goths, under ther king Adolphus, entirely subdued Spain in the next century. 4. They are called by various names in history,-Moors, from Mauritania in Africa,Saracens, from Sara in Arabia, whence they originally came,-Arabs, from Arabia, -and Mahometans, from believing in Mahomet. The avowed reason for invasion was to promulgate the Mahometan religion. king Roderick was never known. His horse, and his sword, helmet, shield, and breastplate, were found by the side of a river, near the field of battle; but his body was nowhere to be seen. These events occurred about 712 A.D. The Moors then possessed themselves of about threefourths of Spain, and soon became civilized and even polished. There was more learning amongst them than in any other part of Europe. In the city of Cordova, there was a 'library of six hundred thousand volumes. There were likewise seventy public libraries in other parts of the Moorish territories in Spain. They were great lovers of poetry and music. They built many noble 'edifices in Spain. The Alhambra, in the city of Granada, was the palace of the Moorish sovereigns. It was of marble, and ornamented with beautiful sculpture. The sultry atmosphere was cooled by fountains, which spouted continually in the chambers and halls. Beneath the Alhambra were vaults, which the Moorish kings had caused to be dug, that they might be buried there; for they loved the Alhambra so well, that they used it both as their palace and sepulchre. But the Spaniards hated the Moors, and seldom were at peace with them. In their continual wars, the victory sometimes fell to one party, and sometimes to the other. Eighty thousand Moors were once slain in a single battle. The Moors gradually lost their Spanish 'territories, till nothing remained to them except Granada; and, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, they were wholly driven out of Spain. This event took place in 1499. GEOGRAPHICAL.-Area, 183,000 square miles. Population, fourteen millions. What are its principal rivers? How are the following towns situated,- Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Malaga, Toledo, Salamanca, Saragossa, and Cadiz ? What are the principal mountains, bays, and capes? What place in Spain belongs to England, and what is its latitude and longitude? CHRONOLOGICAL.-Phoenicians trade to Spain about the year 900 B. c. Hannibal the Carthaginian attacks Saguntum..... The kingdom of the Visigoths founded in Spain. ..219 B. C. .419 A. D. ASTRONOMY. LET us now turn our attention to the moon. 3 This satellite is a large globe like our earth, about 2000 miles in diameter, and a quarter of a million of miles from it; it revolves round the earth in the space of twenty-seven days eight hours, in an 'orbit nearly coinciding with the plane of the earth's orbit, and accompanies us in our revolution round the sun. Her motion, therefore, is of a ' complicated nature; for, as the earth advances in her orbit, whilst the moon goes round her, the moon proceeds in a sort of progressive circle. 1 The moon always presents the same face to us, by which it is evident that she turns but once upon her axis while she performs a revolution round the earth, so that the inhabitants of the moon have but one day and one night in the course of a lunar month. When the moon is in the same direction from us as from the sun, we cannot see her, as the dark side is towards us; but her disappearance is of very short duration; and as she advances in her orbit, we perceive her under the form of a new moon. When she has gone through one-sixth of her orbit, one quarter of her enlightened 1hemisphere will be turned towards the earth, and she will then appear 'horned. When she has performed one quarter of her orbit, she shows us one-half of her enlightened side. She next appears' gibbous; and after that full. As she proceeds in her orbit, she becomes again gibbous, and her enlightened hemisphere turns gradually away from us, until she completes her orbit and disappears; and then again resumes her form of a new noon. When the new moon is full, she is always in 'opposition to the sun-when a new moon, she is in conjunction |