The food of reptiles consists almost exclusively of animal substance, although some species, notably the green turtles and certain land-tortoises, are vegetable-feeders. The animal-feeders are mostly predaceous, the smaller species catching worms and insects, while the larger forms capture fishes, frogs, birds, and their eggs, small mammals, and other reptiles.
=Classification.=--The living Reptilia are divided into four orders, of which one includes only a single genus, _Hatteria_, a peculiar lizard found in New Zealand. The other three are the Squamata, which includes the lizards and snakes,[17] distinguished by the scaly covering of the body, the Chelonia, which includes the tortoises and turtles, distinguished by the shell of bony plates which encloses the body, and the Crocodilia, which includes the crocodiles and alligators, whose bodies are covered with rows of sculptured bony scutes.
=Tortoises and turtles (Chelonia).=--TECHNICAL NOTE.--Obtain specimens of some pond- or land-turtle common in the vicinity of the school. The red-bellied and yellow-bellied terrapins (_Pseudemys_) or the painted or mud-turtles (_Chrysemys_) are common over most of the United States. (_Pseudemys_ is found south of the Ohio River and _Chrysemys_ north of it.) They may be raked up from creek-bottoms or fished for with strong hook and line, using meat as bait. They will live through the winter if kept in a cool place, without food or special care of any kind. Observe their swimming and diving, the retraction of head and limbs into the shell, the use of the third eyelid (nictitating membrane), and the swallowing of air.
Examine the external structure of a dead specimen (kill by thrusting a bit of cotton soaked with chloroform or ether into the windpipe; see opening just at base of tongue). Note shell consisting of a dorsal plate, the carapace, and ventral plate, the plastron, and the lateral uniting parts, the bridge. Note legs, and head with horny beak but no teeth. Compare with snake. The examination of the internal structure of the turtle can be readily made by sawing through the bridge on either side and removing the plastron. Note the ligaments which attach the plastron to the shoulder and pelvic girdles. Note muscles covering these bones. Note just behind the shoulder girdle the heart (perhaps still pulsating) and the dark liver on each side of it. Work out the alimentary canal, the trachea and lungs, and other principal organs, comparing them with those of the snake. The skeleton can be studied by dissecting and boiling and brushing away the flesh which still adheres to the bones. The comparison of the skeleton of the turtle with that of the snake is very instructive; marked differences in the skeletons of the two kinds of reptiles are obviously correlated with the differences in habits and shape of body. Note in the skeleton of the turtle especially the shoulder and pelvic girdles and limbs (absent in the snake) and small number of vertebræ and ribs.