Alfred Russel Wallace

“ The Testudinidæ, including the land and many fresh-water tortoises, are very widely distributed over the Old and New worlds, but are entirely absent from Australia. They are especially abundant in the Nearctic region, as far north as Canada and British Columbia, and almost equally so in the Neotropical and Oriental regions; in the Ethiopian there is a considerable diminution in the number of species, and in the Palæarctic they are still less numerous, being confined to the warmer parts of it, except one species which extends as far north as Hungary and Prussia. ”

“ The best-defined genera are the following:—
Lacerta (10 sp.) , ranging over all Central and South Europe to Poland, and farther north in Russia and Siberia, eastward to Persia, and southward to North and West Africa; Zootoca (8 sp.) , has nearly the same range in Europe as the last genus, but has representatives in Madeira, South Africa, and Australia; Tachydromus (7 sp.) is widely scattered in Chinese Asia, Japan, Borneo, and West Africa; Acanthodactylus (10 sp.) is most abundant in North Africa, but has a species in South Africa, and two in Central India ”

“ In the south of England, Alligators, Gavials and Crocodiles, all occur in Eocene beds, indicating that the present distribution of these families is the result of partial extinction, and a gradual restriction of their range—a most instructive fact, suggesting the true explanation of a large number of cases of discontinuous distribution which are sometimes held to prove the former union of lands now divided by the deepest oceans. ”

“ The Ophidia, being preeminently a Tropical order—rapidly diminishing in numbers as we go north in the Temperate Zone, and wholly ceasing long before we reach the Arctic Circle—we cannot expect the two Northern regions to exhibit any great variety or peculiarity. ”

“ This family is also confined to Australia, the single genus, Lialis, inhabiting the Western and Northern districts.
Family 45.—SCINCIDÆ. (60 Genera, 300 Species.)
The Scincidæ, or Scinks, are an extensive family of smooth-scaled lizards, frequenting dry and stony places, and almost universally distributed over the globe, being only absent from the cold northern and southern zones. The family itself is a very natural one, and it contains many natural genera; but a large number have been established which probably require careful revision. ”

“ Fossil Chelonia.—The earliest undoubted remains of this order occur in the Upper Oolite. These belong to the Cheloniidæ and Emydidæ, which are also found in the Chalk. In the Tertiary beds Chelonia are more abundant, and the Trionychidæ now appear. ”