[Illustration FIG. 34. LATERAL VIEW OF THE SHOULDER-GIRDLE OF _Varanus._ × 3/5. (Brit. Mus.). 1. suprascapula. 2. scapula. 3. glenoid cavity. 4. coracoid. 5. clavicle. 6. interclavicle. 7. precoracoidal process.] Sternal ribs are present in chamaeleons and scinks. The limbs are in the great majority of cases pentedactylate and the digits are clawed. The phalanges articulate by means of condyles. Sometimes one or both pairs of limbs are absent. When the posterior limbs are absent the pelvis is also wanting, though the loss of the anterior limbs does not lead to a corresponding loss of the pectoral girdle. The pubis corresponds to the pre-pubis of Dinosaurs, and both pubes and ischia meet in ventral symphyses. The suborder includes the Lizards, Chamaeleons and Amphisbaenians. _Suborder (2)._ OPHIDIA[81]. The Ophidia or snakes are characterised by their greatly elongated body and want of limbs. The body is covered with overlapping horny scales and bony dermal scutes are never present. The vertebrae are procoelous, and are distinguishable into two groups only, precaudal or rib-bearing, and caudal or ribless. The atlas vertebra is also ribless. The neural arches are always provided with zygosphenes and zygantra. Many of the vertebrae have strong hypapophyses, and the caudal vertebrae are without chevron bones. In the skull the cranial cavity extends forwards between the orbits, and is closed in front by downgrowths from the frontals and parietals which meet the well-ossified alisphenoids and orbitosphenoids[82]. The cranium is strongly ossified, and there are no parotic processes or interparietal foramen. There are no temporal arcades and no epipterygoid. The premaxillae if present are very small (fig. 51, 1) and usually toothless. The quadrates articulate with the squamosals, and do not as in Lacertilia meet the exoccipitals. The palatines do not unite directly with the vomers or with the base of the cranium, and the whole palato-maxillary apparatus is more loosely connected with the cranium than it is in Lacertilia. The pterygoids, and in most cases also the palatines, bear teeth. The dentition is acrodont, and the rami of the mandible are united only by an elastic ligament--an important point serving to distinguish the Ophidia from the Lacertilia. There is an imperfectly developed interorbital septum, the ventral part of which is formed by the parasphenoid. The postfrontal is generally well developed, while the jugals and quadratojugals are absent. There are never any traces of the anterior limbs or pectoral girdle, but occasionally there are vestiges of a pelvis and posterior limbs. _Suborder (3)._ PYTHONOMORPHA[83]. This suborder includes _Mosasaurus_ and its allies, a group of enormous extinct marine reptiles found in beds of Cretaceous age.