THE SCORPION LIZARD. 



61 



WESTERN SKINK (Eumeces septentrionalis) is found in Nebraska and Minnesota. The 

 COAL SKINK inhabits the Alleghanies, from Pennsylvania southward. The GROUND LIZARD, 

 or SKINK, Mocoa so called, also, is abundant in the Southern States. 



THE RED-HEADED SKINK (Plestiodon erythrocepJialus), according to Dr. Dekay, inhabits 

 Pennsylvania, and extends southward to Florida. Its length is twelve inches. Two other 

 Skinks are recorded by Holbrook, the Five-lined Skink, and the Striped Skink. Both are 

 exceedingly pretty creatures, inhabiting the Gulf States. 



PASSING by one or two genera of considerable extent, such as Hinulia and Mocoa, the 

 members of which are mostly found in Australia, though there are species which inhabit 



HINULIA AND MOCOA. Trachyeaurui rugoeiu. 



China, Java, the Philippines and New Zealand, we come to a reptile very well known by the 

 popular title of the SCORPION LIZARD, and called more scientifically, as well as more correctly, 

 the BROAD-HEADED PLESTIODON. 



In spite of the rather alarming name which the terrors of the ignorant have caused them 

 to bestow upon it, the Scorpion Lizard is one of the most harmless, as well as one of the most 

 useful little creatures that inhabit the earth. 



It is a native of Northern America, and is spread over a very large tract of country. This 

 curious Lizard is one of the species that delights in trees, and of which we shall see more in a 

 future page. It generally resides in -some tree buried in the depths of the forest, and remains 

 at a considerable elevation above the groiind, never liking to make its home less than thirty or 

 forty feet above the earth, and often placing itself at a much greater height. 



The domicile in which this reptile most delights is the deserted home of a woodpecker, 

 which has brought up her little family, and forsaken the burrow which had taken such time 

 and trouble to hollow from the decaying wood. Here the Scorpion Lizard takes up its resi- 

 dence, and here it remains snugly concealed unless it is alarmed by an enemy at the gate of its 

 wooden fortress, when it runs nimbly to the entrance, and pokes out its red head with so 

 threatening a gesture, that its intending assailant, thinking it must possess a store of poison 

 to assume so resolute an aspect, retreats from the spot and leaves the reptile in quiet possession 

 of its abode. 



