226 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Perhaps a couple of extracts from ray note-book 

 may show what he can do in the way of eating. 



" June 29th.— He ate this morning two spiders 

 (one very large), seven ordinary house-flies, and 

 three 'forty-legs' {Scolopendref). 



July 8th. — Two house-flies, four Scohpendrm, and 

 a ' blue-bottle ' fly." 



Judging from the above, we must allow that this 

 lizard believes in feeding well. When gorged, he 

 refuses the offered morsel, but often puts out his 

 tongue and licks it. In Science-Gossip for Oct.j 

 1873, a writer states, that after this licking the 

 victim (a caterpillar) appeared quite insensible. 

 I have never had cause to suspect that the tongue 

 of this creature affects the vitality of an insect in 

 the slightest. 



Bees, earwigs, woodlice, beetles, and worms have 

 been offered in vain : he will not touch them. 



Lastly, the food must be alive, at least I never 

 yet succeeded in persuading my pet to touch dead 

 insects of any kind. When a fly, spider, &c., is 

 held before him, he carefully eyes it, sometimes 

 licks it, but never offers to strike unless the victim 

 struggles. Many spiders feign death when caught, 

 and I have tried several times to catch him eating 

 one while quiet ; in no case succeeding. The instant 

 the spider moves, however, he attacks it, and so with 

 other insects. Dead flies remain in the box until 

 sun-dried, at times, when I know be is hungry. He 

 will not eat meat, — i.e. butcher's meat — raw or 

 cooked, nor vegetable food of any kind ; and it 

 appears clear that unless the game is of his own 

 limiting and killing he despises it. 



It was not until I had kept the animal seveial 

 weeks that we caught him drinking. This he does 

 by lapping the water like a cat. The tongue is like 

 a ribbon, and bifurcate at the tip, and when drink- 

 ing he darts the tips into the liquid, and rapidly 

 withdraws it, curling it upwards at the same time. 

 We have known him to go on lapping for two 

 minutes without a pause, and in that time he can 

 drink a good deal. His fondness for basking may 

 be well seen by placing him upon a hot stone 

 window-sill during the middle of the day ; the body 

 flattens out to twice its ordinary breadth, and flts 

 close to the stone as if pressed thereon. Several 

 times when so basking, I have noticed a profuse 

 perspiration break out all over the body. 



When disturbed, these reptiles move very rapidly 

 with a wriggling motion, running and darting here 

 and tbere until a stone or hole is found to shelter 

 them ; they make no noise, as far as I can ascertain, 

 but dart the tongue rapidly in and out, pufiing the 

 neck at the same time. To these latter perform- 

 ances are perhaps due the tales as to their venomous 

 or stinging propensities, which it is scarcely neces- 

 sary to say are tales. One remarkable thing is the 

 manner in which they can wriggle beneath a heavy 

 stone. If one of these creatures be held in the 



hand, he naturally attempts to escape, and if 

 squeezed he uses the head as a lever, pushing the 

 sharp snout into a crevice and pushing forward and 

 upwards with astonishing force. The flexibility of 

 the body and back materially aid such movements, 

 and the tail is also very useful in many ways. 

 During sleep the tail is invariably coiled over the 

 neck, like a prepared whiting, only not put in his 

 mouth. In this position he looks remarkably like a 

 young snake, an illusion favoured by the peculiar 

 manner in which be raises his flat, snake-like head 

 when disturbed. 



Besides being able to run very fast, these creatures 

 possess the power of jumping : twice have I seen 

 my specimen jump from the top of his box, placed 

 on the table, to the floor, a distance of four or five 

 feet. 



My specimen generally " puts in his appearance '' 

 from bed at about 10 a.m., takes two hours or so to 

 get completely out of the grass, feeds and runs 

 about until three or four o'clock, and gradually I'C- 

 tires : in dull weather he stays in all day, and has 

 been known to stay in for two days. I am here re. 

 minded, however, that although "patience is a 

 virtue," we cannot expect too muck of it in this 

 degenerate age, so conclude by saying that if any 

 lover of nature is in want of a pet, let him or her 

 procure one of these graceful, bright-eyed little 

 creatures, and there will be a greater store of real, 

 honest pleasure in view than he can at once think of. 



One thing, however, remains to be said about 

 keeping pets. It is not by studying the habits of 

 animals in captivity alone, however carefully it be 

 done, that a true knowledge of them can be ac- 

 quired ; much may be done in this way, but many 

 difficulties and sources of error exist ; for whether 

 we believe in "Natural Selection "or not, there 

 can be little doubt that the habits of a creature in 

 confinement become modified and altered by atten- 

 dant circumstances. H. Marshall Wakd. 



ON COLLECTING AND PRESERVING 

 OSTEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 



IN Mr. Chivers's note on Preserving Animals, 

 page 213 of Science-Gossip, the following 

 passage occurs : — " The skeleton must be put iu an 

 airy place to dry, but not in the sun or near the 

 fire, as that will turn the bones a bad colour." I 

 cannot comprehend how this idea should have 

 arisen. Perhaps the most indispensable assistant 

 to the skeleton preparer is that very sun which Mr. 

 Chivcrs warns him against. The bleaching power 

 of the rays of a hot summer sun is astounding, and 

 bones of the most inferior colour can rapidly be 

 turned to a beautiful white by this means. It is 

 for want of time and care in following out this 

 method that the professional skeleton preparers iu 



