SAURIA. 25 



Stellio, Daud.(l) 



The spines of the tail moderate: the head enlarged behind by the 

 muscles of the jaws; the back and thighs bristled here and there 

 with scales larger than the others, and sometimes spiny; small groups 

 of spines surrounding the ear; no pores on the thighs; the tail long, 

 and terminating in a point. But one species is known. 



Lac. stellio, L. ; the Stellio of the Levant; Seb. I, cvi, f. 1, 2; 

 and better Tournef. Voy. au Lev. I, 120; and Geoff. Descr. de 

 I'Egypte, Rept. II, 3; Koscordylos of the modern Greeks; Har- 

 dun of the Arabs. A foot long; of an olive colour shaded with 

 black; very common throughout the Levant, and particularly so 

 in Egypt. According to Belon it is the faeces of this animal 

 which are collected for the druggists under the names of cor- 

 dylea, crocodilea or stercus lacerti^ which were formerly in vogue 

 as a cosmetic; but it would rather appear that the ancients at- 

 tributed this name and quality to those of the Monitor. The 

 Mahometans kill the present Stellio wherever they see it, be- 

 cause, as they say, it mocks them by bowing the head, as they 

 do when at prayer. 



DoRTPHORUS, CuV. 



The pores wanting as in the Stellios, but the body is not bristled 

 with small groups of spines.(2) 



Uromastix,(3) Cuv. Stellions Batards, Daud. 

 Mere Stellios, whose head is not enlarged, all the scales of their 



referred to Stellio several synonymes of the Geckotte. There are four species in 

 France: Cui-d. griseus. Nob., Seb. I, Ixxxiv, 4; the C. niger, the ridges of whose 

 scales are more blunt, Seb., II, Ixii, 5; the C. dorsalis; the C. microlepidotus. 



There are also some Cordylesat the Cape of G. Hope, whose scales, (even those 

 on the tail) are almost destitute of spines (C. bsvigatus,lsi oh.). 



(1) The Stellio of the Latins was a spotted Lizard that lived in holes of walls. 

 It was considered the enemy of man, venomous and cunning'. Hence the term 

 stellimiate, or Fraud in the contract. It was probably the Tarentok, or the Gecko 

 tuberculeux of the south of Europe, Geckotte of Lsicep., as conjectured by various 

 authors, and lately by M. Schneider. There is nothing to justify its application 

 to the present species; Kelon, if I am not mistaken, was the first who abused it 

 thus. 



(2) Stellio brevicaudatus, Seb., II, Ixxii, 6; Daud., IV, pi. 47. St. azureus, 

 Daud., Id. 46. 



(3) Caudiverbera and is/!o//tar<| are not ancient names. They were coined by 

 Ambrosinus for the great Egyptian species, of which Belon had said " cauda aire- 

 cissime diverberare creditur. " Linnsus was the fii'st who applied it to a Gecko, and 



Vol. ILD 



