26 REFT I LI A. , 



body being small, smooth and uniform, and those of the tail still 

 larger and more spiny than in the common Stellio; but there are 

 none beneath. There is a series of pores under their thighs. 



Stellio spinipcs, Daud.; Fouette-queue iVEgypte^ Geoff. Rept. 



d'Egyp. pi. II, f. 2. Two or three feet long; the body inflated; 



altogether of a fine grass green; small spines on the thighs; the 



tail only spiny above. Found in the deserts which surround 



. '. (Egypt; it was formerly described by Belon, who says, but with- 



,' '.out adducing proof, that it is the terrestrial Crocodile of the 



ancients, (l) 



Agama, Daud. (2) 



The Agamae bear a great resemblance to the common Stellios, 

 particularly in their inflated head; but the scales of their tail, which 

 are imbricate and not verticillate, distinguish them from that genus. 

 Their maxillary teeth are nearly similar, and there are none in the 

 palate. In the 



Common Agama, 



The scales are raised in points or tubercles; spines either singly 

 or in groups bristle on various parts of the body, the vicinity of the 

 ear especially. A row of them is sometimes found on the neck, but 

 without forming that palisado-like crest which characterizes the 

 Calotes. The skin of the throat is lax, plaited transversely, and sus- 

 ceptible of being inflated. 



In some species are found femoral pores. The 



Jig. barbata^ N. is very remarkable for its size and extraor- 

 dinary figure; a suite of large spiny scales extend along its back 

 and tail in transverse bands, and approximate it to the Stellios. 



other authors have given it to different Saurians. Add Urom. griseus of New 

 Holland; Ur. reticulatus of Bengal; Ur. acantinurus. Bell. Zool. Jour., I, 457, if 

 it be a distinct species. 



N.B. The flat-tailed Stellio of New Holland, Daud. is a Phyllurus. 



(1) It is a Uromastix that is described by M. de Lacep. Rept. II, 4:97, under 

 the name of Quetzpako, which is that of another Saurian, to be spoken of here- 

 after. Add, Ur. ornatus, Ruppel. 



(2) Jlgama, from a.yaifjm, bachelor. Why Linnseus gave this name to one of 

 these Lizards, it is impossible to conjecture; Daudin has extended it to the whole 

 of the subgenus to which this species belongs, and thinks that Agama is the name 

 given to it in the country of which it is a native. 



A new species called .tonpiata has lately been described by Messrs Peale and 

 Green, Jour. Acad. Nat. So. Philad. Vol. VI, p. 231, from Mexico, which they con- 

 sider as approaching the nigricoUis, Spix. Am. Ed. 



