SAURIA. 29 



with scales, arranged like tiles, frequently carinated and terminating 

 in a point on the body as well as the limbs and tail, which is very 

 long; those on the middle of the back are more or less turned up, 

 and compressed into spines forming a crest of variable extent. They 

 have no visible pores on the thighs, which, added to their teeth, dis- 

 tinguishes them from the Iguanae. 



The most common species, Lac. calotes, L.; Seb. I, Ixxxix, 2; 

 xciii, 2; xcv, 3 and 4; Daud., Ill, xliiij Agama ophiomachiis, 

 Merr., isof a pretty light blue with transverse white streaks on 

 the sidesj there are two rows of spines behind the ear. From 

 the East Indies. It is called a Chameleon in the Moluccas, al- 

 though it does not change its colours. The eggs are fusi- 

 form.(l) In the 



LoPHYRUs, Dumeril, 



The scales on the body are similar to those of the Agamse; there 

 is also a crest of palisado-like scales still higher than that of the 

 Calotes. The tail is compressed and the femoral pores are wanting. 

 A remarkable species is, 



Agama gigantea,(2) Kuhl; Seb. I, c. 2, whose dorsal crest is 

 placed very high on the neck, and is formed of several rows of 

 vertical scales; two bony ridges, one on each side, extend from 

 the muzzle to the eye, where they terminate in a point, and join 



(1) Add the .Sg. gutturosa, Merr. or cristatella, Kuhl; blue, without bands, and 

 small scales on the back; Seb., I, Ixsxix, 1; the Ag. cristata, Merr., Seb. I, xciii, 

 4, and II, Ixxvi, 5, a reddish brown, with blackish brown scattered spots, of which 

 the Jgame arlequine, Daud. Ill, xliv, is the young; the Ag. vultuosa, Harl. Phil. 

 Ac. Nat. Sc.lV, xix.* All these species are from the East Indies; the Lophyrus 

 ochrocollaris and margaritaceus, Spix,XII, 2, are American Calotes; the first is the 

 same &s the Agama pida, Pr. Max.; the Loph. panthera, Spix, pi. xxiii, f. 1, is the 

 young of the same. Add to these American Calotes Loph. rhoinbifer, Spix, xi, 

 of which the Loph. albomaxillaris. Id., XXIII, f. 2, is the young; Loph. auroni- 

 tens, Spix, pi. xiii. We might separate from the other Calotes a species from 

 Cochin China, with a smooth back, without any visible scales; the belly, limbs and 

 tail covered with carinated scales {Cal. lepidogaster. Nob.); the Ag. catenata, Fr. 

 Max. liv. V, may belong to this group. 



N.B. The designer of Seba's plates has given to most of his Iguanse, Agamse, 

 Calotes, &c. extensible and forked tongues, drawn from imagination. 



(2) It is difficult to imagine the reason that induced Kuhl to call this Saurian 

 gigantic, as it is not larger than its most closely allied Agamae and Calotes. 



* From the observations of Major J.e Conte, it would seem that what is here 

 called the Ag. vultuosa is the young of another species. Am. Ed. 



