Zoology.'] 



NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. 



[Reptiles. 



found in G. muricata. The tail, it should be mentioned, is shorter 

 in the young than in the adult of this species. The head of G. 

 muricata is more slender than in G. angulifera, in which latter 

 the femoral pores are more numerous and closer, making a nearly 

 continuous line across the lower part of body. The femoral pores 

 of the present species are, as in the woodcut, sometimes 3 on one 

 thigh and 4 on the other, and the preanal pores are sometimes 

 3 on one side and 4 on the other in the same individual. In some 

 specimens of G. angulifera there is a slight indication of a median 

 dorsal keel, but it is usually absent ; it is present always in the 

 long-tailed G. muricata. 



To show the irregularity of the preanal and of the femoral 

 pores, I give here a woodcut of a specimen, magnified two 



diameters, from 

 the Goulburn 

 District, in the 

 Museum, show- 

 ing 3 femoral 

 pores on one 

 thigh and 4 on 

 the other, and 



3 preanal pores 

 on one side and 



4 on the other. 



This is the commonest Lizard about Melbourne, especially in 

 the sandy districts on the south coast, where it may often be seen, 

 as represented in our plate, on a stump of Tee-tree, which it 

 resembles in colors and marking so nearly that it is almost 

 impossible to distinguish it, unless the sun happens to glance from 

 its bright eyes. When seen it will remain so immovable as almost 

 to induce a belief that it is a withered stump ; but if your eye 

 should leave it for an instant, it is gone like a flash. It is fond 

 also of basking in the sun on sandy paths, &c. The eggs are laid 

 in the sand. 



Why the popular name of "Blood-sucker" should be so uni- 

 versally given to this harmless creature by the colonists (except on 



[ 49] 



