Zoology.'] 



NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. 



[Reptiles. 



Plate 121. 



GRAMMATOPHORA BARBATA (Kaup). 

 Bearded Lizard. 



[Genus GRAMMATOPHORA* (Kaup). (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Order 

 Sauria: Sub-order Pachyglossae. Tribe Strobilosaura. Fam. Agamidae.) 



Gen. Char. — Body moderate, subtrigonal or slightly depressed in section. Head large, 

 trigonal, depressed, obtusely pointed in front ; sides flattened, and separated from the top by 

 an angle; covered with small, irregular, unequal, keeled, . scale-like plates. Nostrils lateral, 

 under angle, a little behind tip of snout. Ear-drum large, rounded. Tongue short, flat, narrow, 

 spongy, notched at tip. Teeth short, semi-oval, compressed, on edge of jaw-bone ; 5 incisors in 

 middle, and 2 canines on each side above ; 4 incisors below. Throat not pouched, with a strong, 

 transverse fold between its base and front of thorax. Scales of back imbricated, unequal. 

 Femoral and preanal pores large, numerous. Tail long, conical, tapering, depressed at base, 

 with keeled imbricated scales. Toes slender, the first four gradually increasing in length, the 

 fifth a little shorter than the second ; subdigital scales keeled very strongly. Australia.] 



Description. — Body broad, depressed ; head large, swollen at the sides behind. 

 Nostrils halfway between tip of snout and anterior edge of orbit. Top of head 



nearly flat, with a distinct an- 

 gular ridge from tip of snout 

 over the eyebrow, separating 

 it from the concave side to 

 edge of lip; the space over 

 the eyes only slightly convex. 

 Ear-drum oval in j^oung-, sub- 

 trigonal in old, without den- 

 ticles or lobes on edge. Scales: 

 Smaller and more numerous 

 scales of all parts of the surface 

 rhomboidal, with a strong, 

 longitudinal, median keel end- 

 ing in a point on the hind edge, 

 and with two or three indis- 

 tinct, lateral keels; mixed with 

 these are trihedral, thorn-like, 

 spinose scales, two or three 

 times larger at base than the 

 others, and rising to a conical 

 point in the middle, with 

 radiating, wrinkled base; a 

 longitudinal ridge of 4 or 

 5 large, compressed conical 

 spines over each ear, connected 

 10 rather smaller ones across the back of the head; 

 group of very long, slender, pointed, spinous scales, 



Head, natural size, to show form of beard. 



by a transverse row of 8 or 

 a large, dense, beard-like 



* I continue to use this generic name instead of Amphibolurus for reason mentioned in note to Plate 111. 

 Vol. II.— Decade XIII.— n. [ 79 " 



