58 



REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



are many exceptions, which necessitate the abandoning of 

 the formerly accepted division of the genera into terrestrial 

 and arboreal. 



The Agamida inhabit Africa, Asia, Australia, Polynesia, 

 and South-Eastern Europe. They are absent from Mada- 

 gascar and New Zealand. 



Draco is the most highly specialized genus, its representa- 

 tives being the Flying Lizards or Dragons, of which 

 there are some thirty species, restricted to the Oriental 



Fig. 3. — " Flying " Lizard {Draco toeniopterus). 



[From B.M. Reptile Guide.) 



Region, being especially abundant in the Malay Peninsula 

 and Archipelago. They are characterized by an apparatus 

 for locomotion in the air, composed of five or six prolonged 

 ribs, connected by large expansible folds of the skin, on 

 each side of the body, the so-called " wings," which 

 support the lizard, parachute-like, when jumping from 

 branch to branch, and fold again against the sides of the 

 body when the lizard alights. 



According to Captain Stanley Flower, who has had the 

 opportunity of seeing these creatures in their native 

 surroundings, they are able to direct their flight exactly, 



