LIZARDS 59 



as they glide through the air, with their wings quite steady, 

 for distances of over twenty yards, ahghting gently on all 

 fours, and closing their parachutes as they settle on the 

 trunk of a tree. In the act of flight they are as beautiful 

 as the most gorgeously marked butterflies, the under- 

 surface of the wings being in most species ornamented 

 with bright red, yellow, or orange ; at rest, however, they 

 are very insignificant-looking creatures, being of a dull 

 colour, harmonizing with the tree trunks. Another inter- 

 esting point in connection with the Flying Lizards is their 

 possession of a much-developed inflatable gular pouch or 

 appendage, which, in the males, may attain a length of 

 more than three times that of the head. These lizards 

 are of small size, seven to fifteen inches, in which the tail 

 enters for nearly two-thirds. 



The commonest and best known species is D. volans, 

 from the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, the largest is 

 D. maximus, from the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. 



Calotes is a genus composed of twenty-five more or less 

 arboreal species, restricted to the Indian region. The 

 body is compressed, the tail is long. A well-developed 

 dorsal and nuchal crest is invariably present. 



The Bloodsucker, C. versicolor, the habitat of which 

 ranges from Ceylon and India eastwards to Southern 

 China and the Malay Peninsula, and westwards to Balu- 

 chistan, attains a length of fifteen inches, of which the 

 tail accounts for almost three-quarters. Its popular name 

 is derived from the fact that, when excited or alarmed, 

 its throat, which under normal circumstances is of a 

 pale yellowish flesh colour, immediately becomes much 

 dilated and of a brilliant scarlet. During courtship the 



