LIZARDS 91 



affected within a very short time. The Stump-tailed 

 Lizard is viviparous, and is the only lizard which brings 

 forth but a single young at birth, the newly born reptile 

 being remarkable for its size — half that of its parent. 



With the exception of a single representative, the 

 lizards of the family Amphisb^nid^ are entirely devoid 

 of limbs ; they have the eyes concealed under the skin, 

 which is quite soft and divided into regular segments, 

 have no ear, and are provided with a short, stumpy, more 

 or less prehensile tail. 



All the Amphisbcenas are burrowers, boring long, narrow 

 galleries in the earth, in which they are able to progress 

 both backwards and forwards in a worm-like fashion ; 

 on the ground they move in a straight line by means of 

 vertical undulations, and not by lateral movements, as in 

 the case of all other limbless reptiles. The great majority 

 live entirely on earthworms, a few frequenting ants' nests, 

 feeding on the insects and their eggs. 



Lepido sternum microcephalum and Anops kingii, both 

 inhabitants of Brazil and the Argentine, have been ob- 

 served to lay eggs, and there is no reason to suppose that 

 the other members of the family are not oviparous. 

 Of the seventy species which have been described the 

 greater number inhabit South America and Africa. 



Blanus cinereus^ the only European species, similar to 

 a big earthworm, is not uncommon in certain parts of 

 Spain and Portugal. 



The Chameleons, family Chameleontid^, differ so 

 much from other lizards that they are often placed in 

 a special sub-order — the Rhiptoglossa. The chief differ- 



