110 



SAURIA. AGAMAD^. 



to the form of a perfect sphere, its broad flat 

 head, its skin covered with small tubercles or 

 warts interspersed among the scales, and the 

 faculty which it possesses of distending its body 

 with air, and to a certain degree assuming dif- 

 ferent shades of colour, have caused it to be 

 sometimes compared to a toad, and sometimes to 

 a chameleon ; but the truth is, that it has no 

 actual relation or affinity to either of these ani- 

 mals, but is indebted solely to its naturally dis- 

 gusting aspect for the calumnies which the early 

 Spanish writers have heaped upon it. The scales 

 of this species are small, pointed, and rough on 

 the upper parts, smooth and flat beneath ; on 

 various parts of the back they are elevated into 

 insulated spines, ranged in six or eight longi- 

 tudinal rows, but without much regularity : the 

 ground-colour is dark grey above, with irregular 

 brown blotches, and beneath yellowish red, 

 speckled with small black spots. The legs are 

 short and thick, and the toes of equal length both 

 before and behind. The Tapayaxin inhabits the 

 mountainous and rocky parts of South America, 

 from the Isthmus of Darien to Patagonia ; accord- 

 ing to Ray, it is capable of domestication, and 

 even recognises and shews a kind of attachment 

 to those who feed it."* 



* "Penny Cyclop."!. 193. 



