312 



REPTILIA 



The skinks include a species (Eumeces quinquelineatus) which 

 lives from Massachusetts to Florida and westward to Texas. It 

 may reach a length of ten inches. It changes in color in a striking 

 manner as age increases. 



The monitor ( Varanus sahator) was for many years considered 

 the largest lizard. It is found in Ceylon and the Malay Archipelago. 

 It reaches the length of eight feet and is able to swallow a hen's egg 



at one gulp. It is used as 

 food. 



The Nile monitor ( Var- 

 anus niloticus) digs through 

 the rain-softened walls of 

 the clay nests of a South 

 African termite, and de- 

 posits its eggs, ten to thirty 

 in number, in the center of 

 the nest. The termites re- 

 pair the nest, but after 

 about ten months the 

 young escape from their 

 leathery egg shells and, 

 aided by the rainy season, 

 tunnel out and seek the 

 nearest stream. 



The largest living lizard 

 {Varanus ko7nodoensis) was 

 only recently discovered 

 in the hills of Kommodo 

 in the Lesser Sunda Is- 

 lands. It is said to reach 

 a length of ten feet. 



The smallest lizard 

 ( Lepidoblepharis sanctae- 

 mariae) found in eastern 

 Panama is about two inches long, weighing less than five grams. 

 The sea lizard, an iguana {Amblyrhynchus cristatus), inhabits 

 the shores of the Galapagos Islands. It feeds on sea weeds and 

 when attacked swims away into the sea. The animals are gregari- 

 ous, living in flocks of several hundred. 



The common iguana {Iguana tuberculatd) found in tropical 



Fig. 170. Draco volans (flying lizard). (After 

 Hilzheimer.) 



