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COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



vertebrae. The fact that the tail breaks off 

 easily is of survival value, for the predator 

 is attracted to and eats the wiggling tail, 

 while the animal escapes. The skin of the 

 lizard is usually covered with small scales. 



Geckos inhabit all the warmer parts 

 of the globe; they are harmless and 

 usually nocturnal. Many have specialized 

 lamellae under the toes, which enable them 

 to climb over trees, rocks, walls, and ceilings. 



Figure 284. An interesting lizard, the coal skink Eumeces. It illustrates autotomy in the 

 vertebrates; when the touched skink sheds its tail, the would be captor stops to eat the tail 

 while the skink escapes. (Photo courtesy of J.F. Nist and published by permission of The Amer- 

 ican Biology Teacher.) 



The American chameleon is common in the 

 southeastern United States and in Cuba. 

 The common iguana, Iguana, reaches a 

 length of 6 feet. It inhabits tropical Amer- 

 ica and is a favorite article of food. The 

 horned "toads" (Fig. 286) occur in the 

 western United States and in Mexico. They 

 live in hot, dry regions, many of them in- 

 habiting deserts. They are ovoviviparous or 

 oviparous. 



The flying dragon is a species whose 

 sides are expanded into thin membranes 

 supported by false ribs. These membranes 

 -enable the lizard to glide from tree to tree 

 and are folded when not in use. A number 

 of different kinds of lizards are called 

 chameleons, but the 75 species of true 

 chameleons all live in Africa, Madagascar, 

 Arabia, and India. One of the features that 

 have made the chameleons famous is the 



power to change colors rapidly. Worm liz- 

 ards are limbless, burrowing lizards resem- 

 bling worms in appearance. Only one 

 species, the Florida worm lizard, Rhineura 

 fioridana, occurs in the United States; it is 

 restricted to the Florida peninsula. Some- 

 what similar lizards are the "glass snakes" 

 (Fig. 274) in the United States and Mexico. 

 These have no limbs and move as most 

 snakes do by lateral undulations. They can 

 be distinguished from true snakes by the 

 presence of movable eyelids and ear open- 

 ings. Their name is due to the extreme brit- 

 tleness of the long tail. Another species 

 called the "blindworm" {Anguis) inhabits 

 Europe, western Asia, and Algeria. It looks 

 like a large, brightly colored worm, but it is 

 not blind since it has well-developed eyes. 



Swifts and skinks are types of lizards that 

 live in North America; many species of 



