CHAPTER III 



LIZARDS 



T HE Lizard TribcorSub-ordcr is notable as containing 

 a greater number of specific forms than any other 

 oftlie Reptilian groups, no less than 1 ,700 distinct 

 species being described in the most recent!}' published 

 catalogues. While formerly regarded as constituting a 

 separate and independent order of the Reptile Class, later 

 investigations have demonstrated that lizards are so inti- 

 mately related through sundry intermediate types with the 

 Snakes that they cannot be recognised as constituting other 

 than a sub-section of the same order. The two groups of 

 the Lizards and Snakes are consequently, and with refer- 

 ence more particularly to their commonls' 

 shared scaly armatures, technically distin- 

 guished by the appellation of Scaled Reptiles. 

 While the more t}-pical members of the 

 Lizard Tribe are readily distinguished from 

 the Snakes by the possession of well- 

 developed limbs, a no inconsiderable number 

 of species are altogether devoid of these 

 appendages, or possess them only in a 

 partially developed or rudimentary condition. 

 The British BLixn-wokM, or Slow-wor.m, 

 constitutes an example of such a legless 

 lizard, although on account of its outward 

 snake-like appearance it is commonly 

 regarded as a snake by the un- 

 educated. In the South Euro- 

 pean so-called Glass-SN.\KE, or 

 ScHELTOPUSiK, here figured, the 

 snake-like aspect and creeping 

 habits are still more conspicuous, 

 but yet when examined more crit- 

 ically its lizard affinities become 

 apparent. One of the most readily 

 apprehended e.Kternal characters 

 that serve to distinguish this 

 and the majorit}' of the legless 

 lizards from snakes is the posses- 

 sion by the former of movable 

 eyelids and conspicuous external 

 ear-openings. Among snakes 

 eyelids are invariably absent, the 



-WORM 



T^ GtiL'hhstandxng its namCy the bhnd-ivorm pui- 

 icsiCS smally "very bright little eyei 



Photo by W. Sai'tlle-KffJt, F.Z.S. [Milford-on-Sea 



GLASS-SNAKE, OR SCHELTOPUSIK 



T/if presence of moi-ah/e eyelids distinguishes this legless lizard from 

 the true snakes 



fhoic by W. S^viH. 



GLASS-SNAKE 



Snails constitute the Ja'vourite food of the glass-snake 



165 



