Order I. Lizards, (Sauria). 

 Mouth not dilatable. Jaws toothed. Tlie lower jaw- 

 bones being united by a bony suture in front. Eye with 

 distinct eyelids. Drum of the ears generally distinct, 

 exposed. Nostrils lateral, nasal cavities separated by a 

 long cavity. Limbs 4, distinct, rarely in such a rudimen- 

 tary state "as to be hidden under the skin. Toes generally 

 distinct, clawed, for walking or climbing. Body elongate, 

 rounded, covered with imbricate granular scales. Ribs 

 distinct, mobile, and with a distinct sternum. Tail elon- 

 gate, tapering, rarely prehensile, generally covered with 

 whorls of scales. Egg with a hard skin. Young not un- 

 dergoing any metamorphosis. 



The Grtphf, containing the Ichthyosauri, Plesiomiiri, 

 the recently discovered Rhtjncosauri, and other Lizard- 

 like fossils of the lias and new red sandstone, which have 

 nearly the same formation of the skull, the pendant ear- 

 bones &c. of the Saurias, are easily distinguished from 

 them by their doubly cupped vertebrae and usually paddle- 

 like feet, like Cetacea amongst Mammalia. 



Sect. I. Sqcamata. 

 Body covered with overlapping or granular scales. 

 Nostrils lateral. The skull formed of separate bones. 

 The nasal cavities separated by a bony septum. The ear- 

 bone external, pendent, and only articulated to the skull. 

 Tongue free, elongate, nicked at the tip, often entire. The 

 lungs free in the cavity of the thorax. The vent a linear 

 cross slit. The male organ and vagina forked. Vertebrae 

 with a convex surface fitting into a concave surface in the 

 preceding joint. Oviparous, rarely viviparous. The eggs 

 when deposited covered with a more or less coriaceous 

 shell. 



Sub-order L Leptogloss.e. 



Tribe L Cyclosaura. 



Scales of the belly square (very rarely rhombic, keeled), in 

 cross bands, of the back and tail rhombic, imbricate, or cir- 

 cular and subgranular, placed in cross rings, of the sides 

 generally granular, rarely like the back. Tongue elongate, 

 flattened, base sometimes sheathed, generally free, only 

 attached to the gullet by a long frenum, with two elongate 

 cylindrical homy tips. Tail elongate, with whorls of 

 scales, generally conical, tapering, sometimes compressed, 

 with two elevated crests above. 



Family. Monitorid.e. 

 Head with minute polygonal shields. Teeth adnate to 

 the inner side of the jaws. Tongue elongate, slender, re- 

 tractile into a sheath at its base. Scales small, roundish, 

 placed in cross rings, those of the sides like those of the 

 neck. Legs 4, strong. Toes 5-5, compressed, subequal. 

 Thighs poreless. Superorbital plate bony. Old World, 

 near water. 



The species of this family are confined exclusively to 

 the Eastern Worid and Australasia. Of the twenty-two 

 species described in the Catalogue of the Lizards in the 

 British Museum, the last complete work on the species of 

 Reptiles that has appeared, six are peculiar to Australia, 



eleven are found in India, Borneo and New Guinea, and 

 five in Africa. 



1. Tail round without any keel above. Terrestrae. 

 Odatria, Gray. 



Nostrils ovate, longitudinal, subanterior. Teeth com- 

 pressed, acute. Tail elongate, round, not keeled above. 

 Scales large, sharply keeled, subspinose. Back with elon- 

 gate, narrow, keeled scales. Ventral shield elongate. 

 Toes rather unequal, elongate. 



This genus is easily known from the terrestrial Monitors 

 of Africa, by the larger size and keeled form of the caudal 

 scales. 



Besides the Australian species, there is one, O. Timor- 

 en-tis, from the Island of Timor, first described by me in 

 Griffith's Animal Kingdom, ix. 36. 



The Dotted Odatria. Odatria punctata. 

 Plate I. 



Odatria punctata, Gray, Ann. N. H. ii. 394. Grey's 

 Trav. Aiisfr. ii. 422. Cat Rept. B. M. 7. 

 Monitor tristis, Schleyel, Abbild. 73. 



Grey olive, with narrow, black, reticulated lines, bearing 

 large hexagonal spots; head, limbs and tail blackish, with 

 a few pale spots, dark-banded; ventral shield twice as long 

 as broad ; tail round; scales over the eye small, granular; 

 male ? with a tuft of conical spine-like scales on each side 

 of the vent. 



The young is blackish, with cross rings of white spots ; 

 head closely white speckled ; limbs white dotted. Very 

 young grey, with numerous narrow dark cross bands. 



Inhabits West Australia and Port Essington. 



The Eyed Odatria. Odatria ocellata. 

 Plate 2. 



Odatria ocellata. Gray, Cat. Rept. B. M. 8. 



Black, with rather large yellow rings ; limbs and tail 

 yellow-spotted ; tail round ; scales of the tail broad, oval, 

 spinose; scales over the eyes small, granular; ventral 

 shields twice as long as broad. 



Inhabits N.W. coast of Australia. Benjamin Bynoe, 

 Esq., R.N. 



Like O. punctata, but the scales of the back, and the 

 spinose scales of the tail are much larger. The scales of 

 the back are bluntly keeled, of the tail square, nearly as 

 broad as long, shaqjly and strongly keeled, spinose; in O. 

 punctata they are nearly twice as long as broad, and only 

 subspinose. 



2. Tail triangular, compressed, and with a doubly toothed 

 crest above. Nostril small, round. 



Monitor, Gray. 

 Polydaedalus, Wagler. Uaranus, Fitz. 

 Nostrils small, round, in the middle between the apex 

 of the muzzle and the front angle of the eye. Tail elon- 

 gate, compressed, with a double-edged keel above. Toes 

 elongate, unequal, strong. Teeth rounded. 



