Liberia <4- 



as the remarkable horned chameleon of the Congo forests ; 

 but no doubt further research will reveal the existence in 

 Liberia of more than one species of this sub-order. 



Among^st the Lizard sub-order there are noticeable the 

 tame and pretty little geckos which frequent all houses, 

 European and native, and rencier such signal services in the 

 destruction of insects. There is a skink [Lygosoma fernand'i)^ 

 of which I give an illustration, as it is a reptile rather 

 commonly met with in the country, and bears the unmeriteci 

 reputation of being poisonous. Indeed, it is more dreaded 

 by the Kruboys than many a snake which is really venomous. 

 A lizard which will often meet the eye of the European 

 traveller, especially in the eastern parts of Liberia, is the 

 common Red and blue Agama {A. colonomm). This lizard 

 is normally a mottled olive-umber or grey-brown, which is 

 in fact the colour of the females ; but the adult males, 

 especially during the breeding season, are more or less 

 brightly tinged with red and blue. The blue is sometimes 

 a brilliant cobalt, or in other examples becomes a kind of 

 kingfisher verditer-blue that makes the lizard a really beautiful 

 object in the scene. These bright tints fade by degrees after 

 the death of the. lizard, but not so rapidly as is sometimes 

 stated. In the case of the example of which I give a coloured 

 illustration, my painting was done from the lizard some four 

 or five hours after death. This lizard is a particularly 

 characteristic form of the West Coast of Africa, for although 

 its range is far more extensive than over this portion of the 

 continent, it is only in West Africa that it seems to assume 

 these particularly vivid tints. These examples of brilliant 

 coloration in the breeding males do not seem to be so 

 apparent to the westward of Sierra Leone as along the coast 

 between Liberia and the Congo. As the Red-headed hzard is 



814 



