CHAPTER VI. 
LIZARDS. 
HE Lizards are very interesting, and, as a rule, bear 
confinement exceedingly well. So great is their variety 
that it has been necessary to divide them into about 21 
families, 330 genera, and 1700 species. 
Dr. Giinther, in his article on the Lizard in the “ Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica,” says that “Lizards may be described as 
Reptiles with a more or less elongate body, terminating in a 
tail, and with a skin either folded into scales (as in snakes) or 
granular or tubercular.”” Most Lizards have four legs (e.g., the 
common English Lizard, Lacerta vivipara), a few only two (e.@., 
the Glass Snake, Psewdopus pallasi), and many none at all (e.g., 
the English Slow-worm, Anguis fragilis). Some have extra- 
ordinary power of changing colour (e.g., the Chameleons and 
the Anoles) ; others are so active as to apparently set the laws 
of gravitation at defiance (e¢.g., the Geckos); and there are 
indeed even so-called flying Lizards (e.g., Draco volans). 
Most Lizards are carnivorous, and only comparatively a few 
herbivorous. One Lizard (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) enters the 
sea, and feeds upon seaweed. Some Lizards, like the Monitors, 
are 6ft. long, while others are smaller than the common English 
Lizard (ZL. vivipara). There are Lizards of the Skink family 
which possess bodies of a smooth and polished appearance, and 
there are Lizards with spine-bearing tubercles, such as the 
Moloch (JZ. horridus), and the ‘ Californian or Horned Toad” 
(Phrynosoma cornutum). 
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