LIZARDS. 129 
The colour of its upper parts is olive or bronzed-grey, frequently 
marked with darker and lighter longitudinal streaks. Lord 
Clermont says that some specimens exhibit as many as ‘‘ sixteen 
or eighteen streaks on the back alternately black and dull white.” 
Sometimes these streaks are very indistinct. The lower parts 
are whitish. The entire length of the full-grown animal is about 
13in. 
The Bipes (Scelotes bipes) is also a very curious and interesting 
Skink, and one which is occasionally brought into this country. 
it comes from South Africa. As its specific name implies, it 
has only two legs—the hind ones. On each leg there are two 
unequal-clawed toes. The scales are smooth; the body is cylin- 
drical and elongate. The conical and pointed tail is shorter than 
the body ; the eyes, which possess eyelids, the lower ones being 
transparent, and the ear-openings are very small indeed. The 
upper parts of this Skink’s body are of a silvery-brown colour, 
each scale growing darker towards the centre. There is a longi- 
tudinal streak of dark brown on each side of the body, apparently 
passing through the eye. There are also, occasionally, several 
other longitudinal lines on the back which are more or less 
distinct. The lower parts of the body are whitish. The Bipes 
is about 6in. long, and should be treated in confinement as the 
other Skinks just described. 
The Spotted Slow-worm (Acontias meleagris).—The general 
shape of this Lizard is not unlike that of the Common Slow-worm 
(dnguis fragilis), hence its English name. Its rostral and mental 
scales are unusually large; and its head is conical. The eyes 
are very small, the upper eyelids are wanting, and the lower ones 
are transparent. There are no visible limbs or ear-openings, and 
the cylindrical tail is very short, not a quarter so long as the 
body, and rounded at the end. The upper parts are coloured a 
pale or greenish-brown, and the dark spot in the centre of each 
dorsal scale helps to form a series of longitudinal dark streaks. 
The lower parts are yellowish-white. This Lizard should be 
* treated in captivity in the same way as has been recommended 
_. for the Bipes. 
_ ‘Though several of the Skinks are very like in their outward 
appearance to some of the snakes, not one of them can be fairly 
K 
