AGAMIDAE 525 



the sand or iu the hard ground, unless they hide in the cracks 

 of rocks. They have a regular mania for digging with their 

 strong linil)S and short, curved claws. Although they love a 

 great amount of heat, and become stiff when cooled down to 

 about 16° C. = 60 F., they can stand several degrees of dry frost 

 without injury. During the cold season they hibernate. The 

 spiny tail- is used for defence. The lizard lies as a rule in such 

 a position in its hole that the tail blocks the narrow passage ; 

 when touched with the hand it deals out jerky side-blows w^ith 

 the tail. The bite is deliberate and very painful. 



U. hardtaicJci is a native of North-Western India and Beluclii- 

 stan, occurring especially in Sindh and Eajputana, for instance 

 near Delhi and Agra. This species is of a delicate sandy colour, 

 with dark dots or vermiculations, interspersed, occasionally, with 

 pale blue specks. The under parts are whitish on the tail with 

 a greenish hue. A distinctive and obvious mark is a large 

 blackish patch on the anterior side of the thigh. Total length 

 up to one foot. 



' I have several times received consignments of the Indian 

 Spiny-tailed Lizard through the kindness of friends, l)ut I must 

 confess that they are far less easily kept than one is led to 

 believe from certain exaggerated accounts. They are lovely, 

 most interesting, and surprisingly tame creatures. I received 

 one lot in the month of June. They made burrows in the dry 

 soil, basked in the sun and on the grassy sods of their roomy 

 cage, and 'showed great curiosity. When approached, they at first 

 scrambled off or sank down flat, shut their eyes and feigned death. 

 They then opened their tiny yellow eyes a little, while others 

 peeped out of their retreats to see if all was safe, or attracted by 

 some noise. Soon they became so tame that they crawled over 

 my hand. But the difficulty consisted in feeding them. They 

 greedily lapped up drops of water. Their dung consisted of the 

 indigestible parts of some species of Eqidsetum or Mare's tail, 

 mixed with fragments of beetles and ants. Lettuce, cabbage, 

 cauliflower, grass, the flowers of red and white clover, Mare's 

 tail, wheat, rice, and Indian corn were offered, but they only took 

 a few blades of grass and the hard Indian corn, besides meal- 

 worms. This is all the more astonishing since other specimens are 

 known to partake freely of herbaceous food. None of them sur- 

 vived the late autumn, and most of them succumbed to a disease 



