26 
was a little stained by contact with the moist earth; they were 
covered with a calcareous shell, which however appeared very thin, 
and even flexible. 
The Ground Lizard is exclusively terrestrial ; it never climbs trees, 
nor does it voluntarily take to the water. A large male which was © 
brought me one day was said indeed to have been taken in the river, 
but upon inquiry I found that the little lad who obtained it had 
discovered it by suddenly lifting a large stone at the very margin of 
the water, and that the lizard in its alarm had leaped into the stream. 
In order to ascertain its powers, I carried it to a deep pool of the 
river and put it in: it instantly began to swim with much rapidity, 
and in a peculiarly elegant manner, throwing the body into horizontal 
serpentine curves, while both the fore- and hind-feet were stretched 
out behind, and remained quite motionless. It was thus able to cross 
a small stream with ease, but if prevented from landing it soon became 
weary, and abandoned all effort, resigning itself to the current, and 
became in a short time much exhausted. 
On the inner surface of the thigh there is in this genus (as in many 
other of the Lizards) a series of scales, each of which is perforated 
with a conspicuous pore. From these pores exude during life minute 
cylindrical bodies like amber or hard yellow gum. On removing the 
integuments we find lying immediately beneath this range of pores, 
adhering to the skin but not to the muscle, a compound body, appa- 
rently glandular, composed of yellow threads, lying parallel to each 
other, but twisted exactly like the strands of a rope, in a regular 
spiral. Undoubtedly this gland secretes the yellow gummy matter 
that exudes, but of what use this is I do not know; perhaps it is a 
sexual attraction. ; 
The variations of surface, which take the form of broad plates on 
the head, throat, breast, legs and vent; of minute tubercles on the 
body generally, and of transverse rows of square plates on the belly 
and tail, are not really plates or scales, but are produced merely by 
lineal depressions of various forms in one continuous surface ; as is di- 
stinctly seen when the integument is sloughed off in large irregular 
pieces, bearing all these characters. 
The tongue is protrusible to the length of nearly an inch and a 
half from the muzzle; it is slender, flat, fleshy, and covered with 
shining papille. The extremity is cleft to the extent of half an 
inch, and the two tips run out to attenuated round points, which are 
horny, but very flexible. 
As the colours of reptiles in spirits are fleeting, and as published 
descriptions of this species convey little notion of its beauty, I sub- 
join the following notes made from living specimens. 
Adult male.—Length 173 inches, of which the tail was12. Head 
and sides of neck pale reddish brown ; outer surface of fore-legs and 
sides a deeper tint of the same hue; medial portion of back light 
green, brightest in front, where it runs up to a point; posteriorly it 
merges into a dusky hue. Upper part of tail and outer surface of 
hind-legs dark brown. Throat, breast and under part of fore-legs 
white ; belly and under surface of hind-legs pale blue; under surface 
