144 



The South Australian Naturalist. 



ridge. Is it possible that the form described by Lydekker is a 

 sexual distinction? Such dental peculiarities do exist, for 

 instance in the dugong, the male having two powerful incisors, 

 while in the female of this species these teeth, though present, 

 fail to erupt. The moloch lizard inhabits the driest parts of 

 central and western Australia, and is found in no other country. 

 Although usually slow in locomotion, the little fellow can hustle 

 when he pleases. On a warm, sunny day he will erect his tail in 

 an upward curve and get along by a series of jerks, the move- 

 ment of the legs reminding one of the mode of locomotion usually 

 adopted in mechanical toys. The principal diet of the moloch 

 is the common little black ant, so well known to housewives 

 under various unprintable names; but to entomologists, who 

 dearly love euphonious appellations, it is simply Iridomyrmex 

 rufoniger, var. domesticus. Most writers maintain that this 



The Moloch ^.. .. . .>.. Eggs. 



Note the protective colouration of the lizard. 



insect forms the sole diet of the moloch; but I have repeatedly 

 witnessed the animal greedily devouring the common termite, or 

 white ant, as it is cominonly called. Although I have seen the 

 animal gently licking moisture from blades of grass, I have never 

 known it drink, in the usual sense of the word. The great liquor 

 problem does not interest this animal, and yet he might well be 

 termed, by vulgar people, a soaker. He will place a foot, or 

 even the tip of the tail, into a vessel of water, and, owing to the 

 hygroscopic nature of his hide, rapidly absorb the liquid until 

 it freely exudes from all parts of the head and body and limbs. 

 Mr. H. W. Davey, F.B.S., in a most interesting article (Vict. 

 Nat., Vol. XL., p. 60), mentions having watched a moloch con- 

 sume ants at the rate of forty -five per minute, and further states 



