SKINKS. 99 



each scale ; and the different species inhabit both the Old World 

 and the New, as well as Australia. The Galliwasps ( Celestus) of the 

 West Indies, and sundry other genera, do not greatly differ. Of 

 Tropidophorus, which has exceedingly rugged scales, the species 

 inhabit the Indo-Chinese countries, and one (T. corinsinensis] is 

 found likewise in the Philippines ; while of another (T. Berdmorei\ 

 in Burmah, Mr. Theobald remarks that "its scales are dull and 

 lustreless, and the coloration peculiar for a Skink. It harbours under 

 half-immersed stones, and enters the water freely." In several of 

 this family of Lizards the scales are beautifully iridescent, and many 

 of them show longitudinal pale or white lines, or are otherwise 

 variegated. 



Nearly akin to the extensive family of Sdncida, there are three 

 small families (as classed by Dr. Gray), the species of which are 

 peculiar to Australia. They have small, undivided posterior limbs 

 only, or are quite limbless. These families are the Lialisida^ founded 

 on three or more species of a single genus, Lialis ; the Aprasiada, 

 founded upon one species only Aprasia pulchella, which is limbless; 

 and the Pygopodidce, comprising the two genera Pygopus and Delma, 

 the former containing two, the latter only one ascertained species. 

 The GymnophlhalmidcE constitute still another small family, quadru- 

 pedal, but with the limbs small and weak. Of seven genera referred 

 to it, five are Australian, one is European, and one belongs to South 

 America. Ablepharus pannonicus is a small Lizard of this family, 

 inhabiting Eastern Europe, with a congener, A. bivittatus, in the 

 Caucasus ; and Gymnophthalmus lineatus found in Brazil and the 

 Island of Martinique. 



In the second tribe of Leptoglossa^ entitled Cyclosaura, the scales 

 of the belly are square, in cross bands ; those of the back and tail 

 are rhombic and imbricate, or circular and subgranular ; the tongue 

 is lengthened, and more or less conspicuously furcate ; and the eyes 

 are diurnal, having two valvular lids. The limbs are generally well 

 developed; but in several genera they still are more or less rudi- 

 mentary, or even absent. 



There are four small families in which the sides are rounded and 

 covered with scales like the back. Of these, that of Chamcesaiirida 

 is founded upon the South African Lacerta anguinea of Linnaeus, now 

 Chamasaura anguinea, which has the limbs quite rudimentary. In 

 the American families of Cercosauridce, Chirocolidce^ and Anadiada, 

 the limbs are moderately developed, and have each five toes. The 

 two last-mentioned families are founded each upon a single species, 

 Chirocolus imbricatus and Anadia ocellata ; and the other contains 



