2468 SCALED REPTILES 



voice, the majority merely uttering a low hiss; some, however, especially among 

 those whose habits are nocturnal emit a clear, sharp cry, which has been likened 

 both to the scream of a frog, and to the chirp of a cricket. Of their senses, the 

 most acute is doubtless that of sight, next to which probably comes hearing. In re- 

 gard to diet, a few lizards are strictly herbivorous, but the great majority are more 

 or less completely carnivorous; the larger kinds feeding on small mammals, birds 

 and their eggs, other reptiles, and, more rarely, frogs and fish, as well as many de- 

 scriptions of invertebrates. The smaller members of the order, on the other hand, are 

 restricted mainly or entirely to an invertebrate diet, the great portion of which con- 

 sists of insects, worms, and land mollusks. Nearly all drink by rapidly protruding 

 and withdrawing the tongue; dew affording sufficient moisture to those living on 

 rock or in trees, while some kinds can exist for long periods, or even entirely with- 

 out drinking. The species inhabiting the warmer regions, save those which are 

 arboreal or aquatic in their habits, pass the hottest and driest season of the year in 

 a state of torpor; while those in colder regions regularly hibernate, such hiberna- 

 tion, in the case of some of the species inhabiting the continent of Europe, lasting 

 for a period of from six to eight months. As regards their breeding habits, the ma- 

 jority of lizards lay eggs, which may vary from two to thirty in number, and have 

 generally a soft and leathery covering, although sometimes furnished with a hard 

 calcareous shell. 



One peculiarity characterizing the members of the order cannot be passed over 

 before concluding these introductory remarks. This is the facility with which they 

 are enabled to reproduce lost parts, and more especially the tail. As is well known, 

 in many lizards, when handled, the tail breaks off without any rough usage, and in 

 all or nearly all it will readily come in two if pulled when the creature is seeking to 

 escape, this susceptibility to automatic fracture being due to a cartilaginous band 

 across the middle of each vertebra of the tail in the case of the common lizard of 

 England. Such missing portion of the tail is speedily reproduced, it may be double; 

 and whereas among the members of the typical family of the order, the scaling of 

 the reproduced portion is like the original, in certain other forms this is by no 

 means always the case. The remarkable circumstance about the matter is that 

 when the pattern of the scaling of such a new tail differs from the original, it al- 

 ways reverts to that characterizing a less specialized and probably ancestral group. 

 It is scarcely necessary to mention that in such an extensive assemblage as the pres- 

 ent, only a comparatively-small percentage of species, or even genera, can be men- 

 tioned, and these but briefly. 



THE GECKOES 

 Family GECKONID^ 



Few creatures have given rise to a greater amount of fable and legend than the 

 large group of lizards commonly known as geckoes; such legends being probably 

 due to the nocturnal and domestic habits of these creatures, coupled with the sharp 



