THE AGAMOID LIZARDS 2485 



Indian thorny- tail the spines on the tail are small, with the lateral ones the largest; 

 there are no enlarged tubercular scales on the back, and the front surface of the 

 thigh is marked by a large black spot. In size this species is much inferior to its 

 Arabian congener, not exceeding some eleven inches in length. Its color is either 

 uniform sandy above, or the same spotted or mottled with a darker, and whitish be- 

 neath, with the aforesaid dark mark on the thigh. 



Conforming in their sombre coloration to the desert regions they 

 frequent, the thorny-tailed lizards are entirely vegetable feeders, and 

 live in burrows, resembling those of the smaller foxes, which are excavated by 

 themselves. These burrows, which may be as much as four feet in length, some- 

 times turn almost at right angles to their original course, at a depth of a foot or so 

 from the surface. Generally living solitary or in pairs, these lizards are met with 

 abundantly in parts of Eastern Persia and the Punjab, and when approached at once 

 make for their holes. If they succeed in getting their fore-limbs within the aper- 

 ture of their borrows, it is impossible to pull them out, for, as the writer knows by 

 experience, they will rather suffer their tails to be pulled from their bodies than to 

 let go their hold. They are generally somewhat heavy and deliberate in their move- 

 ments, turning their heads from side to side while walking, but are capable of run- 

 ning with tolerable speed. In the cold season, at any rate, they never leave their 

 burrows till the sun is well up; and while in Persia and India they are commonly 

 found on half-desert gravelly plains scattered over with low bush, the Arabian spe- 

 cies is often met with in the clefts of rocks, whence it issues forth to bask on the 

 smooth slabs or bowlders. According to Brehm, as many as a dozen of these lizards 

 may occasionally be seen on a single slab of rock. All the species appear to be timid 

 and gentle in their disposition, rarely, if ever, attempting to bite when captured. 

 Their food comprises leaves and flowers, dried fruits, and the seeds of grass, as well 

 as grass itself; but although in the wild state they never seem to touch animal food, 

 in captivity the Indian species will greedily devour meal worms. According to Arab 

 reports, the dabb never by any chance drinks, even when water is at hand, and 

 this statement has been confirmed by modern observers. By the Arabs these liz- 

 ards are frequently tamed and kept in captivity; and their flesh, which resembles 

 that of young chicken, is much relished by them as an article of food. Nothing 

 appears to be known as to their breeding habits. All the species thrive well in cap- 

 tivity in Europe. It is not improbable, according to Canon Tristram, that the rep- 

 tile mentioned in L,eviticus under the name of tortoi.se, is really the dabb. 



Two nearly-allied lizards from East Africa namely, Aporoscelis 

 East African princeps from Zanzibar and Somaliland, and A. batilliferus from 

 . Somaliland, while resembling the members of the preceding genus 



Lizards ^ n general external characteristics, differ in the absence of true pores 

 either on the under surface of the body or on the thighs, and are con- 

 sequently referred to a distinct genus. Both appear to be rare, and are of 

 comparatively-small size, the first named measuring only about seven and one-half 

 inches in length. 



Even more strange and uncouth in appearance than the frilled lizard, is another 

 Australian species commonly known as the moloch (Moloch horridus), but termed 



