THE SNAKE-LIKE LIZARDS 



2505 



formed by a transverse fold at the front of the basal half. As regards their denti- 

 tion, some forms have tubercular or conical teeth attached to the sides of the walls 

 of the jaws in the typical pleurodont manner; but in the blind worms the teeth are 

 long, curved, loosely-attached fangs, very like those of serpents. Instead of hollow- 

 ing out the bases of the old teeth, as in the preceding family, the new ones grow 

 up beneath them; and there may or may not be teeth on the bones of the palate. 

 Some of the members of the family agree with the preceding in having a longi- 

 tudinal fold along the sides of the body, while in others it is absent; and there is 

 a similar variation in external form, some genera having fully-developed five- toed 

 limbs, while in others all external traces of these appendages have disappeared. In 

 regard to the covering of the head, it should specially be noticed that there is a 

 large occipital shield at its hinder extremity. All the species differ from the 

 majority of lizards in changing their skin in a single piece, like most snakes. 

 With the exception of some species of the American genus Gerrhonotus, which 

 ascend low bushes, all these lizards live on the ground; and the whole of them are 

 carnivorous, the larger species preying on reptiles and other vertebrates, and the 

 smaller kinds on insects, spiders, slugs, and worms. While the blind worms pro- 

 duce living young, the others lay eggs. Containing seven genera and some forty- 

 five species, this family is most numerously represented in Central America and the 

 West Indies, a few species occurring in North and South America, two in Europe, 

 and one in the Himalayas and Burma; all the forms with functional limbs being 

 American. From limitations of space, our notice of the family will be confined to 

 two of the snake-like genera. 



The typical representative of this genus of snake-like lizards 

 {Ophisaurus apus) was first discovered by Pallas in the wooded 

 valleys of the steppes bordering 

 the Volga, where it is known, 

 in common with true snakes, 

 by the name of scheltopusik, 

 a term which may be conven- 

 iently applied to all the mem- 

 bers. The species was subse- 

 quently discovered in other 

 parts of Russia, as well as in 

 Hungary, Istria, Dalmatia, 

 Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Per- 

 sia, Transcaucasia, Transyl- 

 vania, and Turkestan, while it 

 is replaced in Morocco by a 

 more brilliantly-colored variety. 

 Four other species are also 

 known, which extend the range 

 of the genus to Northeastern 



India, Burma, and North America. Agreeing with the American four-limbed 

 genus Gerrhonotus in the presence of a fold along the sides of the body, and the 





v. 



COMMON SCHELTOPUSIK. 



