25io SCALED REPTILES 



waran, this word has been confused with the German warnen, to warn, whence 

 these reptiles have been termed ivarn-eidechscn, or warning lizards; this, again, hav- 

 ing been translated into monitors a name which, however erroneous in origin, is 

 too well established to be superseded. 



The monitors are distinguished from all the lizards hitherto described by the 

 long and deeply-forked tongue, which is capable of being protruded far in front of 

 the lips, and is furnished at the base with a sheath, into which it can be withdrawn, 

 as in snakes. Including the largest members of the suborder, monitors are further 

 characterized by the long bod) 7 , the broad, uncrested back, the well-developed, five- 

 toed limbs, and the long tail, which is very frequently markedly compressed. The 

 head is covered with small polygonal scales; the eyelids are well developed; the 

 opening of the ear is distinct, and the head is covered with small scales. In the 

 skull we may notice alike the absence of a bony roof over the temporal fossae, and 

 of teeth on the palate; while it is further remarkable for the union of the two nasal 

 bones into a single ossification. The teeth are large and pointed, with expanded 

 bases fixed to the sides of the jaws. On the back the scales are rounded and 

 bordered by rings of minute granules, so that they do not overlap; in the under sur- 

 face we find the squared scales arranged in crossrows. Pores are absent both on 

 the under surface of the thigh and in front of the vent. A peculiarity of the group 

 is the presence of an imperfect midriff, found elsewhere among reptiles alone in the 

 crocodiles. Monitors inhabit Africa, Southern Asia, Oceania, Papua, and Aus- 

 tralia, and are represented by nearly thirty living species, the largest of which at- 

 tains a length a little short of seven feet. A fossil species from Northern India 

 was, however, probably twelve feet long, while one from Australia could not have 

 fallen much, if at all, short of thirty feet. The group is an isolated one, without 

 near relationship to any other family. 



The genus may be divided into four distinct sections, the first of which is rep- 

 resented solely by the desert monitor ( V. griseui) of Northwestern Africa and 

 Southwestern Asia, extending from Arabia and the Caspian to Northwestern India. 

 This species differ from all the rest in that the nostrils are in the form of oblique 

 slits; the tail, except sometimes near the tip, is cylindrical. Attaining a length of 

 four feet two inches, and inhabiting the deserts of Northwestern India, and thence 

 westward through Southern Asia to the Caspian and North Africa, it takes its 

 name from its grayish-yellow color, which may be relieved by brown crossbars on 

 the back and tail, and streaks of the same hue along the sides of the neck; the 

 young always having yellow spots and dark bars. In accordance with its sombre 

 coloration, this species is an inhabitant of sandy deserts. A far handsomer lizard 

 than the last is the Cape monitor ( V. albigularis} of Southern and Southeastern 

 Africa, where it is commonly known to the Boers as the "adder." It is the first 

 representative of the second group of the genus, in which, while the nostrils are 

 in the form of oblique slits, the tail is compressed and keeled. Belonging to a sub- 

 group characterized by the smooth scales of the abdomen, it is further distinguished 

 by the absence of large (supraocular) scales above the eyes, by the nostrils being 

 three times as far from the snout as from the eye, and by the small size of the 

 scales. It is slightly inferior in size to the last, and has the upper parts grayish 



