THE SKINK TRIBE 2527 



keeled, and the coloration is brighter. The color of the adult is grayish or brown- 

 ish, with faint longitudinal series of light and dark spots and lines, and sometimes 

 eye-like blue spots on the flanks; the young being longitudinally streaked with 

 black and white, and having white spots on the limbs. All these lizards inhabit 

 dry sandy districts, and are remarkably shy in their habits, seldom venturing forth 

 from their retreats except when the sun is shining brightly. 



THE SKINK TRIBE 

 Family SCINCID^ 



The preceding family is connected with the one we have now to consider by a 

 small group of five African genera constituting the family Gerrhosauridce , which, 

 while resembling the true lizards in having but a single premaxillary bone and the 

 presence of pores on the thigh, agree with the skiuks in possessing bony plates of 

 peculiar structure beneath the scales. The skink tribe, taking their title from the 

 lizard commonly known by that name, are a very numerous family, comprising up- 

 ward of twenty-five genera and nearly four hundred species, and presenting great 

 variety of bodily form, some kinds being four limbed, while others are more or less 

 completely snake-like. Agreeing with the true lizards in the characteristics of the 

 tongue and teeth, as well as in the roofing over of the temporal fossae by bone, the 

 skinks differ in having two distinct premaxillary bones in the skull, in the presence 

 of bony plates traversed by symmetrical tubules beneath the scales, and in the in- 

 variable absence of the pores which are generally present in the thighs of the La- 

 certidcz. The limbs, when present, are relatively short, and in some cases are re- 

 duced to two, and in others absent; the number of toes is very variable, even among 

 the members of a single genus; the short and scaly tongue is free, and but slightly 

 notched in front, and the drum of the ear is generally covered with scales. The 

 eyes have round pupils, and well-developed and generally mobile lids, the lower one 

 of which has a large transparent window. The teeth, which are attached to the 

 sides of the jaws, may have either conical, bicuspid, or broad and spheroidal crowns 

 ( Tiliqua}. The head is covered by large symmetrical shields, among which an un- 

 paired occipital is generally wanting; and the overlapping scales of the body are 

 generally subhexagonal in form and arranged in a quincuncial manner. World- 

 wide in distribution, the skink tribe are most numerously represented in Australia, 

 Oceania, the Oriental region, and Africa, while very few occur in South America, 

 and there are not many in North America and Europe. Although their habits are 

 not fully known, it appears that, with the exception of two genera, they bring forth 

 living young, varying from two to ten in number. The majority are terrestrial, a 

 few only being able to climb, while none are aquatic. They sedulously avoid the 

 neighborhood of water, frequenting dry situations, and more especially those where 

 the soil is sandy with an admixture of pebbles or fragments of rock. Moreover, 

 they generally possess the faculty rare among lizards of burrowing in the 

 ground with the dexterity, if not with the power, of moles. From this habit the 



