THE SKINK TRIBE 



existing rather than of excavating a fresh burrow for itself, such a burrow not 

 unfrequently extending to the depth of several feet. During the daytime the 

 skink, if quietly approached, may be observed quietly reposing in the sun by 

 the side of one of the small hillocks or ridges raised in the sand at the base of 

 trees by the wind; and from such a state of idleness it is only roused by the 

 approach of a beetle or a fly, upon which it darts with unerring aim. In spite 

 of its strong teeth or claws, when captured, the skink never makes any at- 

 tempts to defend itself, beyond struggling vigorously. Of its breeding habits, 

 little or nothing definite appears to be known. According to Canon Tristram, 

 the flesh of a few well-broiled skinks forms a dish not to be despised even by 

 a European palate. 



Under the title of Chalkis, the ancient Greeks designated a re- 

 markable snake-like lizard inhabiting Italy, Sardinia, and Sicily, as 

 well as Algeria and Tunis, which was known to the Romans by the name of Seps; 



Bronze Lizards 



THREE-TOED BRONZE LIZARD. 

 (Natural size.) 



the latter being in allusion to the poisonous properties with which this perfectly 

 harmless reptile was supposed to be endowed. The " seps" (Chaltides tridactylus) 

 is the typical representative of a genus of some twelve species belonging to the pres- 

 ent family, which exhibit a most interesting example of the gradual degradation of 

 limbs, some species having five toes to each foot, while in others, as the figured ex- 

 ample, the number of digits is reduced to three, and in one kind the limbs are rep- 

 resented merely by undivided rudiments. The bronze lizards, as the members of 

 the genus may be collectively termed, belong to an assemblage of genera differing 

 from all those already noticed in that the nostrils are pierced either in or close to 

 the terminal rostral shield of the skull, instead of being more or less widely sepa- 

 rated therefrom. In the case of the present genus the nostrils are situated in 



