2532 SCALED REPTILES 



notches cut in the hinder border of the shield in question; while the body is greatly 

 elongated, and the limbs are either short or rudimental. The figured kind is one of 

 two species with three-toed limbs, and attains a length of thirteen and one-half 

 inches, of which about half is occupied by the tail. In color it is olive or bronzy 

 above, and may be either uniform, or marked with an even number of darker and 

 lighter longitudinal streaks. In the south of France, Spain, and Portugal, it is re- 

 placed by the smaller striped bronze lizard ( C. lineatus} , in which the body is marked 

 with nine or eleven longitudinal stripes. The range of the whole genus embraces 

 Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and Southwestern Asia, from Syria and Arabia 

 to Sind. 



The three-toed bronze lizard much resembles the blindworm in general appear- 

 ance and habits, frequenting damp places where abundance of its favorite worms, 

 snails, slugs, insects, and spiders are to be met with. Here it moves with a 

 wriggling serpentine motion similar to that of the blindworm, which it likewise re- 

 sembles in producing living young and in retiring into a burrow for its winter sleep. 

 When not feeding, the creature, like most of its kind, delights to bask on sandy 

 spots in the full glare of the sun. The ' ' seps ' ' was believed to inflict death on cat- 

 tle by biting them during the night, its bite filling their veins with corruption; and 

 in consequence of this belief the unfortunate creature is still persecuted with the 

 same hatred as is the blindworm in some parts of England. 



The two remaining families {Anelytropidce and Dibamida} are 



" ... represented by worm-like burrowing lizards allied to the skinks (of 



which they may be regarded as degraded types), but with no bony 



plates beneath the scales, no external ear openings, and eyes concealed beneath 



the skin. The former family is represented by three genera, of which two are 



African, and the third is from Mexico; while of the latter there is but a single 



genus, with one species from Papua, the Moluccas and Celebes, and a second from 



the Nicobars. 



THE CHAMELEONS 

 SUBORDER Rhiptoglossa 



With the skinks and their allies we took leave of the last of the reptiles which, 

 in the zoological sense, are included under the title of lizards, and we now come to 

 a second subordinal group, represented by those strange creatures known as cha- 

 maeleons. From the lizards proper these reptiles are at once distinguished by their 

 worm-like extensile tongues, which are club shaped and viscous at the extremity, 

 and are capable of being protruded with the rapidity of lightning to a distance of 

 from four to six inches in front of the mouth. Hence the name of worm-tongued 

 lizards has been suggested for the group. Internally, the chamaeleons differ from 

 all lizards provided with well-developed limbs in having no collar bones (clavicles) ; 

 while there are likewise certain distinctive features in connection with the skull, 

 into the consideration of which it will be unnecessary to enter in this work. An- 



