572 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



J 



Fktu ty If. Saviill-Kinl, F.Z.S. 



A GROUP OF MOUNTAIN-DEVILS OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA 



The spines of these lizards are so sharp that they ivill pierce a tender hand 



the heloderm is the arid, sandy, 

 and stony region on the western 

 side of the Cordillera mountain- 

 range. It is at the same time 

 said to be rarely seen in those 

 parts except during the rainy 

 season, and also to be for the 

 most part nocturnal in its habits. 

 The family group of the 

 MONITORS includes the largest 

 of existing lizards, notably the 

 semi-aquatic form common to 

 North Australia and the Malay 

 Peninsula and adjacent islands, 

 which attains a length of 8 or 

 10 feet, and is not infrequently 

 mistaken, as it rushes, on being 

 disturbed, through the reeds and 

 other rank herbage to the 

 water, for a young crocodile. 



An exceedingly fine and well set-up example of these huge water-monitors, shot by Captain 



Stanley Flower in the neighbourhood of Singapore, is placed in the Reptile Gallery of the 



Natural History Museum. 



Another species, indigenous to the Southern Australian States, and having essentially 



arboreal habits, commonly attains to a length of 5 or 6 feet. The skin of one example of 



this species, obtained for the writer from the eucalyptus forests in Gippsland, Victoria, measures 



no less than 7 feet long. With reference to the elegant lace-like pattern of its skin-markings, 



this species is frequently associated with the suggestive title of the LACE-LIZARD. Among the 



more illiterate settlers it is generally known as a Gooana, the name being obviously a corruption 



of Iguana, and being, as a matter of fact, applied promiscuously, and in all cases incorrectly, 



to a number of the larger Australian lizards. 



All the members of the Monitor Tribe are inveterate egg-eaters. An Egyptian species, the 



NILE MONITOR, renders service to humanity through the gratification of this propensity in seek- 



ing out and devouring the eggs of the crocodile. The larger water-monitor of the North Australian 



and Malay regions has been reported to 



the writer to be particularly partial to 



the eggs of the turtle, digging them out 



of the sand in which the parent deposits 



them, and destroying them wholesale. The 



more strictly arboreal Southern Australian 



species preys to a very large extent on 



birds' eggs, climbing to the holes in 



the trunks and branches in which so 



many Australian birds build their nests, 



and not infrequently capturing and 



devouring also the parent birds and 



young. In the " bush " settlements 



this monitor is notorious for its depre- 



dations among the hen-roosts, both eggs 



and young chickens falling victims to 



its insatiable appetite. It is conse- 



regarded with but Scant favour 



fh,,,t, 



. sai>ui*-K,nt, T.Z.S. 



HORNED TOAD 



A iptny lizard, umeivhat reumi/ing t/ic Australian mountain-devil 



