92 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 



and had scales or knobs on their backs like those of crocodiles, plated on to the 

 skin, or stuck into it, as part of the skin. They are very slow in motion, and 

 when a man conies nigh them they will stand still and hiss, not endeavouring to 

 get away. Their livers are also spotted black and yellow, and the body, when 

 opened, hath a very unsavoury smell. I did never see such ugly creatures anywhere 

 but here." 



Trachysaurus rugosus is included among the many species of Australian Lizards 

 that are not unfrequently imported to this country. While going to press a fine 

 example is on view in the Keptile House of the Zoological Gardens that arrived there 

 nearly two years ago, and between which and the foregoing description given by 

 Captain Dampier comparisons may be instituted. While it will be at once recognised 

 that all of the structural details respecting this singular form given by that early 

 explorer are essentially correct, it will, it is anticipated, be conceded that a most 

 gross injustice has been rendered the animal from an aesthetic standpoint. The 

 photographic portraits here reproduced should suffice, indeed, to clear our client from 

 the cruel aspersions upon its good looks implied by Captain Dampier's closing 

 sentence. 



An interesting circumstance connected with the life history of Trachysaurus 

 is the fact that it is not only ovo-viparous, bringing forth living youug in place of 

 laying eggs, as do the majority of the lizard tribe, but the young, when born, a 

 single one only at a birth, are so fully developed as to be nearly half as large as 

 the parent. 



A reference was made in the foregoing account of Trachysaurus to two species 

 of Egernia which were the comrades of a captive specimen. These were the 

 Spine-tailed lizards, Egernia Stokesii and E. depressa. The former species, Plate XIV., 

 fig. B., which is the larger of the two, was obtained by the author abundantly 

 on that member of Houtman's Abrolhos, off Geraldton, Western Australia, which is 

 distinguished by the name of Gun Island, where it was caught basking in the 

 sun or taking shelter underneath the low scrubby bushes with which the greater 

 portion of the island is covered. The smaller species, Egernia depressa, which 

 appears to be considerably rarer, was forwarded to him from Carnarvon, in the 

 Gascoigne district by Dr. Williams. Apart from their size, which in immature 

 specimens may be equal, the two forms may be readily distinguished by the diverse 

 character of the pattern of their colour-markings. In the larger species, Egernia 

 Stokesii, the pattern invariably consists of cream or tawny yellow spots, and 



