30 



IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS 



nigrolutea], a slow-moving reptile. A specimen 

 which was kept in captivity for a few days declined 

 to become friendly. When it was touched it opened 

 wide its mouth, displaying the bright blue tongue, and 

 made a peculiar sound, between hissing and gasping, 

 evidently with the object of inspiring terror. In 

 other localities, nearer Melbourne, I have found these 



BLUE-TONGUED LIZARD. 



lizards in numbers. If a piece of sacking, an old 

 kerosene tin, or heap of brushwood on the moorland 

 be turned over, a "Blue Tongue" may be revealed. 

 Small brown lizards, swift on their legs as a dragon- 

 fly is on the wing, were common objects in warm 

 weather. And occasionally, on tree trunks, we saw 

 Geckoes, with "splay" feet and big eyes. Frogs were 

 met with in marshy places. Often, at night, they 

 serenaded us for hours an insistent shrilling 



