22 REPTILES. 



there with scales larger than the others, and sometimes spiny; small 

 groups of spines surrounding the ear; no pores on the thighs; the tail 

 long, and terminating in a point. But one species is known. 



Lac. stellio, L. ; the Stellio of the Levant; Seb. I, cvi, f. 1, 2; 

 and better Tournef. Voy. au Lev. I, 120; and Geoff. Descr. de 

 I'Egypte, Rept. II, 3 ; Koscordylos, of the modern Greeks ; Har- 

 dun of the Arabs. (The Common Stellio). A foot long; of an 

 olive colour shaded with black; very common throughout the Levant, 

 and particularly so in Egypt. According to Eelon, it is the faeces 

 of this animal which are collected for the druggists under the names 

 of cordylea, crocodilea or stercus lacerti, which were formerly in 

 vogue as a cosmetic ; but it would rather appear that the antients 

 attributed this name and quality to those of the Monitor. The 

 Mahometans kill the present Stellio wherever they see it, because, 

 as they say, it mocks them by bowing the head, as they do when at 

 prayer. 



DORYPHORUS, CuV. 



The pores wanting as in the Stellios, but the body is not bristled with 

 ismall groups of spines*. 



UROMASTixf, Cuv. — Stellions Batards, Daud. 

 Mere Stellios, whose head is not enlarged, all the scales of their body 

 being small, smooth, and uniform, and those of the tail still larger and 

 more spiny than in the common Stellio; but there are none beneath. 

 There is a series of pores under their thighs. 



Stellio spinipes, Daud. ; Fouetfe-queue d'Egt/pte, Geoff. Rept. 

 d'Egyp. pi. II, f. 2. (The Common Uromastyx). Two or three 

 feet long; the body inflated; altogether of a fine grass green; small 

 spines on the thighs; the tail only spiny above. Found in the 

 deserts which surround Egypt ; it was formerly described by Belon, 

 who says, but without adducing proof, that it is the terrestrial Cro- 

 codile of the antients;];. 



Agama §, Daud. 

 The Agamse bear a great resemblance to the cammon Stellios, parti- 

 cularly in their inflated head ; but the scales of their tail, which are im- 



nate, or Fraud in the contract. It was probably the Tarentole, or the Gecko tubercuteux 

 of the south of Europe, Gecl-otte of Lacep., as conjectured by various authors, and 

 lately by M. Schneider. There is nothing to justify its application to the present 

 species; Belon, if I am not mistaken, was the first who abused it thus. 



* Stellio brecicaudatus, Seb. IJ, Ixxii, 6; Daud. IV, pi. 47. St. aztireiis, Daud., 

 id. 46. 



f Caudirerbera and the Greek ouromastix, are not ancient names. They were 

 coined by Ambrosinus for the great Egyptian species, of which Belon had said 

 '" Cauda atrocissinie diterbcrare creditur." Linnaeus was the first who applied it to a 

 Gecko, and other autliors have given it to different Sauvians. Add, Urom. griseu.s of 

 New Holland; — Ur. reliculatus of Bengal; — Ur. acantinurus, Bell, Zool. Jour. I, -iS?, 

 if it be a distinct species. 



N.B. The flat- tailed Stellio of New Holland, Daud., is a Phyllurus. 



X It is a Uromastix that is described by M. de Lacep. Rept. II, 497, under the 

 iianie of Quetzpaleo, which is that of anotlier Saurian, to be spoken of hereafter. — ■ 

 Add, Ur. ornalus, liuppel. 

 § Jgama<, from the Greek agamos, (bachelor). Why Linnaeus gave this name to 



