LIZARD. 



stood to be so prolific as some of the other species, but 

 it is very generally distributed along the banks of the 

 rivers and margins of places that are liable to be flood- 

 ed. It is sought with nearly the same avidity as the 

 species last mentioned. This sub-division is readily 

 distinguished from all the other lizards by well marked 

 characters. Thus the monitors of the old continent 

 have the teeth sharp ; and the true lizards of the 

 same continent have teeth on the palate. From the 

 iguanas again it is distinguished by the form of the 

 tongue, which in them is neither extensile, nor divided 

 into two filaments at the point as it is in every di- 

 vision of the lizard, family. The iguanas were once 

 ranked among the lizards by naturalists, and they are 

 still called lizards in common language. It is the 

 same with the crocodile family ; but they are readily 

 distinguished from the safeguard, though in nearly the 

 same places and nearly the same size, by having only 

 four toes in each of the hind feet, and having them 

 more or less united by membranes, which is not the 

 case in any of the lizards. There are other lizards 

 1>earing considerable resemblance to the safeguards, 

 found in the same country, but distinguished by 

 having the tail round and furnished with the same 

 kind of square scales both on the body and on the 

 tail. A slight notice of them was given in the article 

 AMEIVA ; but we may add, that though they have 

 the general character of these lizards, yet they differ 

 in some particulars. The country which these in- 

 habit, is, however, so very extensive, that it has been 

 examined by naturalists of discrimination at com- 

 paratively only a few points ; and therefore it is im- 

 possible to discriminate the more minute distinctions 

 of species, even though the subject were of sufficient 

 importance, which, in a popular point of view at least, 

 it is not. It seems, however, that as they get further 

 removed from the water, and resemble more the com- 

 mon lizards of the eastern continent in their localities, 

 they also resemble them more in their habits. Still, 

 however, there is always a sufficient distinction to 

 prevent a native of the one continent frdm being mis- 

 taken for a native of the other. Those American 

 lizards, how similar soever they may be to the others 

 in their external appearance, have no grinders, few 

 of them have any colour on the throat, and the scales 

 on that part of the body are very small. Some of 

 these American ones are very handsome in their 

 colours and quick in their motions ; their average 

 lengths are about a foot or eighteen inches. 



THE LIZARDS, properly so called, form the second 

 genus of the family ; and as they are natives of the 

 eastern continent, and many of them interesting, we 

 shall give a brkif enumeration of their general cha- 

 racters and the means by which they can be dis- 

 tinguished from those other saurians with which 

 they have been so frequently confounded. The 

 tongue differs little from that of the rest of the 

 family ; but the palate is furnished with two rows of 

 teeth. A transverse band of broad scales forms a 

 collar on the under part of the neck ; while the part 

 of the neck above and also the belly, or breast imme- 

 diately below this collar, is covered with small scales. 

 The body is lengthened, and never furnished with 

 wings or Hying membranes of any description. The 

 feet have five toes on each, armed with claws, and 

 grasping toward the centre, so as to take a firm hold 

 of even a slight projection ; but they are never so 

 formed as to oppose each other in grasping. The 

 bones of the upper part of the head project over the 



orbits of the eyes and temples, so as to form a sort 

 of canopy, which is either covered with large scales, 

 or consists of one entire plate of scaly matter. 

 The eyes are like those of the rest of the family ; 

 and under each thigh there is a row of little rough 

 scaly projections containing pores. The scales on 

 the belly are placed \n transverse rows ; and 

 those on the back have slight keels ; but they 

 do not overlap each other so as to be imbricated 

 like the tiles on a roof. The tail is composed 

 of a great number of articulated joints ; and it is 

 round, and without any crest. This tail is exceed- 

 ingly brittle, and a portion of it can be separated' 

 by almost the slightest touch ; but it has the pro- 

 perty of reproduction in a very short time. Li- 

 zards are monogamous, and always found in pairs ; 

 they are strictly land animals in their haunts, and 

 never by any chance take to the water. They are 

 found in most warm and dry countries, and in many 

 parts of those which are temperate. In the latter 

 they hybernate ; and it is possible that in all coun- 

 tries they pass some considerable portion of the year 

 in a dormant state. When excited by the heat of the 

 sun they are exceedingly active, and have all the 

 energies of life remarkably strong about them ; but 

 they can subsist for a very long time without any 

 food. It is also probable that they live for many 

 years ; and indeed long life is a very general attribute 

 of those animals which enjoy a seasonal repose in 

 the course of the year. It is easy to see why this 

 should be the case ; for the awakening from this 

 repose bears some resemblance to a regeneration of 

 the animal into young life. Perhaps lizards are more 

 susceptible to changes of the atmosphere than any 

 other vertebrated animals ; and therefore they may 

 be taken as good indications of the characters of 

 climates. They all live upon insects, and such small 

 prey ; and none of them possess any poisonous 

 quality, or shows any disposition to attack a warm 

 blooded animal, or, generally speaking, a reptile ; 

 but many of them when attacked defend themselves 

 with great resolution, and bite much more keenly 

 than one would be apt to suppose. It is indeed 

 doubtful whether some of the larger species do not 

 prey on the smaller, and also upon the more minute 

 of the serpent tribes. They are abundant in some of 

 the warmer parts of Europe. We shall notice one 

 or two of the species. 



THE GREAT GREEN LIZARD. This is one of the 

 most gaily-coloured of the whole family ; and it is 

 also the largest of all the true lizards. It occurs in 

 all those parts of Europe which abut upon the Medi- 

 terranean, and have the climate and the soil warm. 

 It is not found in the central parts of France, though 

 it often is in the warm and sandy plains of Langue- 

 doc, where it pursues its trade of insect-catching 

 with great assiduity during the summer months. 

 The fact of its hybernating does not confine it so 

 closely to tropical latitudes as many other animals 

 which are less sensitive to cold ; for it is met with 

 in some places far to the north, or otherwise having 

 the winter very severe. Linnaeus enumerates it among 

 the animals of Sweden, and Captain Cook found it 

 in Karntschatka, where the winter i? exceedingly cold, 

 though the summer both there and in Sweden is 

 very hot. It is doubtful, however, whether there 

 may not be several species confounded in the older 

 descriptions ; as spotted, streaked, and grey liza/ds 

 have been sometimes confounded under the general 



