Btcttmiarp at 



127 



the side, and a fifth where the two are united 

 in the centre of the lower part of the neck. 

 The front part of its upper edge is elegantly 

 serrated, and the outer surface is covered witli 

 carinated scales ; the inner surface being 

 quite smooth. The scales of the back are 

 I oval ; those of the lower part of the body 

 and upper part of the legs have a short mid- 

 rib, and those of the sides and joints of the 

 limbs are minute. The body is five inches 

 long, the tail twelve, the head nearly six, 

 and the outer edge of the frill ten inches : 

 the toes are long, very unequal, compressed, 

 and scaly : the claws are hooked, and horn- 

 coloured. This frill increases in size more 

 in proportion than the animal's growth ; in 

 the young it does not reach to the base of 

 the fore limbs, while in the adult it becomes 

 much fuller, and reaches considerably be- 

 yond the axilla. 



KINO'S FRILLED LIZARD. 



It would seem to be not uncommon about 

 Port Essington ; and it is found in other 

 parts of Australia. Captain George Grey 

 (now governor of New Zealand) met with it, 

 and gives us the following interesting notice 

 of its habits in the first volume of his Travels. 

 He says, " As we were pursuing our route in 

 the afternoon, we fell in with a specimen of 

 the remarkable Frilled Lizard ; this animal 

 measures about twenty-four inches from the 

 tip of the nose to the point of its tail, and 

 lives principally in trees, although it can 

 run very swiftly along the ground : when 

 not provoked or disturbed, it moves quietly 

 about, with its frill lying back in plates upon 

 the body ; but it is very irascible, and di- 

 rectly it is frightened, it elevates the frill or 

 ruff, and makes for a tree ; where, if over- 

 taken, it throws itself upon its stern, raising 

 its head and chest as high as it can upon the 

 fore-legs, then doubling its tail underneath 

 the body, and displaying a very formidable 

 set of teeth, from the concavity of its large 

 frill, it boldly faces any opponent, biting 

 fiercely whatever is presented to it, and even 

 venturing so far in its rage as to fairly make 

 a fierce charge at its enemy. We repeatedly 

 tried the courage of this lizard, and it cer- 



tainly fought bravely whenever attacked. 

 From the animal making so much use of 

 this frill as a covering and means of defence 

 for its body, this is most probably one of the 

 uses to which Nature intended the append- 

 age should be applied. The whole animal 

 is fulvous, obscurely varied with brown ; the 

 young being more distinctly marked with 

 regularly waved black streaks, forming broad 

 bands across the back, limbs, and tail." 



CHLAMYPHORTJS. An edentate quad- 

 ruped, found in South America, in which 

 several characters of different tribes are re- 

 markably blended. Like the Armadillo, it 

 has a tesselated shield, the consistence of 

 which is between horn and leather ; but in- 

 stead of being firmly attached by its whole 

 under surface to the integuments beneath, it 

 is connected with the back only by a ridge 

 of skin along the spine, and with the skull 

 by two bony prominences from the forehead. 

 In the form of its feet, its imperfect eyes, the 

 conical shape of its snout, and its general 

 habits, it resembles the mole. It is a native 

 of Chili, but is so rare even there as to be 

 regarded by the natives as a curiosity. The 

 total length of the entire animal is five inches 

 and a quarter. The shelly covering is com- 

 posed of a series of plates of a square, rhom- 

 boidal, or cubical form, each row separated 

 by a membranous substance, which is re- 

 flected above and beneath, over the plates : 

 the rows include from fifteen to twenty-two 

 plates, the shell being broadest at its poste- 

 rior half, extending about one half round 

 the body. This covering is loose through- 

 out, except along the spine of the back and 

 top of the head. The number of rows of 

 plates on the back, counting from the vertex, 

 where they commence, is twenty-four ; the 

 shell then curves suddenly downwards, so 

 as to form a right angle with the body : this 

 truncated surface is composed of plates, 

 nearly similar to those of the back, and are 

 disposed in semicircular rows ; the lower 

 margin, somewhat elliptical, has a notch in 

 its centre, in which is attached the free por- 

 tion of the tail, which curves abruptly, and 

 runs beneath the belly parallel to the axis 

 of the body, the extremity of the tail being 

 depressed, so as to form a paddle. The su- 

 perior semicircular margin of the truncated 

 surface, together with the lateral margins of 

 the shell, are beautifully fringed with silky 

 hair. 



The following points of resemblance be- 

 tween the skeleton of Chlamyphorus and that 

 of other quadrupeds, have been noticed by 

 Mr. Yarrell : 1. Beaver (Castor fiber), in 

 the form and substance of some of the bonea 



