CHAPTER XVIII: THE PLATED LIZARDS AND 

 SNAKE-LIKE SPECIES 



The Families ANGUID/E and ANIELLID/E, Embracing tie North 

 American Genera GERRHONOTUS Plated Lizards; OPHI- 

 SAURUS Glass "Snake" and AN 1 ELL A Ground "Snake." 



FAMILY Anguidce; the Plated Lizards and Glass "Snakes:" 

 With this family, the student is referred to a group of degener- 

 ate lizards, all of which are elongate and serpentine in form, 

 and either possess small and rather weak limbs, or are externally 

 wholly devoid of these organs. The latter species are often 

 mistaken for snakes, which is a natural consequence, owing 

 to the methods of progression and the serpentine outlines, in every 

 way appealing to the snake rather than to the lizard. There 

 are forty-four species of this family; they inhabit both the New 

 and the Old Worlds. They are most abundantly represented 

 in Mexico and in Central America. The species are characteris- 

 tic from the presence of a deep fold on each side of the body. 



The Plated Lizards; Genus Gerrhonotus: The body is 

 slender, with large, square scales above, arranged in regular, 

 ring-like rows; with most of the species, the scales of the middle 

 portion of the back are strongly keeled. 



Along each side of the body, from behind the ear to the 

 base of the hind limb, is a strip of soft flesh, containing small, 

 granular scales; against the lower border of this strip, the edge 

 of the abdominal sheet of scales fits loosely, forming a deep fold. 



The head is distinct from the neck and pointed at the snout. 

 The limbs are rather small and the tail very long and brittle 

 frequently twice as long as the head and body. 



Four species of this genus inhabit the extreme western and 

 southwestern portions of the United States. Nineteen species 

 are recognised, the greater number occurring in tropical Mexico 

 and Central America. 



Like many other genera among the reptiles these lizards 

 have encountered a share of the undue enthusiasm displayed 



1 60 



