306 CHALCIDES LIZARD. 



ning of the tail, which is often longer than the 

 body, and gradually tapers to a small point : the 

 legs are very short, and the feet still more so in 

 proportion, consisting each of three toes, termi- 

 nated hy minute claws: the scales, on every part 

 of the body, legs, and tail, are of a shape nearly 

 resembling those of the Scinks, lying smoothly 

 over each other in the manner of those of a fish : 

 the colour of this animal is pale ferruginous or ches- 

 nut brown, lighter or of a yellow brown beneath: 

 along the back are six deep brown lines or narrow 

 bands, viz. two somewhat distant ones down the 

 middle, and two approximated ones down each 

 side : in the living animal the colour is generally 

 said to have a kind of metallic or brassy cast, 

 which seems to have given rise to the old name 

 Chalcides and Chalcidica. This singular Lizard is 

 described by Linnaeus as having the feet furnish- 

 ed with five toes, but whatever may have been 

 the case with the individual specimen which he 

 examined, it seems pretty certain that the gene- 

 ral number is three. In the British Museum is 

 an elegant specimen, from which the annexed 

 figure is engraved. The Chalcides is an animal 

 of a harmless nature, frequenting moist shady 

 places, moving rather slowly, and feeding on in- 

 sects, small worms, &c. It is a viviparous species, 

 and is said to produce a great many young. The 

 Serpents to which it bears the nearest alliance, in 

 point of form, are those of the genus Anguis. and 

 particularly the A. Jragilis, or common Slow- 

 Worm. 



