564 FAMILY CHALCIDJ5 ; SNAKE-LIZARDS. 



rest of the tail. If the tail be cracked only on one side, and not 

 thrown off, a new tail often springs out of the crack, so that the 

 member becomes forked. Other Lizards have a similar power 

 of reparation. 



501. In the family CHALCHXE, we meet with a series of 

 forms, which presents us with a gradual transition from the order 

 of Lizards to that of Serpents, some of them, indeed, having 

 been placed by many Naturalists in the latter. The body is 

 usually cylindrical, and extremely elongated or snake-like ; 

 sometimes destitute of limbs, and mostly with the limbs only a 

 little developed : there is usually no distinct neck between the 

 head and trunk ; and the latter merges imperceptibly into the 

 tail. The accompanying figure represents the Four-toed Sau- 

 rophis, or Snake-Lizard, which is a native of the southern part 



FIG. 336. SNAKE-LIZARD. 



of Africa ; it possesses four minute limbs, each provided with 

 four toes. In the Anguine Lizard, also a native of South Africa, 

 the limbs are still more reduced, and have each but a single toe. 

 The Scheltopusic, a native of Northern Africa and South- Western 

 Asia, and common also in the Morea, has no fore-limbs, and the 

 hind-legs are mere scaly appendages. In the Ophisaurus, or 

 Glass-Snake, of Carolina, there is an entire absence of limbs; yet 

 there are certain anatomical peculiarities, which indicate that it 

 belongs rather to the Saurian than to the Ophidian group. 

 The same may be said of the Amphisbcena, an animal of very 

 remarkable appearance and habits. Its head and body are of 

 uniform thickness ; and its tail terminates bluntly ; so that at a 

 first glance it is not easy to distinguish between the head and 

 tail, more especially as the minute eyes are so covered by horny 

 plates, as only to be distinguished as little black dots. The 

 name of the animal, derived from two Greek words, has reference 

 to its power of crawling head or tail foremost with equal facility; 



