FAMILY VARANID^E. 56l 



mal is undisturbed ; but is raised, to the extent of five inches on 

 either side, when it is alarmed. This Frilled Lizard has re- 

 ceived the scientific name of Chlamydosaurus. It measures 

 about two feet in length, and fights boldly when pursued. 



497. Besides the foregoing, some other genera belong to this 

 family. Here we place the curious little Draco volans (Fig. 

 306), whose structure and habits have been already described 

 ( 468) ; this interesting animal is a native of the Asiatic 

 Archipelago. To this group also belongs the Stellio, the dif- 

 ferent species of which are the most common Lizards of the 

 Levant, tenanting old walls, piles of stones, crevices of rocks, 

 &c., and feeding upon insects. 



498. The family VARANID^E, Monitors, or Varans, includes 

 some of the largest of the Saurian Reptiles. It is the first family 

 of the Lcptoglossa, or slender-tongued Lizards, and is chiefly dis- 

 tinguished by having the head and belly covered with scales like 

 those of the other parts of the body, instead of the plates which 

 are found on those parts in the other Lizards. The scales, too, 

 instead of being imbricated or lying over each other like the tiles 

 of a house, are placed side by side, in such a way that they ap- 

 pear to form a series of rings round the body. The figure of 

 these animals is elongated and graceful, and their actions are 

 quick and alert. Some of them have a conical, nearly rounded, 

 tail, which assists the animals in their rapid serpentine move- 

 ments on land ; whilst in others the tail is compressed laterally, 

 and is a very efficient instrument for motion in water. The 

 Varans are only found in the warmer parts of the Old World, 

 tenanting desert and rocky places, and the borders of rivers ; 

 their food consists of the larger kinds of insects, as locusts, &c., 

 eggs, birds, and small mammalia, reptiles, and fish. It is said 

 that they unite together in packs on the banks of rivers, and 

 seize such quadrupeds as approach unsuspectingly to drink. The 

 Varan, or Monitor of the Nile, which is about six feet in length, 

 is very destructive to the eggs and young of the Crocodile. Re- 

 mains of much larger Reptiles belonging to this family, however, 

 are found in the chalk and neighbouring deposits ; the Mosasau- 

 rus, for example, which seems more allied to the Varans than to 



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