562 FAMILY VARANID^. TEID.fi. LACERTIDJE, 



with small scales, these not being imbricated (that is, overlap- 

 ping one another like the tiles of a house), but being arranged 

 side by side, so as to form circular rings, inclosing the head, 

 body, and limbs. 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 movements on land ; whilst in others 

 the tail is compressed laterally, and is a very efficient instru- 

 ment 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 toge- 

 ther in packs on the banks of rivers, and seize such quadrupeds 

 as approach unsuspectingly to drink. The Varan of the Nile, 

 which is about six feet in length, is very destructive to the eggs 

 and young of the Crocodile. Remains of much larger Reptiles 

 belonging to this family, however, are found in the chalk and 

 neighbouring deposits ; the Mososaurus, for example, which 

 seems more allied to the Varans than to any other group, must 

 have been more than twenty-five feet in length. Its residence 

 was in the sea ; and its habits seem to have been exclusively 

 aquatic. Even this was but a pigmy, however, in comparison 

 with the Megalosaurus ; which, from the scanty remains of it 

 yet discovered, may be proved to have been at least seventy feet 

 in length, equalling the Elephant in height, and approaching 

 the largest Whales in bulk. 



499. The family of TEID^E, or Teguixins, which is exclu- 

 sively American, is closely allied to the preceding ; it contains 

 some large Lizards, which have been termed Safeguards and 

 Monitors, from the idea that they give warning by a hiss of the 

 proximity of the Alligator, which has also been supposed, 

 though erroneously, respecting the Varans and Crocodiles. In 

 their general habits, they much resemble the Varans. 



500. The LACERTIRE, or True Lizards, are bright-eyed, 

 active, slender little animals, adorned with brilliant colours, and 

 having nothing repulsive in their aspect or manners. They are 



