6-4 GUIDE TO THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



owners to pursue their insect prey on walls and even ceilings, 

 with well developed clawed toes (as in the Agamidce) or with 

 rudimentary feet (as in the Pygopodidce). In some the tongue 

 is long, slender or worm-like, in others it is short and fleshy. 



The specimens of Australian Lizards are shown in Case 156 in 

 the Australian Hall, Ground Floor. Some of them worthy of note 

 are : — 



Gymnodactylus platurus —The Gecko, a very harm- 

 less little lizard. 



Pygopus lepidopus — A Snake-like Lizard. 



Amphibolurus barbatus — The Bearded Lizard. 



Moloch horridus — Spined Lizard, a purely Australian 

 form. 



Varanus varius — The Australian Iguana or Lace Lizard, 

 but the name Iguana is a misnomer, the true Iguanas 

 being American. 



TrachysaurUS rugOSUS — The Stump-tailed Lizard. 



Tiliqua SCincoides — The blue-tongued Lizard. 



LygOSOma taeniolatum— The common striated Lizard. 



Order IV.— OPHIDIA, or SNAKES.— The Snakes have a 

 terrible fascination, on account of the dangerous venom possessed 

 by many. They possess an internal skeleton composed of very 

 numerous vertebrae, and an external covering of horny scales, 

 which they cast at intervals, during which time they are partially 

 blind ; some serpents, notably the Boas and Pythons, have as 

 many as 400 vertebrae. The lower jaw is united to the upper by 

 muscles only, and even the two sides of the lower jaw are loose, 

 so that they are able to open their mouth to an enormous 

 extent. The teeth are not set in sockets, as rhey are not used for 

 mastication, but only for siezing the prey. Snakes have no feet, 

 but the backbone and ribs are very flexible, and the locomotion 

 is effected by means of the latter. The tongue is forked, and is a 

 very sensitive organ of touch ; often it is considered by persons 



