MONITORS. 



277 



but when attacked by dogs will fight and make their tails felt. Running swiftly close to the ground, 

 they sit with the head rather erect. They keep their tongue in very constant movement, but it is 

 very doubtful if they ever emit a warning sound, as some suppose they do, on the approach of wild 

 beasts. The nests of the White Ant, which have been built close to the fallen trees on the outskirts of 

 the forests, are cleared out by the Teguexin, and her eggs, some fifty or sixty in number, are laid 

 therein. Azara says that they feed on fruit, insects, snakes, frogs, young birds, and eggs, and that 

 they are fond of honey ; and in captivity they devour meat and mice, and are not amenable to kind- 

 ness. The genus Tejus may be distinguished by the large hexagonal scales which are between the neck 

 folds, and by the long and narrow ventral plates. 



COMMON AMEIVA. 



The members of the genus Ameiva have large ventral scales and tricuspid and compressed teeth 

 Ameiva vidgaris, or the COMMON AMEIVA, is from the West Indies. 



The largest known Lizards belong to the family of WATER LIZARDS, MONITORID^E, or Platynota. 

 They are long-headed things, with a vast number of small scales, united more or less at the sides and 

 not over- lapping, and are equal on the sides and back, and arranged in cross rings, whilst those of 

 the belly and tail are square and in cross bands. The tail is long and generally compressed, and there 

 are five digits to the well-developed limbs armed with claws. The smallness of the shielding of the 

 head is remarkable, but the scales everywhere are usually surrounded by a ring of very small tubercles 

 within their margin. The tongue is long, slender, and ends in a long fork, which retreats into a sheath 

 at the base. The teeth are acute and compressed, triangular or conical, and none are on the palate. 

 They differ from the other Lacertilia, except the American genus Heloderma, which is included in 

 the group, in that the nasal bones are represented by a single narrow ossification. Growing to a con- 

 siderable size, these largest of the scaly Lizards are found in the Old World, including Africa, South 

 Asia, and in Australia, and there are several genera of them. Some keep entirely to the neigh- 

 bourhood of water ; but others select dry and sandy spots, not always near water. They prey on small 

 reptiles, small mammals, the eggs of reptiles, and will not refuse insects. 



They are called Monitors, from it being supposed that they warn people of the neighbourhood 



and approach of the Crocodile. 

 178 



The warning is said to be a strong hiss, or whistle. But the truth 



