298 NATURAL HISTORY. 



times from seven to twelve young. The young are very active, and are only from eighteen to 

 twenty lines in length at first, but they grow quickly, and soon learn to eat slugs and insects. 



GENUS ACONTIAS. THE ACONTIAS. THE JAVELIN SNAKE. 



This is a small snake-like member of the group of Scincoids, more so, indeed, than the Blind- 

 worm and Australian Pygopus, for it has no traces of rudimentary external limbs or of internal 

 shoulder and pelvic girdles. The head, however, is that of a Lizard, and there is only a lower eye- 

 lid. The body is cylindrical and serpent-like, but it is covered only with small scales ; and the 

 jaws are not capable of extension, and the teeth are small and conical. The tongue is scaly and 

 slightly notched at the point. These snake-like Lizards are harmless, and endeavour to escape on 

 the least alarm, by hiding \inder leaves, or even getting down into dry soil like the Blind-worm. 

 They have the appearance of a Snake when still and on the ground, but their method of progression is 

 by carrying the head and front part of the body erect. They have the power of darting suddenly, and 

 in a horizontal direction in striking, and this was magnified in a ludicrous manner by the ancients, who 

 confounded many real Snakes with them, and gave them a very bad character. 



The lungs of this creature are not equally developed, one being, as in the Serpents, longer than 

 the other ; but the anatomy of the jaws distinguishes them from the Snakes. 



Another snake-like creature, not without some resemblance to an Acontias, is from South Africa. 

 It has its eyes hidden beneath the skin, and has a cylindrical body, a short truncated tail, and is of a 

 yellowish tint, reticulated with violet. This TypMina cuvierii has no limbs. 



The Pygopus,t a snake-like form, is occasionally met with in Australia, but on the whole it is 

 rare. Its flat tongue, the two flap-like rudimentary limbs near the vent, without toes to them, and 

 its ear-holes, easily distinguish it from a true Snake. 



Very little, if anything, is known of its habits ; but it is one of the interesting Saurians which 

 has apparently degenerated towards the Serpents. It has rudimentary bones of the shoulder girdle 

 and sternum, and the ill-developed hind limbs project and are visible enough. The length of the 

 Pygopus is about two feet. 



THE ZONURID^E. 



The second family of the Brevilingues contains forms which have the shape of short- 

 limbed, long-bodied, and tailed Lizards, and others which are serpentiform, having only rudi- 

 mentary hinder limbs. They have a marked peculiarity which relates to their method of life. 

 Their body is covered with scales, which are squarish on the back, and rounder on the belly, 

 but they do not overlap, and are in cross-bands one behind the other, and closely applied. The 

 food consists of worms, insects, small mice, and little reptiles ; and certainly it could not be 

 swallowed or comfortably digested were all the cross-bands of the body continuous. The skin is 

 not extensible, as in the other Saurians, and there is a region at the side of the body, where there is a 

 long fold covered by small scales, and this part can be stretched, although the rest is rather rigid. 

 The Lizard-shaped kinds are numerous, and can be best illustrated by considering the genus Zonurus, 

 or Cordylus, which has large head scales, and four limbs with five digits. 



The Cordyles of South Africa are very numerous as individuals, and there are many species, 

 some excessively repulsive in appearance, from their ragged, scaly covering, and others less so, on 

 account of their appendages being small and smooth about the body, although those of the tail are 

 mostly spined and keeled. 



The Gigantic Coi-dylus } reaches fifteen inches in length, and is therefore large for the group, and 

 it is readily known also from its dark umber-brown sienna and straw-yellow-coloured scales, 

 which are mostly large, and covered with large or small spines, or keeled. The zones or bands of 

 scales on the body are more strongly spined on the flanks, and they are large, distinct, and 

 spiked on the tail. It inhabits the interior districts of Southern Africa, and is not unfrequently 

 seen on the rocky pinnacles of the Quothlamba mountains which separate the country of the south- 

 east coast from that of the interioi-. 



The serpentiform kinds of this division are numerous, and some of them are called Glass 

 * Acontias meleagris (Cuvier), f Pygopus lepidopodus. $ Cordylus giganteus (Smith). 





