xii TEJIDAE LACERTIDAE 549 



The " Tejus " frequent forests and plantations, and are 

 carnivorous. Their strength and swiftness enable them to 

 catch all kinds of animals, from insects and worms to frogs, 

 snakes, mice, and birds. As they take chickens and eggs from 

 the farms they are considered noxious, and they are frequently 

 hunted down with dogs for the sake of their flesh, which is 

 regarded as good to eat. They defend themselves with lashing 

 strokes of their long tail and with their powerful jaws. They 

 retire into burrows, and they deposit their hard-shelled eggs 

 in the ground. In captivity they can easily be kept on meat. 



Dracaena guianensis of the Guianas and the basin of the 

 Amazon has the lateral teeth transformed into regular large 

 molars, with broad and rounded crowns. The tail is strongly 

 compressed, with a double, denticulated keel. It seems to be 

 semi-aquatic, and, to judge from the teeth, herbivorous. 



Ameiva and Cnemidopkorus, with many species chiefly in 

 tropical America, have laterally compressed bi- or tri-cuspid teeth. 

 The skin forms a double fold on the neck, and is covered on the 

 upper surface of the body with very small scales ; those on the 

 ventral surface are large, and arranged in regular rows. Most of 

 the species are small, under one foot in length, and are extremely 

 pretty, very active, timid, and mainly insectivorous. 



C. sexlineatus is one of the few species of Cnemidophorus which 

 inhabits the southern half of North America. Like all its 

 relations it has the appearance of an ordinary lizard (Lacerta). The 

 head is dark brown. A purple or brownish band extends over the 

 back and tail, bordered on either side with three golden-yellow 

 longitudinal lines. The flanks are brown, the under parts bluish 

 white. The iris is golden, and the inner margins of the lids are 

 bordered with a narrow band of bright yellow. This species is a 

 very fast runner, and frequents dry and sandy places. Its total 

 length amounts to about 10 inches. 



Fam. 11. Lacertidae. Pleurodont Old- World Lizards, with- 

 out osteoderms on the body, and with the supratemporal regions 

 roofed over by osteoderms. 



The limbs are always well developed, and have five fingers 

 and five toes, always provided with sharp claws. The skin 

 covering the head forms large shields, mixed with small scales ; 

 most of which, especially the shields, contain dermal ossifications. 

 These frequently fuse with the underlying bones of the top of 



