70 THE FAN-FOOT. 



to Dr. Eussell, will live for some time even when immersed in spirits of wine. The 

 general colour of the Typhlops is yellowish white. 



This family contains also the Clawed-snake (Ontfchophis) so called because the bony 

 shield on the muzzle is erect, keeled, and bent over into a claw-like shape and the Silver 

 Snakes (Argyrophis), a small group of reptiles, deriving their popular name from the silvery 

 lustre of their scales. 



THE last family of the sub-order LeptoglossaB, or Slender-tongued Lizards, is the group 

 of reptiles termed the Eough-tailed Lizards, or UEOPELTID^E. In these Lizards the head is 

 rather compressed, flat above and sharp towards the muzzle. The eyes are of moderate 

 size, and without eyelids, a bony scale answering the purpose. The body is cylindrical 

 and covered with regular six-sided scales, sometimes ridged, but mostly smooth. The tail 

 is also cylindrical, and abruptly terminated, as if cut off obliquely. There are no external 

 limbs, and by most systematic naturalists the Rough-tails have been placed among the 

 serpents, which they very closely resemble, except in the arrangement of certain scales, 

 and the short, abruptly truncated tail. 



According the elaborate catalogue of the British Museum, the Eough-tailed Lizards are 

 divided into three genera, separated from each other by the formation of the scales that 

 cover the tail. While moving, the Eough-tails aid themselves by pressing the truncated 

 tail against the ground. As a typical species, we may select the PHILIPPINE SHIELD-TAIL 

 (Uropeltis Philippinus), a reptile which, as its name imports, inhabits the Philippine 

 Islands. In this creature the tail is rather flattened, and covered above with a curious 

 " flat, roundish, radiating, granular shield." On the lower side of the tail the scales are 

 arranged in six rows. The colour of the Philippine Shield-tail is brown above and white 

 beneath, the line of demarcation being very distinct, and regularly waved. 



A NEW sub-order now comes before our notice, the members of which are distinguished 

 by the formation of their tongues, which, instead of being flat and comparatively slender, 

 as in the preceding Lizards, are thick, convex, and have a slight nick at the end. On 

 account of this structure, the species of this sub-order are termed PACHYGLOSS^E, or Thick- 

 tongued Lizards. 



These reptiles are divided into sundry groups, the first of which is termed the 

 NYCTISAUEA, or Nocturnal Lizards. These creatures have eyes formed for seeing in the 

 dusk, circular eyelids which, however, cannot meet over the eye-ball, and in almost every 

 case the pupil is a long narrow slit like that of the cat. The body is always flattened. 

 The limbs are four in number, tolerably powerful, and are used in progression. 



Of these Lizards, the first family is the GECKOTID^E, or Geckos, a very curious group 

 >f reptiles, common in many hot countries, and looked upon with dread or adoration by the 

 natives, sometimes with both, where the genius of the nation leads them to reverence the 

 object of their fears, and to form no other conception of supreme power than the capability 

 of doing harm. 



The FAN-FOOT, or HOUSE GECKO, is a native of Northern Africa, and is very common 

 in Egypt, and is found, as its name imports, in houses, traversing the floor and walls with 

 astonishing address, in search of its food, which consists of worms, insects, and similar 

 creatures. The natives have a very great dread of this creature, asserting that it is 

 extremely poisonous the poison not being injected by the teeth, but exuding from the 

 lobules of the toes. The generic title Ptyodactylus, or Toe-spitter, is given to the reptile 

 in allusion to this idea. It is said by Hasselquist, that if a Gecko is taken in the hand, the 

 poisonous matter which is immediately shed over the skin from the feet of the captive, 

 causes an instantaneous eruption, similar to that produced by the sting of a nettle. The 

 same traveller proceeds to relate an incident which is hardly so much in accordance with 



