THE TACHYDROME. 49 



The collar of this creature is covered with scales and decidedly toothed. The scales 

 of the back are nearly square in form, slightly overlap each other, and are arranged in 

 four longitudinal series. Each scale has a decided keel along its length. The scales of 

 the sides are small and granular, and those of the abdomen and throat are larger, 

 strongly keeled, and boldly overlap each other, a provision which is evidently intended 

 for the purpose of aiding the creature in progression, and enabling it to hold itself firmly 

 in any cleft into which it may have retreated. The scales of the common snake answer 

 the same purpose, as any one may prove by taking a snake by the tail and drawing it 

 backwards over a carpet, or by allowing itself to insinuate half of its body into a crevice 

 in a rock or old wall, and then endeavoring to draw it out again by pulling at its tail. 



The color of this pretty Lizard is dark olive above. On each side a bold white 

 streak, edged on either side with black, runs from the base of the head to the insertion 

 of the tail. On the sides of the body and neck are a multitude of little black dots, each 

 having a white centre, and between these dots the color is blue, glossed with golden 

 yellow. The abdomen and under parts are pure shining white, and the tail is generally 

 olive, though in some specimens it has something of a metallic or iridescent lustre, and 

 gleams with golden or coppery reflections. Between the nostril and the eye runs a 

 short black line, and on the temples are two similar lines, with a white streak between 

 them. The total length of the Tachydrome is about one foot. 



TACHYDROME. Tachydromus sexllneatus. 



IN the curious snake-like Lizard called the SCHELTOPUSIC, or PSEUDOPUS, the limbs are 

 almost entirely absent, the front pair being altogether wanting, and not even exhibiting 

 a trace of their locality, while the hind pair of legs are only indicated by two slight 

 scale-like appendages at the junction of the tail with the body It is often the case 

 that with reptiles in which the limbs are externally wanting, their bones, although very 

 small and delicate, are found beneath the skin. But in the Scheltopusic, the only in- 

 dication of legs is found in a pair of very tiny bones attached to the pelvis, and exhibit- 

 ing the merest rudiment of the missing limb. 



Moreover, the pelvis itself is very small and slight, and is itself scarcely more than 

 rudimentary in its form, though affording one of the needful transition links between 

 the quadrupedal Lizards and the footless snakes, some of which, indeed, possess the 

 rudiments of limbs even in a more doubtful state than is found in the Scheltopusic. 

 In consequence of the absence of limbs, the movements of this reptile are completely 

 those of a serpent, and so snake like is it in all its gestures, that in the countries where 

 it resides, it is popularly considered as a serpent, as is the case with the blindworm of 

 England. 



