THE PYGOPUS. 



ss 



life and death, added to human ingenuity and industry, that its harmful districts occupy 

 but a comparatively small portion of its surface, the greater part of the world being 

 suitable for human habitations, the black man settling as a pioneer, a hewer of wood and 

 drawer of water, where the white man cannot yet abide. But in all those localities 

 where the miasmatic exhalations impall the land with their pestilential mantle, and scatter 

 the seeds of death on every breeze, the reptiles may be found luxuriating amid the 

 deadly elements, and thriving in spots where the foot of man dares not tread, and his 

 inquiring eye ventures not to penetrate. 



THE first family of this tribe is distinguished by the apparent absence of eyelids, 

 those organs being only rudimentary and scarcely visible, so as to give to the eyes a 

 superficial resemblance to those of the serpents. On account of this peculiarity, the 

 reptiles belonging to this family are termed the Gape-eyed Skinks. Their bodies are 

 spindle-shaped, their tongues are scaly, nicked at the tip, their teeth are conical, and 

 their limbs are four in number, and very feeble. 



PYQOPUS.-fyjopus lepldopodas. 



These creatures are found in various parts of the globe, but Australia seems to be 

 their favorite home. The PETE or AUSTRALIAN TILIQUA (Crytoblepharus Boutonii) is 

 a good example of the Gape-eyed Skinks or GYMNOPHTHALMID^E, a long name derived 

 from two Greek words signifying naked-eyed. As its name imports, this reptile is a 

 native of Western Australia, but it is also found in other parts of the world, specimens 

 having been taken in Timor and the Mauritius. The color of the Pete is olive, some- 

 times with a wash of bronze, mottled with brown, and variegated with little black streaks. 

 Sometimes there is a bright yellow streak on each side. Its eyelid is circular and scaly, 

 and the three upper scales are the larger. 



THE next family is well represented by the PYGOPUS, or NEW HOLLAND SCHELTOPUSIC, 

 a curious reptile that inhabits Australia. 



This creature might easily be mistaken for the snake-like Lizard called the Schelto- 

 pusic, which has already been described on page 49, as the two fore legs are entirely 

 absent, and the hinder pair are very small, rudimentary, and set so closely against the 



