444 4. ANGUIDJE 



least, twice each year, and, contrary to the method usual 

 among lizards, is shed in a single piece, the animal escap- 

 ing, as it were, through its own mouth, and neatly inverting 

 its former covering. The tail is strongly prehensile. 



The eggs are retained in the body until the young are 

 fully formed. If numerous, the lateral fold gradually dis- 

 appears as they increase in size. The young are coiled up 

 in a thin, transparent membrane when born. They almost 

 immediately push the snout through this covering by 

 straightening the body, and in the course of a few minutes 

 set themselves entirely free. The number of young varies 

 from two to 15, but is usually about seven. Two females 

 were caught June 5,1895, and put in small cages where they 

 were supplied with flies and water, of which these lizards 

 are very fond. Young appeared in one box August 29, and 

 in the other September 24, 1895. Those of the first brood 

 varied in length from 71 to 76 millimeters, and those of the 

 second, from 58 to 62. The old lizards showed no affec- 

 tion or solicitude for their young, but the young liked to be 

 near their parents. Six out of the 1 5 inherited an irregu- 

 larity of the dorsal scale-series, shown by their female 

 parent.* 



During the first few days these young lizards ate noth- 

 ing, but then they began to snap at the smaller flies. When 

 stalking flies, they crouched close to the ground and crept 

 slowly forward, their heads swaying from side to side and 

 their tails quivering or thrashing with excitement. Then, if 

 the snap was successful, the prey was held firmly in the jaws 

 while the lizard, with body and tail straightened, rolled 

 rapidly over and over, grinding the fly in the sand. Fre- 

 quently when one had caught a fly the others would rush up 

 and feel of it inquisitively with their tongues, sometimes 



*I have found a similar irregularity in only two of 49 other specimens* One of these 

 was from the same locality as this female; 



