v/ 

 134 LIZARDS 



forest, however, and indeed all over Imerina, a pretty snake, 

 from eighteen inches to two feet long, is frequently seen, dark 

 brown in colour, with fine white lines along its slender length. 

 The under side is white. Notwithstanding the innocuous 

 character of these little snakes, it is amusing to see the dread 

 the people have of them ; our bearers, for instance, will leap 

 away from them as if they were treading on the sharpest 

 thorns. Some superstitious notions may partly account for 

 this fear, as one of the former chief idols of the Hova, called 

 Ramahavaly (" the Avenger "), was supposed to be the patron 

 and lord of serpents. One sometimes sees a water-snake 

 swimming over the surface of a pond in a most graceful 

 fashion. 



Lizards are now and then seen ; one is a large unpleasant- 

 looking creature, nearly two feet long, of which the tail is about 

 one foot. But a much smaller and prettier one is not uncommon, 

 with delicate markings. Other species, in the south-west region, 

 vary in length from six to nine inches. And here, on the fleshy 

 leaves of an aloe, we may see, basking in the hot sunshine, a 

 beautiful little bright green lizard, or darting over the surface 

 with such a rapid movement that it is difficult to observe it 

 closely. Its colour is so exactly like its habitat that it is doubtless 

 a " protective resemblance." While staying at the sanatorium 

 in November 1899 a very curious arboreal lizard was brought 

 to us by some boys. This creature was clinging to a stick, and 

 at first sight, and until closely examined, I could not distinguish 

 it from the branch to which it clung. It was about six inches 

 long, the body was somewhat flattened, as well as the head, and 

 the eyes were large and bright. The feet were somewhat 

 webbed, the toes ending in small disks like those of the geckoes. 

 The tail was broad and flat, lying close to the branch, and 

 shaped something like that of a beaver. But the most inter- 

 esting point about this lizard was the wonderful resemblance 

 of its colouring to that of the bark of a tree. The minute scales 

 of the skin were mottled with brown, grey, green and white, so 

 as exactly to resemble tree bark, with the usual clothing of 

 lichens precisely the same in colour, together with small irregu- 

 larities of surface ; so that until examined minutely, one could 

 hardly believe that the small patches of colour on the animal's 

 skin were not also due to vegetable growths. It was difficult 



