SKINK TRIBE. 



169 



Greece, and is also spread over Asia Minor, Syria, and Northern Arabia, measures 

 only 4 inches in length, of which fully half is occupied by the tail. Its general 

 colour above is bronzy olive, becoming darker on the sides, and with a blackish 

 light-edged streak passing through the eye along each side of the body ; while the 

 under-parts are greenish. The European species is found alike on slopes covered 

 with short grass or in sandy spots, and does not appear to be a burrower. Feeding 

 on small insects and worms, it does not generally venture forth from its lurking- 

 places till four or five o'clock in the afternoon, and retires before night. In 

 common with the other members of its genus, it differs from the majority of its 

 family in laying eggs. 



While both the genera above-mentioned belong to a group 

 characterised by the palatine bones meeting in the middle of the 

 palate, the true skinks indicate a second and smaller group in which those bones 



True Skinks. 



common skink (J nat. size). 



are separated from one another. Skinks are neatly made, somewhat short-tailed 

 lizards, with short limbs provided with five toes serrated on their sides. The 

 tail is conical, the head and snout wedge-shaped, the ear more or less concealed, 

 while the nostrils are pierced between an upper and a lower nasal shield. Of 

 the nine species of the genus, which range from North Africa through Arabia 

 and Persia to Sind, the most familiar is the common skink (Scincus officinalis), 

 of the Sahara and Red Sea littoral. This species, which attains a length of 

 3^ inches, has smooth, shining, rounded scales of great breadth, and is of a 

 yellowish or brownish colour above, with each scale marked by small brown 

 and whitish spots and streaks, and the sides of the body often ornamented 

 with dark transverse bands; the under-parts being uniformly whitish. Not 

 uncommon in Egypt, and abundant in the Algerian and Tunisian Sahara, the 

 common skink derives its specific name from having been extensively employed 



