CHAMELEONS. 



171 



resembles in producing living young and in retiring into a burrow for its winter 

 sleep. When not feeding, the creature, like most of its kind, delights to bask on 

 sandy spots in the full glare of the sun. The "seps" was believed to inflict death 

 on cattle by biting them during the night, its bite filling their veins with corrup- 

 tion ; and in consequence of this belief the unfortunate creature is still persecuted 

 with the same hatred as is the blind-worm in some parts of England. 



Other Families. 



THREE-TOED BRONZE LIZARD (nat. size). 



The two remaining families (Anelytropidce and Dibamidce) are 

 represented by worm-like burrowing lizards allied to the skinks (of 

 which they may be regarded as degraded types), but with no bony plates beneath 

 the scales, no external ear-openings, and eyes concealed beneath the skin. The 

 former family is represented by three genera, of which two are African, and the 

 third is from Mexico ; while of the latter there is but a Single genus, with one 

 species from Papua, the Moluccas and Celebes, and a second from the Nicobars. 



The Chameleons. 



Suborder Rhiptoglossa. 



With the skinks and their allies we took leave of the last of the reptiles which, 

 in the zoological sense, are included under the title of lizards, and we now come 

 to the second subordinal group, represented by those strange creatures known 

 as chamaeleons. From the lizards proper these reptiles are at once distinguished 

 by their worm-like extensile tongues, which are club-shaped and viscous at the 

 extremity, and are capable of being protruded with the rapidity of lightning to a 

 distance of from four to six inches in front of the mouth. Hence the name of 

 worm-tongued lizards has been suggested for the group. Internally, the chamseleons 

 differ from all lizards provided with well-developed limbs in having no collar-bones 



