

REPTILIA 



259 



epidermis, so that the outer part may be pushed off with- 

 out injuring what remains. 



Self -protection. The skink is very shy and very swift. 

 When basking in the sun or chasing insects, it is always 

 ready, if danger threatens, to scuttle away to some safe 

 retreat which it knows about. It hunts entirely by day 

 and when inactive usually hides in some crevice with only 

 its head protruding. The watchful eyes give warning of 

 any disturbance, and the skink is hard to catch. If 

 grasped by an enemy, however, it is still not beyond hope 



FIG. 99. The Blue-tailed Skink, Eumeces quinquilineatuA. A, adult male catch- 

 ing insect; B, young; C, female with her eggs in a cavity in a rotten log. 



of escape. The tail may be cast off and left with the 

 enemy while its owner runs away. Most lizards shed the 

 tail very readily and no permanent harm results, for it 

 grows again after a time. 



A skink's colors change with age. In youth the body is 

 jet black with five longitudinal yellow stripes on the back 

 and a bright blue tail. After three or four years the colors 

 become dull, and a mature individual may lose its stripes 

 completely. An adult male has a bright copper-red head 

 and a brown body; a female is usually brown with light 



