" The Green Lizard is a beautiful creature." 



THE GREEN LIZARD 



T 



HIS handsome reptile mea- 

 sures from twelve to fifteen 

 or even eighteen inches in 

 length, the greater part of 

 which is accounted for by 

 its abnormal sized tail. 

 Its legs are short, strong, 

 and furnished with five 

 toes, the second from the outside being 

 the longest, and the third and fourth 

 of about equal length. The- tongue is 

 long, slender, and forked, and is fre- 

 quently obtruded when its owner is 

 either vexed or alarmed. 



The Green Lizard is a beautiful crea- 

 ture, exhibiting a rich and varied 

 mixture of verdant hues dotted and 

 marked with yellow and brown. The 

 head is covered with large, angular 

 scales, the body with small ovate ones, 

 and the tail with numerous scaly rings. 

 This reptile has sometimes been con- 

 fused in England with the Sand Lizard, 

 on account of the latter creature having 

 a more or less green tinge on its sides ; 



but, of course, the species under notice 

 is much more brilliantly coloured, larger, 

 and rarer in this country. 



Figuier says that the Green Lizard 

 exhibits great fear of snakes, and fights 

 courageously in defence of its life when 

 it cannot avoid an enemy of this charac- 

 ter, but shows no alarm at the approach 

 of man. My very limited experience of 

 the creature enjoying its liberty leaves 

 me somewhat in doubt as to the un- 

 qualified accuracy of the latter part of 

 the statement ; but I am in a position 

 to corroborate the portion referring to 

 its courage, for the specimen figured in 

 our illustrations attacked me with 

 such ferocity, when I cut off its retreat to 

 a hole that promised safety on a chalk 

 hill-side, that I was able to lift it off the 

 ground whilst it viciously gripped one 

 of my finger-tips between its wee, sharp 

 teeth. 



This species is common in all the 

 warmer parts of Europe, on the African 

 shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and 



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