30 OUR EEPTILES. 



cution is carried on by schoolboys, and even 

 adults, with more zeal than discretion, who fancy 

 that they are doing 'the state some service/ 

 in efforts to accomplish .its extermination. That 

 it is not only inoffensive, but useful in keeping 

 up the balance of nature, by its reduction of 

 insect life, its legitimate prey, is a truth, like 

 the ( small bird question/ which may be ac- 

 knowledged when it is all but too late. 



There are two varieties of this lizard, indi- 

 cated by their relative colour. In one the 

 general tint is brown; in the other it is green. 

 The most common variety has the back of a 

 sandy-brown colour, sometimes spotted with 

 black, with the sides greenish in the male, but 

 brownish in the female : the belly is white and 

 often spotted. In length it is from seven to 

 nine inches, of which the tail occupies more than 

 half, or nearly two-thirds. The scales of the 

 upper part of the body are roundish or angular, 

 and distinctly keeled ; the plates of the belly are 

 arranged in six rows, of which the two central 

 rows are the narrowest. The tail is covered 

 with from fifty to eighty distinct whorls or rings 

 of scales, which are longer and narrower than 

 those of the back. It is thicker and rather more 

 clumsy than the last species, and the limbs are 

 stouter and stronger, and is less graceful and 

 vivacious in its movements. There are other 



