1G REPTILES. 



FAMILY II. 



LACERTINIDA*.— THE LIZARDS. 



This family is distinguished by its thin extensible tongue, which ter- 

 minates in two threads, like that of the Coluber and Viper; their body is 

 elongated; their walk rapid; each foot has five toes armed with nails, 

 separate and unequal, the hind ones particularly so; the scales beneath 

 the belly and round the tail are arranged in transverse and parallel bands ; 

 the tympanum is level with the head, or but slightly sunk, and membran- 

 ous. A production of the skin with a longitudinal slit which is closed 

 by a sphincter, protects the eye, under whose anterior angle is the vestige 

 of a third eye-lid; the false ribs do not form a complete circle; the male 

 organs of generation are double, and the anus is a transverse slit. 



The species being very numerous and various, we subdivide them into 

 two great genera. 



The Monitors, recently denominated, by a singular error, 

 TupiNAMBisf , 



Are those in which the species are of the largest size; they have two 

 teeth in both jaws, but none in the palate; the greater number are recog- 

 nized by their laterally compressed tail, which renders them more aquatic. 

 The vicinity of water sometimes brings them in the neighbourhood of 

 Crocodiles and Alligators, and it is said that by hissing they give notice 

 of the approach of these dangerous reptiles. This assertion is most 

 probably the origin of the term Safeguard or Monitor, applied to some of 

 their species, but the fact is not the less certain. They are divided 

 into two very distinct groups. The first, or that of the 



Monitors, properly so called, 



Is known by numerous and small scales on the head and limbs, under 

 the belly and round the tail ; on the top of the latter is a carina formed 

 by a double row of projecting scales. The range of pores observed on 

 the thighs of several other Saurians is not found in these. They are all 

 from the eastern continent J. Two species are found in Egypt, which 

 may be considered as the types of two subdivisions. 



* Itaceria, a Lizard. 



f Marcgrave, speaking of the Sauvegarde of America, says that it is called Teyu- 

 gauqu, and among the T upinambous, Temapara {Temapara tupinambis). Seba has 

 mistaken the latter name for that of the animal, and all other naturalists have copied 

 it from him. 



X Seba, and from him Daudin, describe some true Monitors as American; it is a 

 mistake. 



