42 reptiles; 



The French Antilles produce several species, one of which is im- 

 properly called there the Anolis de terre, and Mabouia; Lacep. 

 pi. xxiv; it is smooth; of a greenish brown, and has blackish points 

 scattered along the back; a brown band imperfectly terminated, 

 reaching from the temple over the shoulder, and beyond it*. 



The Moluccas and New Holland produce some species of this 

 division, which are remarkable for their thickness -j\ 



SepsJ, Daud. 



The Seps only differ from the Seines in their more elongated body, 

 which is exactly similar to that of an Anguis, and in the still smaller feet, 

 the two pairs of which are further apart. Their lungs begin to exhibit 

 some inequality. 



There is one species, S. scincoides, Cuv., with five toes, of which 

 the posterior are unequal. 



One with five nearly equal and short toes, Anguis quadrupes, L. ; 

 Lacerta serpens, Gm. ; Bloch, Soc. of Nat. of Berl. vol. II, pi. 2 §. 

 From the East Indies. 



One with four toes, the posterior of which are unequal; {Tetra- 

 dactylus deeresiensis, Per. I| ; and one with three, very similar other- 

 wise to the preceding, the Tridactylus deeresiensis, Per. Both are 

 from the island of Cres, and are viviparous. 



A fifth, with three short toes, and very small feet, called in Italy, 

 Cecelia or Cicigna, — Lac. chalcides, L., is grey, with four longi- 

 tudinal brown stripes, two on each side of the back. It is viviparous 

 also, and moves with rapidity without the aid of its feet; lives in 

 meadows, and feeds on spiders, small snails, &c.** 



The southern provinces of France produce a sixth, very similar to 

 the preceding, but with eight or nine brown stripes placed at equal 

 distances apart, — Zygnis striata, Fitz. 



We might separate from the rest a species whose carinated and 



* The fig. of Lacep. is exact, the tail excepted, which is too short, it having been 

 broken in the original, an accident which frequently occurs to all Lizards. — Add 

 the Sc. dflancs noirs, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. de Freyc, pi. 42;— Sc. bistriatus, Spix, 

 XXVI, 1. 



f Lac. scincoides, White, 242; — Sc. nigroluteus, Quoy et Gaym. Freyc. 41; — Sc. 

 crotaphomelas, Per. and Lacep., &c. N.B. I have given but few species of Scincus, 

 because they are so badly characterized by authors, that it is almost impossible to 

 indicate their synonymes with any certainty. There is no genus which stands more 

 in need of a monograph than this. 



X Seps and Chalcis were the antient names of an animal which some consider as a 

 Lizard, and others a Serpent. It is very probable that they designated the three- 

 toed Seps of Greece and Italy. Seps is derived from the Greek sepein, (to corrupt). 



§ It forms the genus Lygosoxia of Gray; Fitzinger leaves it among his Mabuia, 

 or Seines without palatine teeth. 



|| It is to this species that Fitzinger approjniates the generic name of Sets — he 

 calls it Seps Peronii. 



** Merrem, on the contrary, had made his genus Sm>s from this single species. 

 Fitzinger now calls it Zyunis, in imitation of Oken, and adds to it the Tridactylus 

 deeresiensis, from the island of ("res, of Per., which is much more nearly allied to 

 the Tetradactylus of the same island. 



