REPTILES. 27rl 



Skin witli inibrkated scales. 



The tongue is divided, at the extremity, into two threads. 

 The toes are se}3arate and armed with claws. Eyehds 

 formed by a longitudinal slit. The rudiment of a third 

 eyelid may be detected. The vent is transverse. Penis 

 bifid. 



Teeth on the palate as well as the jaws. 



10. Lacekta. Lizard. Head depressed and covered 

 with large plates. Scales on the belly and around the tail, 

 disposed in transverse bands. 



There is a collar on the under side of the neck, formed 

 by a transverse row of large scales. The L. agilis, a na- 

 tive of this country, is usually considered as oviparous. M. 

 de Sept-Fontaines, communicated to the Count de la. 

 Cepede, a proof that it is sometimes ovoviviparous, he 

 having opened a female, and foimd within her twelve 

 young ones perfectly formed, from eleven to thirteen lines 

 long*. In the year 1803 I kept a female of this species 

 for two months, until it died in September, after giving 

 birth to four young ones perfectly formed, and measuring; 

 an inch and a half in length. 



Destitute of palatine teeth.. 



(A.) Head depressed and covered with large plates. 



The genera of this gioup may readily be distinguished' 

 from the lizards, by the absence of the collar, and the scales 

 under the neck being small. The sjales on the belly, and 

 around the tail, however, are large and square. 



Tail compressed. 



11. DuAC.ENA. Scales on the back large and carinated,, 

 tail furnished with a crest. La Dragonne of La Ckpede. 



• The Natural History of Oviparous Quadrupeds or Serpent.s, by the 

 Count de la Cepede. Trans. 4 vols. 8vo. Edin. 1802., vol; i. p. 334.. 

 vol.. II. s 



