Varying Aoama.- 



-KEPTILES.- 



-JIoLOCH-MZARD. 



31 



Guiana to designate a peculiar kind of lizard, and which, 

 by a mistake of M. Daudin, was conferred as a generic 

 name upon a group of Saurians, of which tlie represen- 

 tative unfortunate!}' happened to be a native of Africa. 

 The genus Agama, as now adopted, is characterized 

 by the species having their body thick and covered 

 with strongly-keeled scales, amongst which there are 

 some whicli Ibrm groups of spines upon the regions of 

 the nape of the neck and ears. The skin is loose, and 

 can be inflated at the will of the animal. In most of 

 tlie species there is a crest which runs along the back 

 to the tail, and the throat is furnished with some longi- 

 tudinal and cross folds. The tail is elongate, tapering ; 

 in some rounded ; in others compressed. The species 

 known are most of them natives of South Africa and 

 Egypt, a few being also inhabitants of the eastern 

 portion of the world. They frequent humid places 

 in liot countries, and never issue from their retreats 

 till evening. Some of them are remarkable for the 

 power they possess of changing their colours like the 

 Chameleon. In consequence of this, Cuvier gave these 

 species the name of Changeants, or Changeable lizards. 

 THE VARYING AOAMA {Agama variabilis or Tra- 

 pelus rtideratus), one of this group, is particularly 

 noted for this faculty. M. Isidore Geoft'roy St. 

 Ililairc, in his description of the reptiles of Kgypt, 

 thus mentions it : — " If this little animal had been 

 known in ancient times ; if, abundantly spread over 

 some of the countries frequented by Europeans, it had 

 happened to have become the subject of frequent 

 observation, doubtless the name of the Chameleon 

 would not have been so celebrated in our days, nor 

 would it have been so frequently made the emblem of 

 inconstancy and flattery. In fact, the Varying Agama 

 is subject to changes of colour even more prompt and 

 more rapid than tliose of the Chameleon, although this 

 latter can in a few minutes paint itself with a crowd 

 of different tints." This species of Agama is of small 

 size, being only five and a half inches long from the 

 tip of the muzzle to the extremity of the tail; this 

 latter organ forming nearl)' the half of the total length. 

 The head Ls of a very remarkable form, triangular, and 

 as broad at its posterior part as it is long. The tail 

 broad, and a little depressed at its base, is slender and 

 rounded for the rest of its length. The scales with 

 which the body is covered, are remarkable for their 

 being all smooth, not spinj', and extremely small. 

 '■ Individuals," continues the same author we have 

 quoted above, " which have been preserved in cabinets 

 for some years, generally appear of a brownish-gray 

 colour above and whitish beneath. But these colours 

 do not in any way resemble those which the animal 

 presents when alive; it is then often of a beautiful deep 

 blue, tinted with violet, with the tail baiTed with black, 

 and with some indistinct reddish spots disposed upon 

 the back in such a manner as to form four or five 

 small rather regular transverse bands. In a few more 

 seconds the blue is replaced by clear lilac ; then the 

 liead and the feet are ordinarily tinted with gi'een, and 

 there is nothing left to recall the remembrance of the 

 first colours except the small red spots of the back." 



The species represented in Plate 2, fig. 3, is the 

 lIisriD or Spined Agama {Agama aculeata), which 



is a native of South Africa, in the neiglibourhood of 

 the Cape of Good Hope. 



THE STELIiION {Sttllio cordylus or vulgaris)— 

 Plate 3, fig.l — ie another animal belonging to this 

 group. It is a native of the Levant, being found 

 abundantly in the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, 

 the Morea, North Africa, Egypt, and Asia Minor. It 

 is usually' about a foot in length, the tail forming more 

 than the half of this. It has rather a bulky head, 

 somewhat flattened, and of a triangular shape. The 

 throat has a la.x, posterior, ci'osa fold, and the bod}' is 

 depressed, with a longitudinal plait on each side. The 

 tail is conical, round, and ringed with whorls of spinose 

 scales. In Greece the Stellion is called Koskordilos 

 (xodKooduXog), and the Arabs know it by the name of 

 Hardun. It appears to live in preference amidst the 

 ruins of old edifices, amongst heaps of stones, or in the 

 clefts of rocks, and is often also found in a kind of 

 burrow, which it has tlie art and industry to excavate 

 for itself. It is extremely agile in all its movements, 

 and feeds upon the insects which flutter over the sand. 

 In the scientific expedition sent by the French govern- 

 ment for the purpose of exploring the Morea, this 

 animal came under the especial notice of the naturalists 

 attached to the party. " Tliey found it," says M. 

 Bibron, " at Delos as well as at Myconia. In this 

 latter island especially, it is prodigiously common, and 

 is found upon the little walls of dry stone with which 

 the fields are surrounded. It retires into the crevices 

 amongst the rough stones at the least noise. It is 

 suflicient, in order to take it, to lift the stones ; then it 

 assumes a grotesquely-menacing posture, pufling and 

 blowing, and opening a large but inoffensive throat. 

 It is reckoned venomous ; but, in spite of this, tlie 

 children are every day handling them, and killing them 

 with perfect impunity. Their colour enables them to 

 be easily confounded mih the rocks, stones, and grayish 

 dust amidst which they live ; the quickness of their 

 movements alone calling attention to them. They 

 leap with great nimbleness. The greater number of 

 adult individuals are covered, or rather powdered, with 

 whitish, mealy spots, which give them a leprous look, 

 which, however, disappears when the animals are 

 placed in spirits." In Egypt, according to Belon and 

 some other authors, the people in the neighbourhood 

 of the pyramids and the tombs of the Thebais collect 

 with care the excrements of this animal for phar- 

 maceutical purposes. In olden times this substance, 

 known under the names of Cordylca, Crocodiled, and 

 Stercus Lacerti, was used in Europe as a cosmetic, and 

 is still sometimes employed by the Turks even at the 

 present day. The Mahommedans have a particular 

 dislike to this poor little creature. They pursue it and 

 kill it whenever they meet with it, because, they say, 

 it mocks them, by lowering its head in the same 

 manner as they themselves do when engaged in tlicir 

 devotions 1 



In this terrestrial group of the Agamas arc several 

 species which are not I'emarkable for tlieir beauty : — 

 THE MOLOCH {Moloch horridiix), for instance, is an 

 uncouth and horrid-looking creature from Western 

 Australia. The body of tliis extraordinary reptile is 

 covered from head to extremity of tail wilb numoroua 



