22 



Cr.AW-HEADED SnAKE.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-ThICIv-TONGUED T.IZARnS. 



would venture to approach the tank any more. It 

 was impossible to convince those who believed this, 

 b)' any reasonable means ; so, sending for his head- 

 ouuk named Yahndee, who was a celebrated snake- 

 killer, the governor oft'ered liim a handsome reward if 

 Le would capture the animal. Yahndee shook his 

 head, and muttered something about the fetish, upon 

 wliich the governor offered him a present for the fetish. 

 This altered the case ; and the priests and their deity 

 l)ropitiated, Yahndee opened the tank, and the enor- 

 mous serpent turned out to be about a foot and a half 

 long, and he was going to seize it by the liead, when 

 lie suddenly recoiled with horror, and declared he could 

 not touch it. On being questioned, he said it had two 



heads, and thus was not only doubly poisonous, but if 

 he seized it near one head the other would turn up and 

 bite him. A glass of rum on the spot, and more pro- 

 mised when the feat was performed, reanimated Yahn- 

 dee's courage ; he wrapped a cloth round his naked 

 arm, and brought the reputed monster out in triumph. 

 A closer examination proved that, instead of two heads, 

 there was, in common parlance, no head at all ; both 

 extremities being alike, with the exception of a small 

 orifice, and a closing valve at one of the ends. It was 

 never dissected, but was put into spirits, and was pi'e- 

 sented by Mr. Bowdich to the British Museum." This 

 species is still in the collection, and has been described 

 as Bowdich's claw-headed snake (0. punctata). 



Sun-OuDER II.— TIIICK-TONGUED LIZARDS. 



The Thick-tongued Lizards are divided into three 

 tribes — the Nocturnal Lizards, [Nijclisaiira) ; the Cone- 

 tailed Lizards {Strohilosauru) ; and the Tree Lizards 

 (Dendrusaui-a); so named from their habits in life, and 

 the structure of the scales of the tail. 



Tiiini; L— NYCTISAURA.* 



In the first tribe, or Nocturnal Lizards, the eyes 

 have circular eyelids, which cannot close and open ; 

 the pupil is narrow and vertical, and contracts in a 

 strong light. The scales of the belly are small, of a 

 rhombic form, and imbricated ; the head is without 

 plates, and naked, or covered merely with granules. 

 The feet are formed for walking on the ground, or 

 on flat substances. 



F.\iiii.Y— GECKOTID.E. 



There is only one family in this tribe, the Geckos 

 {GcchotUhi), the species of which are natives of both 

 the Old and New Worlds. The Geckos never attain 

 a large size. They have in general a large flat head, 

 a narrow neck, and a depressed, squat body, which is 

 sometimes fringed on the sides. Their logs are short, 

 stout, wide apart, and the toes are all nearly of equal 

 length. These are generally broad, flattened beneatli, 

 and furnished with scales or plates laid one over the 

 other, like the tiles of a house. The skin is apparently 

 naked on the upper parts of the body, being only 

 roughened with granules, giving it a shagreened look. 

 The tail is scarcely as long as the body, and is gener- 

 ally covered with small granular scales like those of 

 tlie body. It is very brittle, is easily broken ofl; and 

 when reproduced, has tlie scales small, square, uniform, 

 and placed in a cross series, which give it a different 

 appearance from the normal state, and must be taken 

 into account in describing the species. The tongue is 

 short, broad, fleshy, and not extensile, but is free at its 

 extremity, which is rounded and slightly nicked. Their 

 tei.'th are very small, close set one against the other, 



From tlie two Greek words, mjx (.u|), right, and saura 

 (traL-ju:), a lizard. 



and form a row quite round the jaw. Their mouth is 

 large; and as tlie under jaw is articulated behind the 

 cranium like the crocodiles, it permits a wide separa- 

 tion of the jaws, which the animals have the power of 

 keeping open for a length of time. In consequence of 

 this structure, also, they possess the facidty of closing 

 the entrance to tlie back part of the throat, by applying 

 the base of the tongue to a hollow formed on the pos- 

 terior part of the palate, while the jaws remain widely 

 separate, and the mouth broadly gaping. The inside 

 of their capacious gullet is strongly coloured ; some- 

 times with bright orange or yellow, and at others with 

 a rich black. Their eyes are large, and of a green 

 colour ; and the eyelids being very short and united 

 into one, only leaving a broad opening through which 

 we see moving a nictitating membrane, gives them a 

 peculiar appearance. These peculiarities of structure 

 are admirably adapted to their manners and habits 

 of living. They are nocturnal animals, and thus their 

 eyes are constructed so as to enable them to discern 

 with facility objects in the obscurity of the night. 

 The pupil enjoys a degree of mobility, similar to tliat 

 possessed by nocturnal birds of prey, and other animals 

 which seek their food at night. They can dilate it to 

 a considei'able extent when they require to collect the 

 rays of light, and are able to contract it to the dimen- 

 sions of only a narrow slit, when the o.ycs are likely to 

 be injured by two bright a glare. 



Their food consists of insects, caterpillars, &c., and 

 these they procure by entrapping them, or pursuing 

 them into obscure holes and cavities. The construc- 

 tion of their feet enables them to do this eflectiially. 

 The imbricated plates with which they are furnished 

 on the under surface, act like suckers, and enable these 

 animals to adhere firmly to the surface of even the 

 smoothest bodies, permitting them to run with the 

 greatest celerity in all directions, to traverse ceilings, 

 or suspend themselves on the under side of a leaf, 

 while they watch the movements of their prey. Their 

 toes, armed with hooked claws which are sharp and 

 retractile like those of a cat, give them the power of 

 climbing trees with perfect facility, of penetrating the 

 cavities and clefts of rocks, and of ascending steep 



