Lizards. REPTILES. Si-ejjder-tongued Lizards. 



21 



Bides rounded. The legs are weak and placed far 

 apart, and the feet luive three toes wliich are unequal, 

 and furnishrd at their extremities with chaws. 



THE CICIGNA, or Tiip.ee-toed Si;ps {Scps trldacty- 

 lus), reiirei^ented in Plate 1, fig. 7, is a snake-like 

 lizard, about a foot long, the tail being conical, pointed, 

 and not quite so long as the body. It has weak small 

 legs; they are four in number, two placed very near 

 the head, and two far back near the commencement of 

 the tail. They are about two linos long in individuals 

 twelve inches in length. The animal appears scarcely 

 to be able to touch the ground with them ; and yet, 

 notwithstanding their apparent inutility, it moves them 

 with considerable quickness, and seems to derive much 

 advantage from them when it walks. The general 

 colour of the body is a steel-grey above, with four 

 longitudinal brown rays, two on each side of the 

 back, and whitish-grey beneath. It is a native of the 

 s intli of France, Italy, Spain, all the islands of the 

 Archipelago, and the shores of Africa bordering the 

 Mediterranean. It lives in holes which it digs in 

 the ground, concealing itself in them in winter, and com- 

 ing Ibrth in spring to take up its abode in grassy spots 

 and near marshes. In such situations it spends the 

 summer, feeding upon spiders, small snails, and insects. 

 The ancients regarded this poor little reptile as highly 

 venomous, but Sauvages has demonstrated the erro- 

 neous nature of this belief, and Cetti, in his " Natural 

 History of Sardinia," says that throughout that country 

 he had never heard of its bite being attended with any 

 bad consequences, and that by the natives it is con- 

 sidered perfectly harmless. lie asserts, however, that 

 when cattle, and especially horses, have swallowed them 

 in the grass they have been eating, their belly swells 

 up, and they are in danger of dying, uidess they 

 have administered to them a draught composed of 

 oil, vinegar, and sulphur. Like the slow-worm, the 

 Cicigna appears to produce its young alive and fully 

 formed. 



The family of Acontias [Acuntiidw)* contains only 

 three species, which are either entirely destitute of 

 limbs, or have them extremely rudimentary. They 

 were formerly arranged amongst the true seipents, but 

 C'uvier separated them ft'ora the Ophidians, and later 

 Naturalists have shown their true position to be 

 amongst the thick-tongued Saurians. Their body is 

 cylindrical and elongate, like that of the Slow-worm, 

 but the tail is short, being only about the fifth or sixth 

 part the length of the body. They have a conical- 

 shaped head, with the muzzle inclosed as it were in a 

 cap-shaped shield. Their eyes are very small, and 

 they have only one eyelid, the lower one. The ears 

 are hidden under the skin, and the tongue is scaly and 

 nicked at the end. 



THE SPOTTED ACONTIAS {Acontias meleagris) is a 

 native of South Africa, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, where it is very common. The 

 body is of a brown colour, and the centre of each scale 

 is marked with a chestnut spot. It has no visible 

 external limbs, and the tail is cylindrical, short, and 

 rounded at the end. The eyes are very small, and tiie 



* From the Greek word akontias (««e»Ti«f), a javelin — the 

 Dame given by the Greeks to a serpent. 



only eyelid it has (the lower one) is short, scaly, and 

 opa(iue. 



The family of Dmxd Llz.iRDS (Ti/iMopsidce-f is 

 more frequently arranged amongst the serpents, but 

 various characters have decided later naturalists to 

 place the different species wliich compose it amongst 

 the Saurian reptiles. The body is covered with small 

 imbricated scales, like those of the Slow- worm, but the 

 head is depressed, broad, rounded in front, with a large 

 oblong, erect plate on the muzzle. The mouth is 

 small, and they have teeth only in one jaw, sometimes 

 the lower, at others the upper. The tongue is rather 

 long, flat, and forked at the tip, and the eyes are either 

 wanting or only visible through the scales which cover 

 them. One lung is four times the size of the other. 

 The body is slender, cylindrical, sometimes rather 

 larger behind, and the tail is cylindrical, suddenly con- 

 tracted, obliquely convex, and scaly at the extremity, 

 and the tip is covered with a conical or spinose shield. 

 As Cuvier— who places them amongst the Ophidia — 

 observes, these animals are " little serpents which on, 

 a careless glance, resemble earthwonus." They live 

 in moist places, or under stones, and like earth-worms 

 burrow under the soil and form little subterranean 

 galleries, sometimes three or four feet deep. They are 

 natives of the warmer portions of the globe, move with 

 considerable celerity, and are quite innocent, not 

 appearing even mclined to bite. Dr. Gray observes, 

 that the diameter of the body of these reptiles, after a 

 certain age, appears to increase during growth much 

 more rapidly than the length. 



The Claw-headed Snaici:s (Onychophis) | are 

 natives of Africa and India, and have short round 

 tails. Two or three species are described by Sir 

 .Andrew Smith as natives of South Africa. 



liALAKD'S CLAW-HEADED SNAKE (O. DchilamUi) 

 is found at the Cape of Good Hope, and is pretty 

 widely distributed over the southern parts of Africa. 

 " It is generally found under large stones and trunks of 

 decayed trees, or in soil broken up by the plough, or 

 otherwise displaced by the spade or piek-axe, as often 

 happens in digging up shrubs and dwarf trees for the 

 purpose of clearing ground for cultivation. When it 

 is exposed to view, it endeavours to conceal itself under 

 wdiatever is nearest to it, and if unsuccessful, it rolls 

 itself into a mass, and remains quiet unless seized, when 

 it immediately endeavours to escape." Another species 

 is found in Western Africa at Cape Coast. Mrs. Lee 

 (formerly Mrs. Bowdich) relates an amusing anecdote 

 of an individual of this species, at the capture of which 

 she appears to have been present. " A report was 

 spread," she says " that the large tank on which the 

 inhabitants of the castle solely depended for the supply 

 of water was infested by an enormous serpent ; and not 

 oidy was the idea of drinking the water repugnant, but 

 many declared the water would be poisoned. The 

 governor determined to have tlie tank examined, 

 although he was told that the serpent was so fierce it 

 would kill any one who would dare to approach it; that 

 it was some great fetish (false god) ; and that no ono 



t From the Greek word tyiMops Wfif'-'i^), blind. 

 X From the Greek words onux (out), a claw, and o^iU (•*«), 

 a snake. 



