20 



Rough Stump-tail. - 



-REPTILES.- 



-Bridled Spii.enops. 



food of the Slow-worm consists of insects, worms, and 

 slugs, tlie latter of which seems its favourite article of 

 diet. A Slow-worm kept in captivity for some time by 

 Mr. Dttnicl, was observed to feed chiefly upon the little 

 white slug, so common in fields and gardens. " It 

 invariably took them in one position. Elevating its 

 head slowly above its victim, it would suddenly seize 

 the slug by the middle, in the same way that a fcrret 

 or dog will generally seize a rat by the loins. It would 

 then hold it thus, sometimes for more than a minute, 

 when it would pass its prey through its jaws, and 

 swallow the slug head foremost." * This reptile is, 

 like our common Nimble Lizard, ovoviviparous. The 

 young are hatched before they come into the world, 

 and the number produced at one birth varies from 

 seven to twelve or thirteen. Tiiey become very active 

 almost immediately after tliey are born, and soon learn 

 to feed upon small soft insects, and probably small 

 worms, snails, or sings. 



In the second group, or those species which have 

 tlie scales thick, bony, rugose, and keeled or striated, 

 the legs are generally strong, and the body fusiform. 

 Amongst them are the curious-looking creatures called 

 Stump-tails {Tmchydosaurus), natives of Australia. 

 In them the body is thick, spindle-shaped, and the 

 back rather flattened on each side. The scales are 

 thick, convex, rugose, imbricate, and those of the 

 under side crenulated round I he hinder edge. The tail 

 is short, convex, covered with large convex scales like 

 the back, and rapidly tapering at the end. 



THE ROUGH STUMP-TAIL ( T. rwjosus) is of con- 

 siderable size, and is of a pule brown colour, with 

 broad, rather irregular, yellow cross bands. It is the 

 species here represented— fig. 8. 



SNAKE-LIKE LIZARDS. 



Immediately following the true Scinks, in Dr. Gray's 

 arrangement, there succeed a series of families of 

 snake-like Lizards, many of which have been, and by 

 some authors are still, arranged amongst the serpents. 

 The feet are often altogether wanting, and the body 

 resembles that of a snake ; but the structure of the 

 scales of the head and muzzle, the firm manner in 

 which the bones of the head are united, and the small- 

 ness of the month, which they cannot open wide like 

 the true Serpents, distinguish them from these reptiles. 

 They evidently, however, form a sort of connecting 

 link between the Lizards and Snakes. 



Such are tlie Opiiiomorks [Ophiomorido), and a 

 family as yet represented by only one species — 



The Seps family [Sepskhe) ■)■ which contains several 

 species, resembling in general form the Slow-worm, 

 except that they possess limbs, though weak, far apart, 

 and more or less rudimentary in structure. The body 

 is cyclindrical and elongate, and covered with round 

 imbricated scales. The tongue is short, thick, and 

 nicked at the tip, and the eyes are distinct, and pro- 

 vided with eyelids. 



The genus Sph^nops, belonging to this latter family, 

 has a wedge-shaped head, and its elongate body is 

 angular below. 



THE BRIDLED SPHjafOPS {S. caphtratus), the only 

 species known, is about the size of a small slow-worm, 

 of a pale brown colour, with several series of black dots 

 arranged longitudinally along the body, and a black 

 streak on each side of the muzzle. It is a native ot 

 Egypt, over which it is widely dispersed. M. A. 

 Lefebure found it very abundantly in the oasis of 



Fig. 8. 



RougU Stump-tail (Tracbydosaurus rugoBus). 



Bahrieh, on the little ridges of the rice-fields, at the 

 foot of tlie hedges which border the habitations, or on 

 the edge of the wheel-ruts in the mu-y roads in the 

 valleys. According to him it burrows, but very super- 

 ficially, in the soil, the least sinking of it produced by 

 the feet of the passer-by discovermg its retreat. Its 

 motions are very active, but it allows itself to be taken 

 very easily, without its ever trying to defend itself 

 But one of tlie most curious parts of its history is, that 

 it has been found, like tlie Crocodile, as a mummy in 



• Bennet's Edition of White's Selborne. 



Egypt. M. Lefebure found it embalmed and placed in 

 a small coffin of sycamore wood, ornamented with some 

 degree of taste, in the neiglibourhood i)f Thebes. It 

 seemed to have been embalmed with considerable care, 

 and it is the only reptile, with the exception of the 

 Crocodile, that has been found as a mummy in Egy]it. 

 The genus Seps, which gives its name to the family, 

 has a pyramidal-shaped head, and a conical simple 

 muzzle. The body is cylindrical, elongate, and tlie 



t Seps — a name anciently applied to one of the species by 

 /Elian and Pliny— derived "from the Greek word, aei>o (^^t*;, 

 to putrefy. 



