Lizards. - 



-REPTILES.- 



-Slender-tongued Lizards. 



19 



in the concavity of a pingiiin leaf [Bromelia pinr/iiin) 

 it is occasionally observed to lie, basking in the sun. 

 The rounded form of the head and body, devoid of pro- 

 jections; the close -lying and glossy scales; the shortness 

 of the legs, bringing the belly flat upon the ground ; 

 and its constant habit of resting with the chin on the 

 ground also — give to the Mabouya an aspect very much 

 unlike that of our other common lizards, and cannot 

 fail to remind even the least observant of its affinity 

 with the serpent tribes. The negroes, 

 in the recognition of this proximity 

 doubtless, have bestowed upon it the 

 appellation of ' snake's waiting - boy,' 

 or, more briefly, 'snake's boy.' From 

 the shortness of its legs results also 

 another resemblance to a snake ; for 

 owing to the shortness of its steps, if 

 made only with the legs, it throws the 

 shoulder and hip forward at each stop ; 

 and this throwing out of the sides at 

 dilVercnt parts alternately, produces a 

 wriggling motion, somewhat serpentine 

 in appearance. They are too wary and 

 too swift to be caught by the hand. 

 A smart tap with a switch, however 

 across the shoulders, disables them for 

 a while; but if the blow descend on 

 tlie tail, that organ instantly separates 

 with the like brittleness as in other 

 lizards. Cats not unfrequently catch them. The 

 beautiful provision for protecting the eye, without im- 

 peding vision, shown by the lower (and larger) eye- 

 lids liaving a sort of window, a transparen^, glassy, 

 circular plate in the centre, immediately opposite the 

 pupil when the eye is closed, is well worthy of admira- 

 tion as an obvious example of creative wisdom and 

 providential care. Habitual!}' darting to and fro in the 

 narrow crevices of walls and heaps of stones, the eyes 

 of tliis Scink, if unprotected, might be continually liable 

 to injurious contusions, while, as it feeds on the insects, 

 at least in part, that resort to such situations, nndimmed 

 vision would be essential to it while permeating them." 

 The Nimble Mabouj'a is found to be viviparous. Its 

 total length is about nine inches. 



We then come to a series of genera in which the 

 limbs are weak, far apart from each other, and the body 

 and tail much lengthened; the series terminating in 

 the genus Anguis, where the limbs cease to be visible, 

 the bones being rudimentary in structure and hidden 

 under the akin. 



THE BLIND-WORM, or well-known Slow-woKM of 

 English authors {Anyuis fragilk) — fig. 7 — is tlie only 

 recognized species belonging to this genus. Professor 

 Bell has given us a very good account of this little 

 snake-like lizard, in his excellent work on British 

 Keptik-s. Its total length is about ten or twelve inches, 

 sometimes even fourteen, the tail being nearly half the 

 length of the body. The general colour is yellowish- 

 brown or yellowish-grey, with a pearly lustre. A dark, 

 or black line, runs down the middle of the back, and 

 generally one or two parallel rows of small dark 

 spots down each side. The under parts are of a 

 bluish-black, with whitish reticulations. It is a native 



of Great Britain, and is found in almost every part of 

 Europe, exceptijig the extreme north, and is capable of 

 enduring a much colder climate than most other rep- 

 tiles, even of our own country. It is plentiful in 

 Russia, Siberia, Poland, Denmark, and Sweden, as well 

 as the more temperate parts of Europe, as far south as 

 Italy. The Slow-worm, in this country, makes its 

 appearance at an earlier season than any other of our 

 scaled reptiles. It frequents warm banks, where, like 



The Blind-worm (Anguis fragilis). 



almost all other Saurians, it delights to bask in the 

 rays of the sun. In autumn, it retires under masses of 

 decayed wood or leaves, or info soft dry soil covered 

 with heath or bmshwood. Its general habitation is in 

 holes in the ground, which it bores for itself to a con- 

 siderable depth, and from which it comes up for the 

 purpose of breathing. The habits of the Slow-worm 

 are exceedingly gentle and inofl'ensive. Even when 

 handled roughly, it rarely attempts to bite, and when 

 it is irritated so as to induce it to seize upon the finger, 

 the teeth are so small as scarcely to make an impres- 

 sion. From its serpent-like form, it is not at all 

 wonderful that it should obtain the unenviable repu- 

 tation of being exceedingly venomous. Amongst the 

 uninformed, accordingly, it really does possess this 

 character. " Here," says Mr. Gosse, alluding to this 

 belief amongst our peasantry, " here is Ilodge the 

 hedger ; perhaps from his occupation he may have 

 some acquaintance with the bit of dingy wire : what say 

 you, Hodge ? ' 'Tis a zneak, dang un! ' and he makes 

 a spiteful blow with his stick across the back of the 

 poor animal, with the apologetic asseveration, ' 'Tis a 

 deadly pizon varmin ! ' But see, the blow has eftec- 

 tually demolished it, and that in a strange manner ; for, 

 as if it had been made of glass, it has snapped across 

 in four or five places; and we at once perceive the 

 propriety of one of its Latin appellations, that of 

 frayiUs." * This fragile or brittle property, is so 

 remarkable in this little creature, that on being laid 

 hold of or alarmed, it contracts its body .<;o forcibly as 

 to become perfectly stiff, and then it will break in two 

 with the slightest blow or attempt to bend it. The 



• Excelsior, vol. vi. 



