SAURIA. 27 



The throat, which can be greatly inflated, is covered with elon- 

 gated and pointed scales, which constitute a sort of beard. 

 Similar scales bristle on the flanks, and form two oblique crests 

 behind the ears; yellowish spots edged with black under the 

 belly. We must not confound with it the 



Lac. muricata, Sh. ; the Muricated Agama of the same country. 

 Gen. Zool., Vol. Ill, part 1, pi. Ixv, f. xi; White, p. 244, in 

 which the raised scales are disposed in longitudinal bands, be- 

 tween which are two series of spots paler than the ground, 

 which is a blackish brown. It usually attains a large size. 

 Other species have no femoral pores. 



Ag. colonoriim, Daud.; Seb. I, cvii, 3.(1) Brownish, with a 

 long tail; a small row of short spines on the neck; from Af<:ica, 

 and not, as is asserted, from Guiana. 



There is a smaller Agama at the Cape, with a moderate tail, 

 varied with brown and yellowish, bristled above with raised 

 and pointed scales, the Ag. aculeata, Merr. -,(2) Seb., I, viii, 6, 

 Ixxxiii, 1 and 2, cix, 6; its belly sometimes assumes an inflated 

 form, which leads to the 



Tapayes — Agames Orbiculaires, Daud. in part, 

 Which are mere Agamae, with an inflated abdomen and a short 

 and thin tail. Such is 



Lac. orbicularis, L.; Tapayaxin of Mexico, Hern. 327. The 

 back is spinous, and the belly sprinkled with blackish points.(3) 



(1) Nothing can surpass the confusion in the synonymes quoted by authors with 

 respect to the different species of Lizards, and chiefly of the Agamae, Calotes and 

 StelUos. As regards the Agayna, for instance, Daudin quotes from Gmelin, Seb., 

 I, cvii, 1 and 2, which are Stellios; Sloane, Jam., II, cclxxiii, 2, which is an 

 Anolis, Edw. ccxlv, 2, which is also an Anolis,- and the same fig. is again quoted 

 by him and Gmel. for the Polychrus. Shaw even copies it to represent that 

 same animal, with which it has nothing in common. Seb., I, cvii, 3, which is the 

 true Ag. colonorum, Hand., is cited by Men-em as .;^^. superciliosa,- and Seb., I, 

 cix, 6, which is his aculeata, is quoted as orbicularis, &c. 



(2) The Agame a pitrreries, Daud. IV, 410; Seb. I, viii, 6, is merely the young 

 of this spiny Agama of the Cape, whose colours are more various than those of the 

 adult. Add V Agame sombre [Ag. atra\ Daud., Ill, 349; rough, blackish; a yel- 

 lowish line along the back; — the Ag. ombre {Lac. umbra) Daud., which is not the 

 Lac. umbra, Lin. but distinguished from it by five lines of veiy small spines, which 

 extend along the back, &c. 



(3) I do not think the subgenus of the Tapayes can be preserved; the species 

 of Hernandez [Lac. orbicularis, L.), Hern., p. 327, does not appear to differ from 

 the Agama com«to of Harlan, Phil. Ac. Nat. Sc. IV, pi. xlv, or, if at all, only from 

 the sex. Daudin has put in its place, tom. Ill, pi. xlv, f. 1, the adult of the Tap. 

 segyptius. 



