194 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



Nests of the Western Ring-tail Opossums, Pseudochirus occi- 

 dentalis, are occasionally seen in the thick scrub, and mostly near 

 watercourses. Snakes are scarce, the most common being the 

 harmless Carpet Snake, Morelia variegata, and, curious to 

 say, its markings and colour are very similar to those found 

 to the north of Victoria — namely, black and greenish — whereas 

 those found on the Houtman's Abrolhos Islands are very 

 similar in colour and markings to those found in Queensland — 

 namely, light brown and black — apparently showing that the 

 lighter is the older colour, as it is probably a long time since the 

 islands were separated from the mainland. They form interesting 

 Jinks between the so-called varieties. The principal venomous 

 reptile is the Black Snake, Pseudechys porphyriactis, and further 

 inland, near the goldfields, the best place to find Blind-worms, 

 Typhlops nigrescens, small Ringed and other snakes and appar- 

 ently legless lizards is in the disused sawpits. Lizards abound 

 everywhere, but that most often seen is the sluggish Blue-tongued 

 Lizard, Trachysaurus rugosus, popularly called " Bob-tailed 

 Guano." They will not, as a rule, move out of your way, but 

 only open their mouth and hiss, thereby making their presence 

 known, as their colour, black and grey, harmonizes so well with 

 the ground on which you find them that they are mostly passed 

 by without being seen. They often travel in a cart wheel track, 

 and if a conveyance passes they generally get crushed, as they 

 will not move out of the way. They are very plentiful. Just 

 before the young are born the mother hibernates, either in 

 hollows under stones or in old bandicoots' holes, hollow logs, &c., 

 and the young, generally to the number of four, do not appear 

 until they are two or three months old, consequently very young 

 ones are rarely seen. The little ones cast their skins when they 

 are about two days old, and they grow rapidly. They do not 

 hatch from eggs, as in most other kinds. Among the granite 

 rocks Spine-tailed Lizards, Egernia stokesii, are often found, but 

 they never seem to leave their rocky home, and are very difficult 

 to dislodge when taking refuge in a narrow crevice, as they get a 

 very firm hold with their keeled scales. They are far more active 

 than the Trachysaurus. York Devils, Moloch horridus, are often 

 met with, especially inland. They vary much in colour accord- 

 ing to the colour of the soil on which you find them, and they 

 seem to be able to change their hue to harmonize with their sur- 

 roundings. Their principal food is small ants, and they also 

 occasionally eat vegetable matter. They lay hard-shelled round 

 eggs, from which their young are hatched. The I^ace Monitor, 

 or so-called Iguana, Varamis varius, is found everywhere, espec- 

 ially in the sandy country, and they are great enemies of both 

 harmless and venomous snakes, as although these reptiles can 

 travel very fast on hard ground or where grass and other vegeta- 



