REP Mies “OF ALL LANDS 
cutting edges. They bite with the rapid- 
ity of a serpent’s stroke, and a three-foot 
specimen can amputate a man’s finger. 
Soft-shelled turtles are good eating 
and to cook them is not difficult. As the 
shell itself is edible, the entire animal 
goes into the frying-pan with no other 
preparation than cleaning. The negroes 
appropriately call the small examples 
“flap-jack” turtles. Very young speci- 
mens are beautifully marked and in the 
water look like variegated leaves (see 
pages 608 and 609). 
THE LIZARDS 
The lizards form the largest order of 
reptiles. They are particularly interest- 
ing as representing the ancestral forms 
of the serpents. All stages of limb de- 
velopment are to be noted, from the 
powerful runners and jumpers to species 
wholly destitute of limbs, that glide like 
serpents, and other diminutive legless 
forms that are blind and burrow deep 
into the soil like earthworms. The im- 
mediate relationship between lizards and 
snakes is strongly evident by the posses- 
sion among a number of the less special- 
ized serpents of well-developed (inter- 
nal) hind limbs, which are actually 
functional. Among the lizards, habits 
run riot, and among the members of this 
order Nature has seen fit to lavish the 
most brilliant colors. 
A grand chart showing the geographi- 
cal distribution of lizards would demon- 
strate that these reptiles require a greater 
degree of heat than the turtles or the 
snakes. They abound in the equatorial 
latitudes and are but sparingly distrib- 
uted in the temperate zones. “The com- 
paratively very small number of species 
chat occur north or south of the tropics 
are of small size and quite uniform de- 
velopment. As with the serpents, several 
families are cosmopolitan. The exten- 
sive distribution of the members of 
genera, however, is particularly marked 
among the lizards. 
Largest among the lizards are the 
members of a small family—the moni- 
tors, genus Varanus. There are 27 
species, occurring in Africa, India, Ma- 
613 
laysia, and Australia. Some of them 
reach a length of 8 feet and a weight of 
60 pounds. All are fleet and powerful, 
fierce and carnivorous (see page 619). 
Largest of the living lizards is the 
Malayan kabara-goya of the Singhalese. 
This powerful brute attains a length of 
8 feet. It frequents the jungles, and 
many tiger hunters have been startled 
by the rush of a big monitor, the reptile 
making as- much noise as some big 
hoofed animal as it tears its way through 
the undergrowth away from danger. 
The feeding habits are typical of all the 
members of the genus. 
The method of attacking a small ani- 
mal more closely resembles the actions 
of members of the cat tribe than of a 
reptile. Rushing at its ill-fated prey, the 
monitor shakes it in the same violent 
fashion as a terrier treats a rat. If the 
animal’s struggles become so violent that 
there is a possibility of it escaping, the 
lizard holds it to the ground under its 
long claws—as long as those of a leop- 
ard. Then the jaws take a better hold. 
When the prey is killed it is tossed 
about in the jaws until the head points 
down the lizard’s throat. It is then 
gulped down entire, when the monitor 
wipes the jaws with the enormously 
long, forked tongue. A kabara-goya can 
swallow a whole pigeon. 
The species is fond of eggs, and one 
of the sights of a reptile-house is the 
feeding of the larger monitors. From 8 
to 10 hen’s eggs are taken at a meal. 
The eggs are swallowed without break- 
ing the shell and with such rapidity they 
click against each other in passing down 
the throat. Digestion is rapid. Within 
24 hours the gastric juices have disinte- 
grated the shells and the fragments of 
these are entirely dissolved. 
A monitor of smaller size inhabits the 
borders of the Sahara Desert. It is of 
pallid hue, to match the sterile soil; this 
coloration also relating to the eyes, which, 
with their staring black pupil, gives the 
animal a fierce appearance. As if deter- 
mined to possess some added feature in 
its makeup, the desert species startles 
the intruder by widely opening its jaws 
