ORDER SAURIA. 119 



caudal scales form spinous circles. There are 

 also some small spines to those of the sides of the 

 back, of the shoulders, and of the external part of 

 the thighs : the latter have a single line of very large 

 pores. 



The Cape of Good Hope produces many of these, 

 confounded for a long time under the name of 

 Lacerta Cordylus, L. These well-armed Saurians, a 

 little larger than our common green lizard, feed on 

 insects.* 



The Common SxELLiONEst 



Have the spines of the back moderate, the head 

 swelled behind by the muscles of the jaws, the back 

 and thighs bristling here and there, with scales larger 

 than the rest, and sometimes spinous. Small groups 

 of spines surround the ear ; the thighs are des- 



in the figure, he mistook the ear for the cleft or opening of the gill. 

 Between Rondelet and Linnaeus, the Cordylus has thus passed as synony- 

 mous with the Caudivcrbera. Its special application to the genus above 

 mentioned is wholly arbitrary. Merrem has changed it into Zonurus. 



• Daudin has referred to the Cordylus many synonimes of the Stellio, as 

 he has referred to the Stellio many synonimes of the Gecko. We have 

 four species — Coi-d. Griseus, Cuv. Seb. L, Ixxxiv. 4j— C. Niger, which has 

 the ridges of the scales softer, Seb. II. Ixii. 5; — C. Dorsalis ; — C. Micro- 

 lepidotus. ' ,."" 



■j- The Stellio of the Latins was a spotted lizard, living in the holes of 

 walls. It was considered as venomous, hostile to man, and cunning. It 

 was probably the Tarentole,o\' Tuberculous (?<?c/io, of the south of Europe, 

 Geckotte of Lacep., as various authors have conjectured, and lastly, M. 

 Schneider. Nothing justifies the application made to the actual species. 

 Belon, I believe, was the first who was culpable of this misnomer. 



