204 CLASS REPTILIA. 



M. Cuvier has given the denomination of Safe-guards 

 to his third group of monitors. The following are their 

 general characteristics. 



Maxillary teeth serrated ; no palatine teeth ; tongue slen- 

 der, extensible, and terminated by two long threads ; body 

 elongated ; five toes on all the feet. All these toes armed 

 with claws separated and unequal. Scales disposed by 

 transverse bands imder the belly, and around the tail. 

 Those of the back small and without keel ; one range of 

 pores under each thigh. 



The safe-guards are easily distinguishable from the last 

 genus by the absence of ridged scales, from the monitors 

 whose teeth are sharp and trenchant, from the lizards which 

 have palatine teeth, from the iguanas whose tongue is nei- 

 ther extensible nor terminated by two threads, and from 

 the crocodiles which have but four toes on the hinder 

 feet. 



This subgenus has been divided into two tribes ;'^that of 

 the safe-guards properly so called, which have the tail more 

 or less compressed, and the scales of the belly more long 

 than wide. They inhabit the banks of waters. The second 

 division is that of the ameivas, whose tail is round, and 

 furnished, as well as the belly, with transverse ranges of 

 square scales. 



Some naturalists place the Li%ardet or Lacerta Bicarivafa 

 in this division : with the exception of its dorsal scales, it is 

 pretty like the dracasna, although smaller. Its tail, long and 

 compressed, is raised on the upper part by three or four 

 keels of sharp scales. Its head is covered with broad poly- 

 gonal plates. It is generally about a foot in length. 



According to Linnaeus, it is an inhabitant of the East 

 Indies ; while Gmelin, on the contrary, will have it to belong 

 to the islands of South America. 



The Great American Safe-guardy in addition to what is 



