208 CLASS REPTILIA. 



The tail of the lizards is composed of articulations, which 

 the slightest effort can separate, and it is susceptible of being 

 reproduced when it has been broken by any external violence. 

 The principle of life is very strong in them all, and they can 

 pass a long time without eating ; and it also appears they can 

 live a great number of years. None of them are venomous, but 

 there are several that bite with great violence when attacked. 



The lizards are very numerous, and inhabit various parts of 

 both continents, seeming to delight equally in warm and 

 temperate climates. Their movements are light and lively, 

 but they fall into a lethargic state during the winter, at the 

 bottom of their retreats. They are monoganous, and live 

 only in pairs. They never go into the water, like many other 

 reptiles, belonging as they do to the saurian order. 



The genus of the lizards is far from containing at the pre- 

 sent day all the species which Linnaeus and the majority of 

 systematic writers have thought proper to insert in it. Lau- 

 renti was the first who attempted, but without much success, 

 to reform it. This undertaking has been better executed by 

 more modern naturalists, such as Lacepede, Alexandre Brog- 

 niart, Cuvier, Daudin, Dumeril, &c. 



Among several European species, confounded by Linnaeus 

 under the name Lacerta Agilis, is the Great Green Lizard, 

 (Lacerta Ocellata). This reptile is one of the most brilliant 

 and splendid of the whole saurian order. It is also the 

 largest of all known lizards. It is found in the South of 

 France, in Italy, and the other southern countries of Europe, 

 in arid places among rocks exposed to the sun, and on the 

 borders of woods. It may be frequently seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Montpellier, frequenting the bushes and hedges, 

 climbing on shrubs, and over large stones in search of insects. 

 M. Poiret has met with it in Africa several times, towards the 

 shores of the Mediterranean. 



It would appear that it is not merely in warm climates that 



