UEOMASTIX ACANTHINURTJS. 131 
Wilkinson * includes it in his list of animals known to the ancient Egyptians. A 
figure of a lizard with a thick tail, that may possibly have been intended for 
an Uromastix, occurs in Eosellini's great work 2 . 
The species was figured and described by Belon 3 under the name of Crocodile 
terrestre ou Crocodile d' Arable. 
It is generally seen in the possession of conjurers, owing to the mildness of its 
disposition and its striking appearance. 
Uromastix acanthinukus, Bell. (Plate XV.) 
Uromastix acanthinurus, Bell, Zool. Journ. i. 1825, p. 457, pi. xvii. ; Wagler, Syst. Amph. 1830, 
p. 145; Gervais, Ana. Sc. Nat. (2) vi. 1836, p. 309; Dum. & Bibr. iv. 1837, p. 543; Pitz. 
Syn. Kept. 1843, p. 86; Riippell, Mus. Senck. iii. J 845, p. 303; Gray, Cat. Rept. B. M. 
1845, p. 262; Guichenot, Explor. Sc. Alg., Rept. v. 1850, p. 8; A. Dum. Cat. Rept. Paris 
Mus. 1851, p. 109 ; Strauch, Mem. Ac. Sc. Petersb. (vii. ser.) iv. no. 7, 1862, p. 30 ; Boettger, 
Kobelt's Reiseerin. Alg. und Tunis, 1885, p. 465; Kat. Rept. Mus. Senck. 1893, p. 55 ; Blgr. 
Cat. Rept. B. M. i. 1885, p. 406; Trans. Zool. Soc. xiii. 1891, p. 119; Anderson, Proc. Zool. 
Soc. 1892, p. 12; Werner, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, xlii. 1892, p. 354; op. cit. 1894, xliv. 
p. 79; Olivier, Mem. Soc. Zool. France, vii. 1894, p. 110; Anderson, Herp. Arabia & 
Egypt, 1896, p. 112. 
Uromastix spinipes, part., Gray, Syn. Rept. Griffith's An. King. ix. 1831, p. 61; Giinther, Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 470; Tristram, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 475. 
Uromastix dispar, Heyden, Riippell's Atlas nordl. Afr., Rept. 1827, p. 5 ; Gray, Syn. Rept. 
Griffith's An. King. ix. 1831, p. 61. 
Uromastix temporalis, Valenc. Compt. Rend. Ac. Paris, xxxix. 1854, p. 89. 
Ear with enlarged conical scales at its anterior border. Body-scales more or less 
quadrangular, much larger than in the previous species, 160 round the middle of the 
body, including the ventrals ; 80 to 90 ventrals between the inguinal and gular folds ; 
no enlarged tubercles on the flanks or on the fore limb, but a few on the pelvic region. 
Tail strongly depressed, rather short, abruptly tapered, markedly spinose. 
Upper surface brownish yellow or olive above, spotted or reticulated with reddish 
brown or blackish. Under surface finely mottled with brownish olive, so mucb in 
some as almost to be uniformly dusky below, or broadly irregularly reticulated with 
yellow or olive-brown. This latter coloration is generally associated with a greyish- 
yellow upper surface, spotted with reddish brown, and in specimens of this coloration 
there is sometimes a pale dorsal band margined with blackish. The upper surface of 
tail yellowish, generally much mottled with brown or even with greenish. 
3 . Snout to vent 215 millim. ; vent to tip of tail 125 millim. 
1 Ancient Egyptians, iii. p. 263. 3 Op. cit. i. pi. Mil. lxxxi. 
3 Op. cit. p. 38. 
S2 
