iin. C. A. "WtLSOX ON A SINGULAU LIZ.VllD. 69 



Notes on Moloch Jiorridus. By C. A. Wilson, Esq., IT.L.S. 



[Read Dec. 5, 18G7.] 



I SEND some notes or remarks ou that singular Lizard the Moloch 

 horridus of Gray, called by the colonists the " Spiny Devil " or 

 " Spiny Lizard." These notes I was about to forward in June or 

 July 18G6, but paused to see if I could obtain some further in- 

 formation about these curious reptiles. This I did not receive, as 

 the creatures were not noticed ngain that year ; but I was pro- 

 mised one or two sjjecimens (alive if possible) when their month 

 came round again, which appears to be April, when they are first 

 discovered moving about. This ])romise has lately been fulfilled ; 

 and I will allude to it again before concluding. 



The habits of these Lizards being as yet but imperfectly known, 

 reliable observations respecting tlvem are scanty. The following 

 memoranda consequently may be divided into the true and the nn- 

 certain, the latter having been furnished by persons in whom I 

 can fully believe, but who themselves may have obtained their 

 information from questionable sources, and therefore of doubtful 

 authenticity. It should be stated that my own observations were 

 made on individuals in a state of confinement. 



The first record or account I had of this singular creature, was that 

 contained in Sir George Grey's work, ' Expeditions &c. in North- 

 west and West Australia,' vol. ii. Appendix, p. 441. I heard no 

 more of the subject till about the year 1849 or 1850, when a pair 

 of stufibd specimens were exhibited in Adelaide, said to have come 

 from the far interior in a north-west direction. These were the 

 first specimens of the real animal I had seen, and they were small 

 as compared with those figured in Sir G. Grey's woi'k. Hia 

 figure, however, is a magnified one, as he states the length to be 

 4| inches. (He says, however, the " body," perhaps meaning 

 thereby without the tail.) Accounts were afterwards received of 

 others being taken alive north of Adelaide, but not so far distant 

 as before, and within the limits of our province ; but I did not see 

 any of these. The next report was in 1863, of their having been 

 observed somewhere in the neighbourhood of Port Augusta 

 (Spencer's Gulf, N.E.) ; and at the end of the summer 1864-6 

 several were taken there. The greater part of these were at once 

 preserved in spirits, but others were kept alive for a time, and in 

 the possession of Mr. F. G. Waterhouse, the curator of the Ade-' 



LINN. PROC. — ZOOLOGY, TOL. X. 6 



