Zoological Society. 215 



each lateral pair connected by membrane, or rather by the oviduct. 

 They were in form long-oval, ■£% inch long by -fa wide, of a dull 

 white, but covered with a fine membrane, over which spread a few 

 blood-vessels. On making an incision into one I found no glaire, 

 but the whole interior filled with a yellow yolk, exactly resembling 

 in colour and consistence that of a pale hen's egg. 



Two eggs were brought me about the middle of the same month, 

 taken from a Ground Lizard's burrow ; their form was a perfect oval, 

 measuring t 9 q inch by t 'q ; their colour white, except that the surface 

 was a little stained by contact with the moist earth; they w%re 

 covered with a calcareous shell, which however appeared very thin, 

 and even flexible. 



The Ground Lizard is exclusively terrestrial ; it never climbs trees, 

 nor does it voluntarily take to the water. A large male which was 

 brought me one day was said indeed to have been taken in the river, 

 but upon inquiry I found that the little lad who obtained it had 

 discovered it by suddenly lifting a large stone at the very margin of 

 the water, and that the lizard in its alarm had leaped into the stream. 

 In order to ascertain its powers, I carried it to a deep pool of the 

 river and put it in : it instantly began to swim with much rapidity, 

 and in a peculiarly elegant manner, throwing the body into horizontal 

 serpentine curves, while both the fore- and hind-feet were stretched 

 out behind, and remained quite motionless. It was thus able to cross 

 a small stream with ease, but if prevented from landing it soon became 

 weary, and abandoned all effort, resigning itself to the current, and 

 became in a short time much exhausted. 



On the inner surface of the thigh there is in this genus (as in many 

 other of the Lizards) a series of scales, each of which is perforated 

 with a conspicuous pore. From these pores exude during life minute 

 cylindrical bodies like amber or hard yellow gum. On removing the 

 integuments we find lying immediately beneath this range of pores, 

 adhering to the skin but not to the muscle, a compound body, appa- 

 rently glandular, composed of yellow threads, lying parallel to each 

 other, but twisted exactly like the strands of a rope, in a regular 

 spiral. Undoubtedly this gland secretes the yellow gummy matter 

 that exudes, but of what use this is I do not know ; perhaps it is a 

 sexual attraction. 



The variations of surface, which take the form of broad plates on 

 the head, throat, breast, legs and vent ; of minute tubercles on the 

 body generally, and of transverse rows of square plates on the belly 

 and tail, are not really plates or scales, but are produced merely by 

 lineal depressions of various forms in one continuous surface ; as is di- 

 stinctly seen when the integument is sloughed off in large irregular 

 pieces, bearing all these characters. 



The tongue is protrusible to the length of nearly an inch and a 

 half from the muzzle ; it is slender, flat, fleshy, and covered with 

 shining papillae. The extremity is cleft to the extent of half an 

 inch, and the two tips run out to attenuated round points, which are 

 horny, but very flexible. 



As the colours of reptiles in spirits are fleeting, and as published 



