264 



AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN ANIMALS 



of view on account of being represented by an allied species in the later Tertiary 

 deposits of . Patagonia, as already mentioned in the chapter on the fauna of 

 South America. 



In the lizard group the skink family (Scinc-idce) attains a remarkable develop- 

 ment in the region, one of the strangest forms being the stump-tailed skink 

 (Tradtysaurws rugosus), a lethargic reptile characterised by its thick, hard, 

 overlapping brown scales, stumpy tail, and short legs. This lizard, which in 

 appearance recalls an elongated fir-cone, is also characterised, in common with 

 other skinks, by producing living young, generally two in number ; but these are 



STUMP-TAILED SKINK. 



not enclosed in shells before birth, and are so fully developed and of such large 

 size that they commence to feed immediately after their first appearance in the 

 world. Of other skinks, it must suffice to mention that the genus Cycloclus or 

 Tiliqua, specially distinguished by its large and flattened cheek-teeth, is common 

 to the present region and the Malay Islands, and in New Guinea is represented 

 by a species, C. gigas, which attains a length of 2 feet. Chamseleons and the 

 lizards of the typical family Lacertidce are absent, but the monitors are represented 

 by the great Varanus salvator, of which the distribution is nearly the same as 

 that of Crocodilus porosus, extending from India and Ceylon to the the Cape York 

 Peninsula. This species grows to a length of 7 feet. The one family of lizards 



