CorzNso.—On a supposed new Species of Naultinus. 255 
strong muscular power pulling against me, so that the whole outer skin of 
the tail came off, as at first, in one unbroken piece. The cast skin is damp, 
soft, and slightly clammy, on its being shed, but it quickly dries and 
hardens. 
The young lizard (No. 1) next cast off its skin on the 91st December, 
having assumed the milky appearance already mentioned the day before ; 
and to my great surprise this same lizard again put on the cloudy milky 
appearance on the 13th January, and again shed its skin on the following 
day when its scurf was just a fortnight old! As before, it began to break 
away at its snout, but on this occasion, somehow, possibly owing to its 
finéness, it got rolled up together and backwards behind its eyes, giving the 
animal with its white wig the drollest appearance imaginable, so that I often 
laughed outright! This time it was very slow in casting off its rags, as parts 
of its skin were still hanging on its sides on the 24th January—just ten days 
—when I caught it and helped it. This lizard again shed its skin on the 1st 
March, when it was two days in getting it wholly off: often biting it and 
tearing at it with its claws. The next time it did so was on the 19th April, 
having assumed the usual milky appearance two days before; on this occa- 
sion its old scurf first broke through over its back. 
The other young lizard (No. 2) again cast off its outer skin on the 5th 
February, having the day before put on the peculiar milky appearance. 
So that, during the past seven or eight spring and summer months, 
those three lizards have each shed their epidermis as follows :— 
Big adult male, 1878, November 16; 1879, January 24; March 15.* 
Young one, No. 1, 1878, December 6, December 81; 1879, January 14, 
March 1, April 19. Young one, No. 2, 1878, December 16; 1879, Feb- 
ruary 5. 
Their manner of taking their prey (flies) is peculiar: When the lizard 
clearly sees the fly, and makes sure it is living, it steals towards it in the 
most stealthy manner. As the lizard nears the fly, and when within two 
inches of it, then is the time closely to notice its actions. First it arches 
its neck to a tolerably sharp angle, and its eyes swell and bulge out, or 
rather upwards, over their orbits, and the expression of its countenance 
alters greatly, taking on a fierce look ; next it lifts its little hand-like paws 
and moves them, only a toe or a finger at a time and often in the air, very 
slowly and cautiously (much like a little child does its hands when stealing 
along on tip-toe), and then it nears its head towards its: prey, but so very 
slowly that I have better detected its movement by watching its shadow 
cast on marked paper by strong sunlight,—reminding me of the almost 
imperceptible movement of the hour-hand of a clock. At last it has got to 
* Vide Addendum, 
