34 GUIDE TO KEPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS. 



absence of grooved teeth (and therefore probably of poison-glands) 

 and of bony granules in the skin. 



The members of the family Varanidm (407-420), which include 

 the largest of all Lacertilia, derive their common name of "Monitors," 

 or " Warning Lizards," from a confusion between " Ouaran," the 

 Arabic designation of a Lizard, and the English word " warning." 

 Agreeing with many other members of the sub-order in having the 

 teeth attached to the inner side of the outer parapet of the jaws 

 (pleurodont type), Monitors are specially characterised by the long, 

 smooth, and forked tongue, which can be protruded and withdrawn 

 in the same manner as that of Snakes ; and they are further dis- 

 tinguished by the absence of plates of bone in the skin of the head 

 and body. The group is confined to the warmer parts of the Old 

 World (inclusive of Australia), although unknown in Madagascar. 

 All the species are included in the genus Varanus, of which the 

 largest living representative is the Kabara-goyu {V. salvator, 409) of 

 the Singalese. This attains a length of 7 feet, and, like some of the 

 other species, is partially aquatic ; but it was considerably exceeded 

 in size by a fossil Monitor from N. India which, in its turn, was a 

 dwarf to the extinct Giant Monitor of Queensland, of which a 

 vertebra (419) is shown in the case. All the Monitors are car- 

 nivorous, many of them being in the habit of feeding largely on 

 birds' eggs, which they hold and crack in their mouths while their 

 heads are raised. 



It will be noticed that the Monitors differ markedly from the 

 typical arboreal Iguanas, both in shape and colouring ; their bodies 

 being depressed, instead of compressed, and their colour usually 

 a mixture of black, brown, olive, and yellow. The reason of these 

 differences is that these Lizards are terrestrial, and live among bushes, 

 grass, rice, and other covert, to which their type of colouring 

 assimilates them. By Europeans in India and Africa Monitors are 

 generally mis-called Iguanas. 



The American Lizards typified by the Tejus (family Teiidm) are 

 characterised by the solid teeth, which are almost of the acrodont 

 type, by the long and deeply cleft tongue, furnished with numerous 

 papillse, and the absence of bony plates or granules in the skin. 

 Occasionally the limbs are somewhat reduced. The members of this 

 family are arranged in nearly forty genera, and display great variety 

 of form and habit. Some dwell in forests and are aboreal, others 

 frequent hot and dry plains, while yet others are limbless, Blind- 

 worm-like creatures. The largest member of the family is the Great 



