40 REPTILIA. 



they once get a habit of coming to a poultry-yard destroy and 

 carry them off without noise. They appear to be exclusively 

 carnivorous, and we have seen one of them follow and hunt a 

 rat with great eagerness : they usually inhabit hollow trees or 

 holes in rocks ; we have occasionally seen them in holes in 

 trees at a very great height from the ground. They are 

 common among rocks near the beach, and in impenetrable 

 thickets of Pandan in mangrove creeks, whence they come 

 out to bask in the sand or mud. When wounded they display 

 great tenacity of life, and bite most furiously when caught. 

 The flesh is much esteemed by the natives for its supposed re- 

 storative and invigorating properties, and when curried it much 

 resembles chicken. At Manila these creatures are regularly 

 sold in the markets, and fetch a good price : the dried skin is 

 readily bought by the Chinese, who use it in some of their 

 indescribable messes of gelatinous soup. 



Tribe Geissosaura. 

 Fam. Scincidae. 

 Genus Tiliqua. 



Tiliqua rufescens (Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus.). 

 Euprepes Sebac (Dum. et Bib.). 

 CarrooDg (Malay name). 



Colour — olivaceous brown above, passing into a very light shade 

 of the same colour beneath ; the scales on the back are slightly 

 edged with blackish brown on the lateral margins, forming faint 

 longitudinal dark lines ; on the sides these lines are more distinct, 

 and some of the scales are whitish brown on the central part, giving 

 a more prominent appearance to the dark lines ; on the upper 

 surface of the limbs the dark colour passes round each scale, giving 

 them, one with another, a reticulated aspect. 



Scales on the back have three distinct longitudinal ridf^es ; these 

 become faint on the side-scales, and those on the belly are quite 

 smooth. Ears rounded, open. Tail long, and very tapering. 

 Total length, 1 foot. 

 Length of tail, 7^ inches, 



„ of fore leg, from junction of body to end of the longest 

 toe, 1 inch 2^ lines ; the third and fourth toes are 

 longest and equal. 

 „ of hind leg, to the end of the fourth toe (which is the 



longest), 1 inch 9^ lines. 

 „ of head, from ear to end of muzzle, 9^ lines. 

 „ of anterior corner of eye to end of muzzle, 4 lines. 



