70 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
illustration and record of the life aspects and habits of a few of the more prominent 
of these lizards with which, through the possession of living specimens, the author 
has enjoyed special opportunities of making himself familiar. 
The place of honour among this selected series of noteworthy Australian 
Lacertilia must unquestionably be awarded to the so-called Frilled Lizard, Chlamy- 
dosaurus Kingi, which is restricted in its distribution to the northern or tropical 
districts of Australia and is, within these limits, indigenous to the Colonies of 
Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory of South Australia. 
The earliest record of this singular species is contained in Captain Phillip P. 
King’s “Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical Coasts of Australia” (1826), 
wherein it is named, figured and described in a Natural History Appendix edited 
by the late Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. This original type specimen was obtained by 
Mr. Allan Cunningham, the botanist to Captain King’s ship, the ‘“ Mermaid,” at 
Careening Bay, on the north-west coast of Western Australia. Living examples 
of this very remarkable Lizard were secured by the author in both North Queens- 
land and Western Australia. He was fortunate, moreover, in bringing a specimen, 
the first of its kind imported to Europe, safely to England, and in chronicling 
the greater portion of the data here recorded concerning its very singular aspect 
and _ habits. 
The natural habitat of the Frilled Lizard is essentially sylvan. It affects the 
more or less thickly-wooded scrub-lands, and passes the greater portion of its 
existence on the trunks and lower branches of the trees. At first sight, when seen 
in repose, as shewn in the photographic illustration which flanks this Chapter 
heading, there is but little to distinguish this lizard from the ordinary lacertilian 
type. The hind limbs are relatively long and the front ones short, as obtains, 
though in a less degree, in many species of Grammatophora (Amphibolurus). The 
head is somewhat abruptly truncate, the tail long, rough and attenuate, and there 
are no abnormal spines or protuberances such as occur in Moloch horridus and other 
structurally conspicuous species. On a nearer examination, however, it will be 
observed that a neatly folded plicated membrane with denticulated edges envelopes, 
sheath-like, the hinder region of the head and neck and extends backwards to the 
reflexed angle of the fore-limb. In order to appreciate the remarkable form and 
development of this membranous structure in the Frilled Lizard it is necessary to come 
upon the animal unawares or to otherwise submit it to exciting influences. Under 
such conditions it is suddenly transformed from the most placid-looking of reptilian 
