92 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
and had scales or knobs on their backs like those of crocodiles, plated on to the 
skin, or stuck into it, as part of the skin. They are very slow in motion, and 
when a man comes nigh them they will stand still and hiss, not endeavouring to 
get away. Their livers are also spotted black and yellow, and the body, when 
opened, hath a very unsavoury smell. I did never see such ugly creatures anywhere 
but here.” 
Trachysaurus rugosus is included among the many species of Australian Lizards 
that are not unfrequently imported to this country. While going to press a fine 
example is on view in the Reptile House of the Zoological Gardens that arrived there 
nearly two years ago, and between which and the foregoing description given by 
Captain Dampier comparisons may be instituted. While it will be at once recognised 
that all of the structural details respecting this singular form given by that early 
explorer are essentially correct, it will, it is anticipated, be conceded that a most 
gross injustice has been rendered the animal from an esthetic standpoint. The 
photographic portraits here reproduced should suffice, indeed, to clear our client from 
the cruel aspersions upon its good looks implied by Captain Dampier’s closing 
sentence. 
An interesting circumstance connected with the life history of Trachysaurus 
is the fact that it is not only ovo-viparous, bringing forth living young in place of 
laying eggs, as do the majority of the lizard tribe, but the young, when born, a 
single one only at a birth, are so fully developed as to be nearly half as large as 
the parent. 
A reference was made in the foregoing account of Trachysaurus to two species 
of Egernia which were the comrades of a captive specimen. These were the 
Spine-tailed lizards, Eyernia Stokesitt and E. depressa. The former species, Plate XIV., 
fig. B., which is the larger of the two, was obtained by the author abundantly 
on that member of Houtman’s Abrolhos, off Geraldton, Western Australia, which is 
distinguished by the name of Gun Island, where it was caught basking in the 
sun or taking shelter underneath the low scrubby bushes with which the greater 
portion of the island is covered. The smaller species, Egernia depressa, which 
appears to be considerably rarer, was forwarded to him from Carnarvon, in the 
Gascoigne district by Dr. Williams. Apart from their size, which in immature 
specimens may be equal, the two forms may be readily distinguished by the diverse 
character of the pattern of their colour-markings. In the larger species, Eyernia 
Stokesii, the pattern invariably consists of cream or tawny yellow spots, and 
