5i6 



LACERTAE 



in about thirty genera, are known, exhibit a great diversity of 

 mostly iiat - bodied, terrestrial and more laterally compressed, 

 arboreal forms. The majority are insectivorous, a few Agamas 

 have a mixed diet, while Uromastix and some others are chiefly, 

 if not entirely, frugivorous and herbivorous. They are an ex- 

 clusively Old- World family, avoiding the cooler parts of the 

 Palaearctic sub-region, and also, a very curious fact, Madagascar. 

 The majority live in Australia and in the Indian and Malay 

 countries, comparatively few in Africa, chiefly the genus Agama. 

 Draco (" Flying Dragon "). — The body is much depressed and 



Fig. 123. — Draco volans. x |-. 



the sides extend as a pair of large wing-like membranes, which are 

 supported by 'five or sis, of the much-elongated posterior ribs, and 

 can be folded up like a fan. On the throat are three pointed 

 appendages, a short one on either side and a long one in the 

 middle. The tail is very long and slender, but not brittle. About 

 twenty species of this extraordinary genus inhabit the various 

 Indo-Malayan countries ; one, D. dussumieri, occurs in Madras. 

 D. volans of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo is 

 about 10 inches long, 5 of which are taken up ,by the tail. The 



