CHAPTER III. 



LIZARDS. 



rholo by E. C. Altiasoit. 



BLIND-WORM. 



Kutwithstandjngits name, the blind. worm possesssa 



emallj very briglit little eyes. 



Fholohtj !r. Saville-KerU, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sca. 



GLASS-SNAKE, OK SCHBLTOPUSIK. 



The jiresence of movable eyelids distinguishes this legless lizard from 



the true snalces. 



Photo bi, W. Saville-Kail -T Z b J 



GLASS-SNAKE. 

 Snails constitute the favourite food of the glass-snake. 



THE Lizard Trilie or Sub-ordor is notalile as containing 

 a greater nuinher of specific forms than any other 

 of the Eeptilian groups, no less than 1,700 distinct 

 species being described in the most recently published 

 catalogues. While formerly regarded as constituting a 

 separate and independent order of the Eeptile Class, latei 

 investigations have demonstrated that lizards are so inti- 

 mately related througli sundry intermediate types with the 

 Snakes that they cannot be recognised as constituting other 

 than a sub-section of the same order. The two groups of 

 the Lizards and Snakes are consequently, and with refer- 

 ence more particularly to their commonly 

 shared scaly armatures, technically distin- 

 guished by the appellation of Scaled Keptiles. 

 While the, more typical members of the 

 Lizard Tribe are readily distinguished from 

 the Snakes by the jjossession of well- 

 developed limbs, a no inconsiderable number 

 of species are altogether devoid of these 

 appendages, or possess them only in a 

 partially developed or rudimentary condition. 

 The British Blixd-worm, or Slow-worm, 

 constitutes an example of such a legless 

 lizard, although on account of its outward 

 snake-like appearance it is commonly 

 regarded as a snake by the un- 

 educated. In the South European 

 so-called Glass-snake, or Schelto- 

 rusiK, here figured, the snake-like 

 aspect and creeping habits are 

 still more conspicuous, but j'et 

 when examined more critically 

 its lizard affinities become appa- 

 rent. One of the most readily 

 apiirehended external characters 

 that serve to distinguish this 

 and the majority of the legless 

 lizards from snakes is the posses- 

 sion by the former of movable 

 eyelids and conspicuous external 

 ear-openings. Among snakes 



eyelids are invariably absent, the 



[JflUford-oU'i 



5G3 



