TEE LIZARDS, BNAKES, AND OTHER REPTILES. 187 



and the Amphislmna. These are very sudden transitions 

 from the swift^ agile lizard; but nature does not make a 

 leap, and in the two-footed lizards, Pseudopus, with its fore 

 legs wanting, and in Chirotes and Pygopus, in which the 

 hind feet are wanting, we have contiecting links between, , 

 the ordinary lizard and the Amphisbaena (Fig. 194). This 



Fig. 193.— West Indian Anolis. 



singular creature, which lives in ant-hills, is thus the result 

 of adaptation. Its tail is nearly as broad as its head; and 

 since the creature runs backwards as well as forwards, it is 

 popularly supposed to be two-headed. It feeds on ants 

 and other insects. 



The Snakes.— ^li would be difficult for the untrained ob- 



