446 



ANIMAL LIFE-HISTORIES 



purpose, and the Spanish Sand- Lizard i^Psammodronnts Hispanicus) 

 buries her eggs deeply in hot sand. Gadow (in The Cambridge 

 Natural History) thus describes the nesting habits of the Common 

 Chameleon (Ckaincsleo vulgaris): — "When the eggs are ripe, and 

 this happens with the Common Chameleon about the end of 

 October, the female refuses to take food, and becomes restless. 

 One of my specimens searched about probing the ground for about 

 a week before she dug a hole in some more solid soil. This took 

 two days. In the evening I found her sitting in the hole to the 

 middle of her body. On the following morning she was still there, 

 but busy filling the hole with soil and covering it with dry leaves. 

 A few eggs were lying about outside, two of which at least I saw 



her taking up by the hand and 

 putting them on the nest, which 

 was found to contain some thirty 

 soft-shelled eggs closely packed 

 upon each other. During the 

 whole process she was very 

 snappy, and hissed much when 

 approached. " 



Some Lizards are viviparous 

 to all intents and purposes, for 

 the eggs hatch out immediately 

 after they are laid. This is the case with two British species, 

 the Viviparous Lizard {Zootoca vivipara) and the Blind -Worm 

 i^Angzds fragilis). 



Turtles and Tortoises (Chelonia). — All the members of 

 this order are oviparous, and deposit their eggs in the ground. 

 As in Lizards the shell may be either hard or simply tough, and 

 there is a good deal of variation in shape. A typical instance is 

 afforded by the European Pond Tortoise {Emys orbicularis), in 

 which the female makes a hole in the ground, using first the tail 

 and then the hind-limbs for the purpose. After depositing her 

 eggs she replaces the earth, presses it down, and then scratches it 

 with her claws, the object of this last procedure being to make the 

 nest inconspicuous. 



Even the thoroughly marine Turtles come to land for the 

 purpose of egg- laying, regarding which habit in the Edible 

 Turtle {Clieloiie mydas) Gadow makes the following remarks (in 

 The Camb^'idge Natural History): — "The females come to their 



Fig. 963. — Tip of the upper jaw of embryo Lizard, 

 showing Egg-tooth, enlarged 



