200 



NATURAL HISTOET. 



that live in verdant places. They are found in all wann 

 countries except Australia and the Polynesian Islands. 

 Some are natives, also, of temperate climates, passing the 

 winter in a torpid state. The common Lizard, Fig. 162, 



Fig. 163. — Common Lizard. 



is only about six inches long. In all the animals of this 

 family the tail is exceedingly brittle, snapping off like 

 glass even with a slight touch. It grows out again, how- 

 ever, and if the tail be cracked without being broken off, 

 a new tail will spring from the crack, so that the animal 

 will have thus a forked tail. 



329. In the family of Snake Lizards we find a series of 

 forms, in which we see a gradual transition from the or- 

 der of Lizards to that of Serpents. In some of these an- 

 imals there are four feet, as seen in Fig. 163, the Snake 

 Lizard of the South of Africa. Others have but two feet. 



Fig. 103 Snake Lizard. 



Others still have nothing but the mere rudiments of feet 

 concealed in the skin. Of this latter kind is the Blind- 

 worm or Slow-worm. This animal, which is about a foot 

 in length, is as brittle as the tail of the true Lizai-ds. The 



