246 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
Though, fortunately, these lizards are not provided with 
any serious means of attack, they prove really redoubtable 
foes in a contest with men or dogs, using the plant tail as 
a terribly efficient swish, and biting savagely with their 
small teeth. They are capable of killing a dog, and of 
stripping the skin from a man’s leg. In a wild state they 
eat small mammals, birds, frogs, and insects. I found in 
the stomach of one fhe I shot the remains of three 
squirrels. Amongst other lizards on the Congo may be 
remarked the following genera, passing over an immense 
number of species I have been unable to identify : Acan- 
thodactylus, the pretty little spine-foot; Hremias, Zonurus 
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cordylus, Ptyodactylus gecko, Tarentola capensis. Uroprasti, 
spinipes, and Agama; also a very common and handsome 
lizard of which I do not know the name,* gaudily blue 
and red in colour, with a short and brittle tail, which is 
left in your hands should you capture him by that organ. 
Chameleons are, of course, very common, and exhibit 
many different species. 
Snakes, on the other hand, are decidedly rare, and it is 
quite possible to voyage right up the Congo and return to 
Europe without the glimpse of a serpent. I did, however, 
in the course of my travels along this river, meet with 
* A species of Agama, 
