30 



of the tribe. ( 3 ) I have also heard white men speak approvingly 

 of the flesh of the tail of the Perentie, though in the case of 

 one man who had often tried he stated that it always induced 

 vomiting. 



The aspect of the head and neck is very snakelike, and it 

 was noticed that in moving amongst the branches of a dead 

 limb placed in the cage in imitation of a small tree that the 

 Perentie was able, while holding on by the grasp of its hind 

 limbs only and by utilizing the tail as a lever, to project the rest 

 of the unsupported body into space while seeking for a hold 

 for the fore paws. , 



When excited or provoked they utter a sound which may be 

 described as a combination of a hiss and of a continuous blowing 

 sound like that of a blacksmith's bellows, and under these cir- 

 cumstances of provocation the throat is inflated into a large 

 and conspicuous pouch, often to a more considerable degree 

 than is shown in pi. iv., figs. 1 and 2 ; the long-forked tongue is 

 also protruded and withdrawn with lightning-like rapidity. 



They are stated to be capable of being readily tamed, and 

 I have been told of one that used to appear regularly at stated 

 times to be fed and to follow its adopted master about. 



In their native habitat they usually live in holes in the 

 ground, and, according to Mr. Warren, they prefer a hole that 

 enters under a rock to one in the open ground. In these holes 

 they hibernate from May to August, living sometimes singly 

 and sometimes male and female together. 



Distribution. — As is so often the case with many of our 

 Australian animals, we have very little information as to the 

 exact distribution of this species. Many, indeed, of our 

 animals have already become extinct without our having been 

 able to answer this question, and it will probably be the same 

 with many others. Mr. Gillen told me that they occur in Cen- 

 tral Australia from about Strangways Springs, in the south, 

 to Hann's Range, about 80 miles north of the MacDonnell 

 Ranges, but as to its range east and west of this tract I have 

 no information. Its favourite habitat being rough, stony 

 country, its distribution is no doubt largely determined by 

 these conditions. The late Mr. John Bagot used to speak of 

 them as common and of large size on what was, then, his Peake 

 Station, which comprised the country around Warrina, and 

 Mr. Warren writes that they are only found on certain limited 

 parts of the rough country on Anna Creek Station. 



So far these limits constitute Varanus giganteus a Central 

 Australian species, but in the British Museum Catalogue of 

 Lizards (1885) one, the type of the species, is stated as having 

 come from the "North Coast of Australia," which seems to 



(3) Spencer and Gillen, "Native Tribes of Central Australia." 

 p. 471. 



