FLYING LIZARDS. 



123 



are no less interesting, although they are no longer monsters ; they 

 are distinguished from all other Reptiles by a kind of wing, which is 

 a large fold of skin, or membrane, on each side of the body. These 

 wings are entirely independent of the other members, being sustained 

 by six false ribs, which do not surround the abdomen, but rather 

 extend horizontally. They are the only existing examples of our day 

 of that organic arrangement which distinguished the Reptiles known 

 under the name of Fterodactyli, and which belonged to the Jurassic 

 period of geology. 



Fig. 29. — Flying Lizard. 



Dr. Gray divides the Draconina into three genera, namely : — 



I. — Dracos, having the ears naked, nostrils below the fore ridge, 

 of which three species are described — viz., D. volans (the Flying 

 Lizard, Fig. 29), having the scales of the back broad, generally 

 smooth, those of the throat granular ; wings grey, fulvous, or brown, 

 spotted and marbled with black, sometimes forming four or five 

 oblique black bands near the outer edge ; the sides with a series of 

 large keeled scales : the Timor Flying Lizard (D. viridis timorensis of 

 Schlegel)and the Fringed Flying Lizard (D. fimbriates) are also keeled. 



II. — Draconella, of which there are two species, one (D. 



