GALLIWASP, 289 



districts. It is commonly of a palish brown co^ 

 lour, clouded with somewhat irregular bands of a 

 deeper cast ; but it is said occasionally to change 

 its colour into a lively golden yellow. A similar 

 change of colour seems also to take place in the 

 Greater African Scink before described, since it is 

 by some authors named aurata, though the real 

 L. aurata of Linnaeus, from the very brief specific 

 character in the Systema Natura?, seems not very 

 easily determinable. The Galliwasp, according to 

 Browne, in his Natural History of Jamaica, is 

 reckoned the most venomous reptile in that island, 

 and it is said that no creature can recover from its 

 bite ; but this he very properly considers as merely 

 a popular error. It grows, according to that au- 

 thor, to two feet or more in length. 



VAR. : 



Australasian Galliwasp. 



Lacerta Scincoides. Scincoid Lizard. Nat. Misc. pi. 179, 

 Scincoid, or Scink-formed Lizard. Whitens Journal of a Voyage 

 to New South Wales, p. 24^2. pi. 30. 



This I consider as a variety of the preceding, 

 with which it agrees in size and general appear- 

 ance, but has larger scales, a longer tail in pro- 

 portion, and is of a somewhat darker colour ; 

 the sides and tail being variegated with deep 

 brown and somewhat irregular transverse bands, 

 and on each side the neck is commonly a lon- 

 gitudinal brown spot or patch. It is a native 

 of New Holland, and is very accurately figured 



V, III. p. I. 19 



