306 



CHALCIDES LIZARD. 



mug of the tail, which is often longer than the 

 body, and gradually tapers to a small point : the 

 legs are very short, and the feet still more so in 

 proportion, consisting each of three toes, termi- 

 nated by minute claws : the scales, on every part 

 of the body, legs, and tail, are of a shape nearly 

 resembling those of the Scinks, lying smoothly 

 over each other in the manner of those of a fish : 

 the colour of this animal is pale ferruginous or ches- 

 nut brown, lighter or of a yellow brown beneath: 

 along the back are six deep brown lines or narrow 

 bands, viz. two somewhat distant ones down the 

 middle, and two approximated ones down each 

 side : in the living animal the colour is generally 

 said to have a kind of metallic or brassy cast, 

 v/hich seems to have given rise to the old name 

 Cha Icicles and Chalcidica. This smgular Lizard is 

 described by Linnffius as having the feet furnish- 

 ed with five toes, but whatever may have been 

 the case with the individual specimen which he 

 examined, it seems pretty certam that the gene- 

 ral number is three. In the British Museum is 

 an elegant specimen, from which the annexed 

 figure is engraved. The Chalcides is an animal 

 of a harmless nature, frequenting moist shady 

 places, moving rather slowly, and feeding on in- 

 sects, small worms, &c. It is a viviparous species, 

 and is said to produce a great many young. The 

 Serpents to which it bears the nearest alliance, in 

 point of form, are those of the genus Jnguis, and 

 particularly the A, Jragiiis, or common Sloiv- 

 JVorm, 



