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to tip of tail. They are found in marshy localitJes and mangrove 
swamps, also on trees overhanging the water. They live on 
crabs, small mammals and birds, frogs and reptiles, and on the 
eggs of birds and reptiles, — The true Iguanas are almost entire- 
ly restricted to the western hemisphere- Most of them have a 
large dorsal crest which is absent in the Monitors. 
The closest ally of the English Lizard is in Malaya rather 
a rare form with a very long and fragile tail, Tachydronms sex- 
lincattts. The tail is four times as long as the body. 
Exceedingly common again are the numerous species of 
Skinks, Malay name 'bengkarong' or * mengkarong.' They 
frequent dry and sunny places where with their bronzy colour 
they form very conspicuous objects. The largest and most 
common of them is Mahuia mult i fascial a, easily recognized by 
the red stripe at its side. A specimen from the Botanic Garden 
is shown measuring not less than inches in length- It was 
presented by Mr. Ridley in 1898. 
An extraordinary looking skink is Lygosoma lantt€\ise^ 
from Perak. It is of a much elongated and cylindrical shape and 
has extremely short legs so that at the first glance it could be 
taken for a snake. The English blind worm, which, of course, 
is a lizard too, has further developed in the same direction and 
has lost its legs altogether. 
SNAKES. 
"Still more numerous than the Lizards, if not in individu- 
als, certainly so in species, are the Snakes, and the Museum 
collection contains more than one hundred different species. 
Unfortunately they cannot be classified by external characters 
only, the structure of the skull being a much more important 
character than the colour of the beast or the shape and the 
arrangement of the scales. Nor can Snakes scientifically be 
classed into venomous and non-venomous forms. 
In all Snakes there is an elastic ligament between the 
two halves of the lower jaw, and in most cases the bones of the 
upper jaw and of the palate are movable too, so aw to allow the 
mouth greatly to be dilated. — Only the Python and the Boa 
constrictor (the latter form American !) have traces of hind 
limbs which externally are visible in the shape of c5aw-like 
spurs on each side of the vent. Many snakes have poison 
fangs. These are enlarged teeth of the upper jaw with a grcwve 
into which the duct of the poison gland leads. Or the edges of 
the groove may have become fused, so as to form a proper 
