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THE MOLOCH. 
concealed under the skin. On the angle of the mouth at each side is placed a large mem- 
branous fold of skin, curved so as to bear a close resemblance to a large external ear, and 
boldly toothed on its edge. The neck is rather contracted, as if pinched, and has a cross fold 
below. The back has no crest, the tail is much flattened throughout its length, and the toes 
are long and very strongly toothed on the edge. The color of this reptile is gray and brown, 
with a slight green wash upon the top of the head. 
The Egyptian Mastiguke, or Spine-footed Stellio, is a native of Northern Africa, 
and was said, though wrongly, to be the reptile spoken of by the ancients as the land-crocodile. 
Our figure of this creature is of one-third natural size. 
This species attains a rather large size, a full-grown specimen sometimes measuring a yard 
in length. It is an inhabitant of desert spots, preferring old ruins, rocky ground, and similar 
EGYPTIAN MASTIGURE.— Uromastix spinipes. 
localities, where it can obtain instant refuge in case of alarm. The color of this reptile is 
bright grass-green during life, but, as is generally the case with all these animals, the brilliant 
colors fade soon after death, and change to dingy blackish-brown if the skin be stuffed, or to 
mottled grays, browns, and blacks, if preserved m spirits. The head of this creature is rounded, 
the back without a crest, the skin of the throat so folded as partly to cover the ears, and the 
ears themselves are oblong, and toothed in front. The tail is rather flattened, and furnished 
with transverse rows of large scales, boldly keeled, and sharply pointed. A few conical spines 
are scattered upon the upper part of the thigh, the sides, and loins. 
The last example of the Agamidse which can be figured in these pages, is the most 
ferocious-looking of the whole family, and were its dimensions much enlarged, would be 
